serious implimentation of such objectives. Above all, the fact that
simple nationalisation had not completely extricated the national
institutions from their control by their former ‘mother-companies’
through management, consultancy, and technical connections,
meant that meaningful participation by workers in the
management of these institutions was next to impossible.

Following an attack by the government on the basis that the
workers were ‘wrecking’ the country’s economy through their
strike action, strikes changed into lock-outs. From then on
workers began to lock out their managers instead of going on
strike, and at times they even made a point to increase production
during the dispute period just to ward off any possible accusation
that they were out to wreck the country by their actions.

It has proved most difficult for the authorities to handle this ac-
tivity of the workers. It must be born in mind that all this activity
has been conducted under the auspices of the official policy of the
Government and Party; i.e. the workers have always claimed to
be abiding by the official policies when they take any action and
have always cited relevant sections from the official documents.
Secondly, in many cases such activity has not been organised and
led through the official bodies in the factories and institutions,
frequently workers seem to have prefered to sidestep the ‘workers
committees’ and the TANU branches in the factories when they
decide to take decisive action. In some cases, however, either the
TANU branch or the workers committee has been instrumental in
providing leadership to the workers.

The seventies have therefore been years of renewed struggles of
the workers in Tanzania against bureaucratic control which began
to weigh upon the population as a whole in the last decade. This
struggle has been spurred partly by the social contradictions that
have developed in the society, and partly by provision of an
ideology which the workers have felt to be capable of being used
for their own manifestation as a class.

Looking back at all this experience of the workers in Tanzania
for the four decades one can only say that they have showed
agreat deal of initiative, creativity, and endeavour. This is possible
mainly because of the crucial and strategic place which they oc-
cupy in the production process of the country. Though propor-
tionately few, the workers in Tanzania, because of being involved

147

e =