Patrice Lumumba: Speech at the Proclamation of Congolese Independence

Context

The Congo crisis of 1960 and thereafter was a consequence of failed decolonization. The Belgian Congo came into existence in 1908 in response to the international scandal provoked by the massive violence of the Congo Free State (1885–1908). Under Belgian rule, considerable economic development had taken place, but within a highly paternalistic framework. Africans were confined to the lowest ranks of the administration and the economy. Opposition to Belgian rule simmered throughout the colonial era and took a variety of forms, including armed resistance to the imposition of colonial rule, rural revolts, and urban strikes. Religious movements, notably the church created by Simon Kimbangu, provided an alternative channel for resistance to colonialism.

Belgium ruled according to an unofficial policy of “no elites, no problems.” Political parties were slow to emerge. Not until rioting occurred in Léopoldville in January 1959 did Belgium decide to undertake what was called le pari congolais (“the Congo gamble”). An agreement was reached under which the colony gained independence the following year. The Congo was given a provisional constitution, the Loi fondamentale, or “fundamental law.” Approved by the Belgian parliament in May 1960, the Loi fondamentale was a virtual copy of the Belgian constitution, with none of the implicit understandings that had grown up over the years in Belgium. In particular, the Belgian monarch is a constitutional monarch who reigns but does not rule. The Congolese president was not considered a monarch, and his relationship with the prime minister was sketchily defined. A power struggle soon broke out between President Joseph Kasavubu, leader of the ethnoregional party Alliance des Bakongo (Alliance of Bakongo, or ABAKO), and the prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, leader of the faction of the Mouvement national congolais (Congolese National Movement) that bore his name (MNC-Lumumba). The battle to deliver Congo's response to King Baudouin was an early expression of this struggle.

In the elections to the 137-member national assembly, MNC-Lumumba had won thirty-three seats, far from a majority but far more than the next most successful party, the pro-Belgian Parti national du progrès (National Progress Party), which won twenty-two. MNC-Lumumba and Parti national du progrès were the only parties to propose candidates in all six provinces. Lumumba was able to form a government only by offering ministerial seats to opposing parties, notably Kasavubu's ABAKO and Moise Tshombe's Tribales confédération des associations du Katanga (Confederation of Tribal Associations of Katanga).

The ceremony recognizing Congo's independence began with Baudouin praising his ancestor, King Leopold II, who allegedly had saved the Congolese from the horrors of the slave trade and had built the colony to which Belgium was now giving its independence. He then went on to state that it was up to Congo's leaders to prove themselves worthy of Belgium's confidence. President Kasavubu, representing the newly independent state, spoke next. He invoked the “gratitude we feel towards all those who have worked, whether privately or publicly, for our national emancipation, and all those who, throughout our vast land, have been unsparing in giving of their strength, their sufferings, and even their lives, in order to realize their bold dream of a free and independent Congo” (Kanza, p. 157). In line with his party's ethnic and federalist orientation, he noted the cultural diversity that had to be overcome in order to develop a true national consciousness. He praised Belgium for having had the wisdom not to oppose the current of history and to lead the colony directly from foreign domination to independence.