Part 3: The Start of the Senghor Chairmanship
Often the downfall of a man can be seen from the very beginning, the seeds of the his end are planter from his first actions. French officials had barely pulled out before the so-called Liberation Front began to fracture. Questions swirled around everyone, including up into the provisional leadership triumvirate. Would there be elections? What would the true ideology of this state be? What of the French elites who owned land and resources within this new nation? What of the churches? All of these questions would be quickly set upon by the Triumvirate.
January 17, 1951: The Malian Socialist Federal Republic would officially be declared, Senghor, Keïta, and Coulibaly would keep their roles as head of a provisional governing Triumvirate. Elections would be postponed until as the government claimed “A Safe, and Structured Socialist Nation Could be Created.” While declaring itself to be socialist, the triumvirate would capitulate to the more liberal members of the Liberation Front by allowing the continuation of markets, especially in the important port cities of Dakar and Abidjan.
1951-1956: The first 5 years of Mali’s existence would see the Triumvirate employ Senghor’s so called 4 arrow approach, Consolidation, Industrialization, Mechanization, and Education. The implementation of Senghor’s policy would see his power increase massively and this would begin a nearly 14 year period known as the Sénghor Chairmanship.
Consolidation mainly entailed strengthening the new governments legitimacy in the eyes of its people and the international community, it would also herald the beginning implementation of socialist policies in Mali.
Firstly, under the consolidation policy the Malian government would begin a diplomatic offensive to secure aid, and secure legitimacy for the Malians government control over Togo land. Senghor would ratify a declaration to sever the UN trustee status over Togo. This would cause minor protests from Britain, while the France would remain neutral, with only the USA showing support due to the new administrations desire to foster anti-Soviet aligned sentiment in the coming decolonization of Africa. By 1955 the UN would vote to remove the trusteeship officially and recognize Togo as apart of Mali. Aid would be secured between Mali and the Soviet Union first, mainly in the form of material aid like tractors, trucks, and other abundant materials within the Soviet Union after the war. This would upset the American administration who had seen this as potentially the first foothold in Africa. American diplomats and Senghor himself would draw up treaties providing US aid to Mali as long as they did not pursue any closer ties to the Soviet Union beyond the aid. This further strengthened on the Treaty of New York, and moved Mali closer to America.
Next, in the consolidation tactics would see the reining in of the Red Militia’s into a more standardized and Federal system. Many of these militia members would be integrated into the newly formed Malian Black Army[1]. Daniel Ouezzin Coulibaly whom had helped organized the Liberation Front into a more organized army, now would be tasked with garrisoning, securing control, and the various socialist reforms the government would undertake, this would begin to vastly increase the power of Coulibaly whom would also establish the Internal Security Bureau, or ISB. The ISB would be feared as the secret police of the Triumvirate era and would help begin the transition to socialism and undermining the influence of reactionaries and Europeans.
The implementation of socialist policies would be laid out in the Four Year Plan (1951-1955), agriculture and farmlands would be cooperativized as the government would refer to the program. Small farming plots would be politically, and economically grouped into Farmer Cooperatives, this was done to cut down on the costs of the mechanization campaign as farmers would share and mutually pay for operation costs. The villigization of villages into communally owned cooperative lands would also take place, enforced and carried out by the Black Army. The implementation and management of this socialization and initial “teaching” period would be carried out often when former white land owners, and even old tribal aristocracy who had been enticed into working for the party and state.
The integration of the old landowning whites, and tribal aristocracy, and the socialization of land often came at a price, the Malian government would be forced to put down numerous uprisings especially be more conservative and reactionary or separated tribals. In the first 5 years it’s expected due to uprising and ethnic tensions caused anywhere from 5-10,000 casualties.
Industrialization would come far more slowly than it had for other socialist states. Mali had neither the resources, manpower or money of the Soviets, thus a more measured and gradual policy of industrialization would take place. In cities like Dakar and Abidjan and Ouagadougou the Malian government would encourage surrounding people’s to help build or work in factories, with propaganda promising workers economic democracy, and workers councils handling factories, and a market to allow for goods never seen before by the average rural farmer. This propaganda in the future would return to bite the Malians.
This slow industrialization plan would also coincide with slow mechanization, small amounts of cars or trucks were available within Mali, and usually government owned, so the government would set to work distributing tractors, and trucks to the locations that were needed the most, and helping the slow mechanization of agriculture.
The Fourth point concerned education. By the time of the French exit, literacy rates in the new Federation ranged from 20-30% with most educated peoples being now party officials, or suppressed reactionaries. The government would set about a formal liquidation of illiteracy within the borders of the Federation. This would also become a useful propaganda tool. With the standardization of a new Mande Language, the Malian government could enshrine a new identity, based upon the old lineage of the Malian Empire of old. This education would also allow the Malians to sway people’s opinions and beliefs to becoming firm believers in not only African Socialism, but Malian Nationalism.
All of these rapid reforms would not come without cost, however; the Tuaregs remained wary of the new government, and few settled into the new SR Azawad or SR Aïr, and as time continued these tensions would continue to grow.
Notes: [1] Black Army or Black Legion is often a form of sometimes discriminatory, sometimes respectful behavior towards all black or all black moor regiments within North African armies. I thought it would be interesting to see the African socialists adopt this as a badge of honor.
Afterthought: Hello everyone it’s me, DeVante once again and I do appreciate all the new responses I’ve been getting lately. A little more about me originally my family originates from Mali way back in my fathers family timeline. so I always wondered what an interesting world it would be to see a successful state based in that region. Anyways, my posts feel rambling to me I get lost in trains of thought because this stuff fascinates me. Also, note, does it seem like the governing system is vague? Well it’s supposed to be, the Triumvirate is this wishy washy market socialism/reactionary socialism etc etc, and this will later anger lots of people, leading to the man we love Sankara. Thanks, have a good day/night and be kind to each other.