Facilitating an Indigenous Social Organisation of Production in Tanzania

Twice within a time span of less than 100 years the Tanzanian social formation was drastically reorganised, and in each case an emerging indigenous technological capability was drastically reduced. The first setback was effected by the German colonisation (about 1890) which marked the start of a process of liquidation of the craftsmanship within the society. The second setback was brought about as a result of the post-colonial attempts at socialist transformation initiated in 1967 and formulated in the Arusha Declaration. A consequence of the latter overall policy change was that practically the whole entrepreneurial class (of Asian origin) was proclaimed an enemy of the workers and peasants and therefore restricted in many ways in its technological development endeavour.