THE ORGANISATION AND PARTICIPATION
OF WORKERS IN TANZANIA

Henry Mapolu

 

A. Introduction

On Monday morning, May 10th 1971, some 170 workers of
the National Milling Corporation in Dar es Salaam surprised the
Mill authorities as well as the government by failing to turn up for
work. They were on strike, and apparently no one had expected
them to be on strike; in fact even the leaders of the various
workers’ bodies at the mill were caught unawares.

This must be one of the most dramatic workers spontaneity
cases since Uhuru and since the subsequent attempt of the govern-
ment to create rational channels of communication for workers
and employers began. The Mill has not only a workers’ committee
and a workers’ council but also TANU and T.Y.L. branches. Not-
withstanding, both management and the leadership stratum of the
workers did not know anything about the strike until it took place.

How the 170 workers were able to organise themselves in-
dependently of the official organisations and without the
knowledge of the leadership of these organisations is obviously a
very interesting question. Since then, however, numerous short-
term strikes have taken place in Dar es Salaam — more often than
not without the leadership of the official organisations, even if

these knew pretty well what was going on.

It seems therefore that there is something wrong somew here.
There are at present a number of institutions which are supposed
to organise and speak for the workers in industries and establish-
ments. If the workers now find it necessary to side-step these

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