Patrice Lumumba: Speech at the Proclamation of Congolese Independence

Impact

Lumumba's speech, however “shocking,” was not the sole or even the principal cause of the Congo crisis of 1960. The principal cause was Belgian policy, which remained “no elites, no problems” until very late in the day. Once Belgian officials had decided that independence was inevitable, they opted for a neocolonial policy that would have permitted the Belgian companies and the Catholic Church (two of the three pillars of the colonial regime) to continue to operate as before. Nationalization of the economy and indigenization of the Church continued to be issues into the 1960s and 1970s.

The army mutinied largely because Belgium had refused to Africanize the officer corps. In response to the mutiny, Belgium sent in troops, ostensibly to protect Belgian lives. Many Congolese saw this action as aggression and perhaps even an attempt by Belgium to reoccupy its former colony. The United States soon became involved, seeing in Lumumba an African Fidel Castro (the Communist leader of Cuba) to be eliminated. The newly independent African countries divided over the Congo question and the person of Lumumba. The friends of Lumumba, led by Nkrumah of Ghana, Sékou Touré of Guinea, and others, formed the so-called Casablanca Group, whereas the “moderates” of the Monrovia Group supported Kasavubu and Tshombe. The split persisted for many years. Lumumba's speech had an enormous impact within Congo and beyond. Congolese tell of memorizing the speech and reciting it among friends. It is considered a founding text of Pan-Africanism.