The Congo Free State
Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Lumumba rose to prominence in the late 1950s and garnered widespread support throughout the Congo. Lumumba, having attended Protestant mission school, first became politically active in a club for Western-educated Africans in (3). He regularly submitted essays and poems to Congolese newspapers, building a rapport with the Congolese press that would serve him in his 1960 political campaign (3). Aside from writing for the papers, Lumumba worked as an accountant at a post office in Stanleyville, and, in 1955, became regional president of a Congolese trade union (3). However, Lumumba remained conservative until he was imprisoned in 1956 for allegedly embezzling funds from the post office (Britannica).
After he was released from prison, he and other prominent Congolese men- mostly trade unionists and socialists- established the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC). Their party would become the first to garner from four of the six provinces, transcending tribal allegiances (2). The 1959 Leopoldville Riots (started in response to the Belgians’ prohibiting the assembly as prominent political parties) proved a divisive moment in Lumumba’s political career, as he was imprisoned yet again for inciting the riots (3). As a result of the riots, the Belgians announced plans to make the Congo a free state by May. Lumumba’s socialist and Pan-African ideals resonated with the Congolese, and he won the election in a sweeping victory.
Unfortunately, Lumumba’s political career was short-lived. His socialist ideals worried the United States and Belgium, who had large investments in Congolese minerals. The countries worried Lumumba would restrict access to Congolese mines in an effort to regain control over the Congolese economy. So, the United States and Belgium backed a coup by Moshe Tshombe, a western-leaning political opponent from a prominent ethnic group in the Congo. They also hatched an assassination plot against Lumumba, eventually detaining and executing him in 1961 (1).
Highlights from Lumumba’s Independence Day Speech:
“Although this independence of the Congo is being proclaimed today by agreement with Belgium, an amicable country, with which we are on equal terms, no Congolese will ever forget that independence was won in struggle, a persevering and inspired struggle carried on from day to day, a struggle, in which we were undaunted by privation or suffering and stinted neither strength nor blood. It was filled with tears, fire and blood. We are deeply proud of our struggle, because it was just and noble and indispensable in putting an end to the humiliating bondage forced upon us.”
Here, Lumumba emphasizes that Congolese independence was won, not simply handed to them. His sentiments are similar to Fratz Fanon’s; In Lumumba’s eyes, the struggle for Independence was something the Congolese had to fight for.
“Morning, noon and night we were subjected to jeers, insults and blows because we were ‘Negroes.’ Who will ever forget that the black was addressed as "tu", not because he was a friend, but because the polite "vous" was reserved for the white man?... We have not forgotten that the law was never the same for the white and the black, that it was lenient to the ones, and cruel and inhuman to the others. We have experienced the atrocious sufferings, being persecuted for political convictions and religious beliefs, and exiled from our native land: our lot was worse than death itself.”
In this quote, Lumumba addresses how pervasive racist thinking was in the Belgian Congo. The fact that Black men were addressed as ‘tu’ and white men as ‘vous’ perfectly captures the sense of division between the Congolese and the Belgians.
“And in all this, my dear compatriots, we can rely not only on our own enormous forces and immense wealth, but also on the assistance of the numerous foreign states, whose co-operation we shall accept when it is not aimed at imposing upon us an alien policy, but is given in a spirit of friendship.”
This quote alludes to Lumumba’s Pan-African ideals: instead of relying on aid from Western countries, Lumumba focused his sights on developing the Congolese economy and building strong ties with neighboring African countries.
Flag of the Congo Free State (1877)
-
Lumumba, like the star in the upper left corner of the flag, represented a new light shining in the so-called “Dark Continent.”
Timeline:
-
1958: Lumumba founded the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC); first party with widespread support throughout the Congo (4/6 of the provinces).
-
1959: Widespread rioting in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) after Belgian administrators prohibit members of the political party Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO) from assembling. An estimated 34 Africans were killed in the rioting.
-
Lumumba, who encouraged civil disobedience, charged with inciting the riots and sent to prison
-
-
1960: As a result of the rioting Belgians announced plans for elections for independence; 120 political parties formed
-
January, 1960: Lumumba released from prison and attends Round Table Conference in Brussels
-
MNC gains widespread support (4/6 provinces)
-
May 22, 1960: Patrice Lumumba elected Prime Minister of the Congo Free State
-
June 24, 1960: Congo Free State becomes fully independent
-
Almost immediately after elections, army mutinied against Belgian officers
-
Moise Tshombe, a pro-West/ Belgium-US backed opponent, used unrest to declare Katanga region an autonomous state.
-
Belgian forces sent to protect Belgian nationals, though they helped bolster Tshombe’s regime in Katanga
-
Lumumba asked UN Peacekeeping forces to help stabilize the region; they refused to suppress Tshombe’s regime
-
Lumumba appealed to Soviet Union for military support, and invited leaders of neighboring African countries to meet in Leopoldville for political support (in line with his Pan-African values).
-
September 5, 1960: Lumumba dismissed.
-
October, 1960: Lumumba placed under house arrest.
-
Lumumba escaped house arrest.
-
December 2, 1960: Lumumba caught and arrested
-
-
1961: February, Patrice Lumumba assassinated in US-Beligan backed plot
Works Cited
(1) BBC News. "Democratic Republic of Congo profile - Timeline." BBC News. Last
modified January 10, 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13286306.
(2) BBC World Service. "DR CONGO (FORMERLY ZAIRE, BEFORE THAT, BELGIAN CONGO)." BBC
World Service. https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/
storyofafrica/14chapter7.shtml.
(3) Encyclopedia Britannica, ed. "Patrice Lumumba." Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Patrice-Lumumba.
(4) Lumumba, Patrice. "SPEECH AT THE CEREMONY OF THE PROCLAMATION OF THE CONGO'S
INDEPENDENCE." Translated by Thomas Schmidt. Marxists.
https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/lumumba/1960/06/independence.htm.