TANU’s Policy on
Socialism and Self-Reliance
Julius K. Nyerere and the TANU
Julius K. Nyerere (1922-1999) and Helena P. Blavatsky (1831-1891)
A 2023 Editorial Note
There is more theosophy in The Arusha Declaration of 1967 than one would see in a superficial reading. The socialism it proposes is similar to that “socialism of the noblest and highest type”, the altruistic socialism of self-sacrifice which Helena Blavatsky sees in Buddha and Christ. [1]
The ujamaa socialism of Julius Nyerere has ancient roots. It is the traditional, primitive, nonviolent socialism which renounces hatred, and can transcend money-centered economic relations. It aims at the self-reliance of communities. It has much in common with eternal wisdom and expresses the law of universal brotherhood. It reveals to us the spiritual heredity of ancient Africa. It also teaches us about our own future; for time is cyclic, and the most accurate patterns and seeds of the future must be found in the past.
It is wrong therefore to say that the experience of ancient African socialism of solidarity, which took place in Tanzania under the leadership of Nyerere, failed or must be forgotten. The opposite is true. It was a victorious experience anticipating the luminous times when humanity will be wiser than in the centuries of blind materialism and money-worship.
There is a bridge between Sociology and Theosophy. In other words, a vast common ground exists among Eastern esoteric philosophy, political philosophy, social psychology and the history of nations.
A profound similarity unites all forms of social action that are based on solidarity, and they constitute the spiritual and inner side of socialism.
How can one better understand, for instance, the mystery of Russian and Asiatic forms of wisdom and civilization? Or develop a better notion of the Andean spirituality, with its philosophy of human unity with Nature? How can the researcher see the higher dimension of the traditional African ways of looking at the world?
One must develop comparative studies of these outwardly different living traditions. All of them are closely interrelated: they have a common essence. They are at the source of all human utopias.
Into a large extent, Marxism has failed in its attempts to explain these spiritual-economic formations, for no materialism, either communist or capitalist – is able to understand the evolution of economies.[2]
Everyone’s economic behavior directly depends on states of mind, both on individual and collective levels of action and perception. There is no separation between spirit, states of mind, and economic relations. The three are one. Our individual and collective views of life make economic facts take place.
A spiritual mind creates a spiritual economy. And since time immemorial there has been a mode of production of spiritual communities. This form of society is broadly taught in the Acts of Apostles. It is pursued even today by the Amish and other Mennonite or Anabaptist Christian groups. It can be found around the world and in world history in many diverse times and forms.
The Arusha Declaration of Tanzania formulates some of the fundamental principles of the spiritual and economic worldview of human societies, which is centered on the fundamental law of universal brotherhood, and constitutes a key to the better future whose ideal it is our duty to keep alive, until it happens.
Readers must remember that the acronym TANU means Tanganyika African National Union, the main political party in the struggle for independence in Tanzania, which took place by gradual steps during the first half of the 1960s.
(Carlos Cardoso Aveline)
NOTES:
[1] See “The Key to Theosophy”, by Helena P. Blavatsky, page 79.
[2] However, it is an insightful experience to examine the approach of Marxian philosophy to the ideas of “primitive communism” and “Asiatic mode of production”. Marxist viewpoints regarding pre-capitalist modes of production highlight facts of undeniable usefulness for a theosophical examination of social structures. Examine for instance * “La Russie”, par Marx et Engels, traduction et préface de Roger Dangeville, Union Générale D’Éditions, Paris, 1974, pp. 256-259, and the whole volume; * “Sobre el Modo de Producción Asiático”, Maurice Godelier, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Ediciones Martinez Roca, S.A., España, 1969, 269 pp.; * “Obras Escogidas”, Marx-Engels, two volumes, Editorial Progreso, Moscú, 1966, especially volume two, pages 506-509; * “Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation”, by Karl Kautsky, T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1897, and Augustus M. Kelley Publishers, New York, US, 1966, 294 pages. * “Fundamentos da Filosofia”, V. G. Afanássiev, Edições Progresso, 1982, Printed in Russia, 430 pages. Modes of production are examined starting on page 221. * “Princípios Fundamentais de Filosofia”, Georges Politzer, Guy Besse, Maurice Caveing, Editora Fulgor, SP, Brazil, 1962, 396 pp., especially from p. 219. * “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844”, by Karl Marx, Dover Publications, New York, 2007, 208 pp., see especially pages 136-141 on the deification of money in capitalism. * In the “Manifesto of the Communist Party”, Chapter III, Marx refers to “reactionary socialism”, “feudal socialism”, “clerical socialism” and so on. Other Marxian references to the topic are numerous. (CCA)
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The 31-page booklet “The Arusha Declaration” was published in the associated websites on 20 August 2023.
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Read more:
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Helena Blavatsky (photo) wrote these revealing words: “Deserve, then desire”.
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