UNDERDEVELOPMENT AND THE WORKING
CLASS IN TANZANIA

Henry Mapolu

The class structure that is to be found in Africa and the un-
derdeveloped world generally, is a function chiefly of colonialism.
I the phenomenon of colonialism in Africa can be seen as the in-
ter-action,}on the one hand of analready mature capitalist mode of
production in Western Europe, and on the other of various
fledgling pre-capitalist modes of production in Africa during the
last century, the nature of class formation in this continent can
best be explained in terms of this interaction between two
historically differing social formations.

Different classes were forged by colonialism in different parts of
Africa depending on the different socio-economic demands made
by the colonial powers upon those areas as well as on the specific
socio-economic arrangements and levels of development reached
in each particular area prior to its coming into contact with
European capitalism.

The genesis of the classes in this situation is therefore different
in many respects from that of corresponding classes in the coun-
tries of ‘classical’ capitalism, and even from that of classes in pre-
colonial Africa. The present composition of classes in Africa did
not emerge as a result of the development of the productive forces
and changing property relations in the continent as was the case in
Europe, the classes were created by external socio-economic
processes and hence were shaped specifically to serve external in-
terest. For this reason, the pattern and dynamics of the various
classes to be found today in Africa and the underdeveloped world

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