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| leader_title2 = Prime Minister
| leader_title2 = Prime Minister
| leader_name2 = Louis Lansana Beavogui
| leader_name2 = Louis Lansana Beavogui
|mode_of_production=[[Socialism]]|year_start=1958|year_end=1984|motto=Work, Justice, Solidarity|national_anthem=Freedom|legislature=National Assembly|era=Cold War}}The '''People's Revolutionary Republic of Guinea''', commonly known as '''Guinea''', was a [[socialist state]] in [[West Africa]] from 1958 to 1984 established by the [[Democratic Party of Guinea – African Democratic Rally|Democratic Party of Guinea]] following the rejection of the French Community during the 1958 constitutional referendum and the drafting of a constitution on November 12th that same year.
|mode_of_production=[[Socialism]]|year_start=1958|year_end=1984|motto=Work, Justice, Solidarity|national_anthem=Freedom|legislature=National Assembly|era=Cold War}}The '''People's Revolutionary Republic of Guinea''', commonly known as '''Guinea''', was a [[socialist state]] in [[West Africa]] from 1958 to 1984 established by Sekou Touré following the rejection of the French Community during the 1958 constitutional referendum, paving the way for independence across West Africa.


Since independence, Guinea was subjected to numerous destabilization campaigns from western powers, among which were operations Persil and Green Sea. Despite this, the Democratic Party was able to maintain power and continued to send aid to liberation movements across Africa. After the passing of Ahmed Sekou Touré, Interim President Louis Beavogui was overthrown by military forces in 1984, resulting in the restoration of capitalism.
Since independence, Guinea was subjected to numerous destabilization campaigns from western powers, among which were operations Persil and Green Sea. Despite this, the [[Democratic Party of Guinea – African Democratic Rally|Democratic Party of Guinea]] was able to maintain power and continued to send aid to liberation movements across Africa. After the passing of Ahmed Sekou Touré, Interim President Louis Beavogui was overthrown by military forces in 1984, resulting in the restoration of capitalism.


== History ==
== History ==


=== 1958 constitutional referendum ===
=== 1958 constitutional referendum ===
''See also: [[1958 French constitutional referendum]]''
After the successful unionization of African laborers by Sekou Touré, the creation of the Federation of Workers’ Union of Guinea and the execution of labor strikes to advance African civil rights in Guinea, Sekou Touré used his position in Guinea's worker federations and the Democratic Party to push for total independence during the 1958 constitutional referendum. A few days after rejecting the French Community, the territorial assembly declared the formal independence of the Republic of Guinea and empowered itself with the drafting of a new constitution. This refusal to become an autonomous subject to France led to the mass destruction of infrastructure in the country by the French in an attempt to make an example out of Guinea. The subsequent ban on Guinean imports from France also severely limited its economic progression post-independence. With substantial financial assistance from the [[First Republic of Ghana (1960–1966)|Republic of Ghana]] following the creation of the [[Union of African States|Ghana-Guinea Union]], the government was able to rebuild the country while also developing community institutions such as schools and clinics.<ref>[https://aaprp-intl.org/ahmed-sekou-toure-at-100/ Ahmed Sékou Touré @ 100]</ref> During this period, Sekou Touré and the Democratic Party proclaimed a National Democracy, the stage in which colonial-era structures and replaced under the one-party state.<ref>{{Citation|author=Sekou Toure|title=Doctrine and Methods of the Democratic Party}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Sekou Toure|title=Africa on the Move}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Sekou Toure|title=Strategy and Tactics of the Revolution}}</ref>


After the successful unionization efforts among Sekou Touré and the Democratic Party, such as the creation of the Federation of Workers' Union of Guinea and the execution of labor strikes in coordination with other labor movements in French West Africa, the base of the Democratic Party of Guinea began pushing for independence in the midst of the 1958 constitutional referendum. Sekou Touré, who was then Vice President of the autonomous loi cadre government, didn't endorse independence initially leading to many to suspect he had been corrupted by the interterritorial leadership of the African Democratic Rally. Touré's endorsement of independence came after his meeting with the interterritorial leadership during the PDG's party congress, after which he was confronted by crowds of Guineans shouting their opposition to the French Community. Despite this, Touré continued to express his intent to work out a similar agreement of cooperation and stated that independence was a means of Africans expressing their maturity on the world stage and a necessary footpath to engage with Europe as equals. The French government however was disinterested in this cooperation, and in response to the Democratic Party's endorsement of independence prior to the referendum colonial administrators planned the complete isolation of a post-independence Guinea. Colonial officials cut telephone wires, removed machinery from the capital port, stopped moving goods through Guinean ports, hid infrastructure plans and burned medicine en masse. Most notably, the 4 billion Francs in the Guinean reserve were relocated to Dakar by military personnel and French technical staff were instructed to destroy what they can't bring back to France.<ref name=":1" />
=== Portuguese Colonial War ===
 
Under the leadership of the Democratic Party, Guinea played an active role in the national liberation of Guinea-Bissau by housing and supplying the [[African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde]] (PAIGC). Amilcar Cabral and his staff were headquartered in the Conakry, where they organized and strategized their revolution away from front-lines. This safety was nearly compromised during [[Operation Green Sea]], in which Portuguese forces [[Guinean National Liberation Front]] (FLNG) elements launched an amphibious invasion of Conakry in an attempt to assassinate [[Amílcar Cabral|Cabral]] and [[Kwame Nkrumah|Nkrumah]], as well as depose Sekou Touré's socialist government and install exiled opposition leader [[Siridiou Diallo]] who was living in exile in Paris. During the invasion, the PAIGC headquarters in Conakry was destroyed, Portuguese POWs were released and Nkrumah's villa was bombed; however the Portuguese Army was repelled before they could complete their major objectives. Despite the retreat of Portuguese forces, fighting between FLNG and Guinean government forces ensued, eventually resulting in the defeat of the FLNG and the arrest and torture of those captured. Guinean support for PAIGC activities in the country continued until the end of the [[Portuguese Colonial War]] in the event of the [[Carnation Revolution]].<ref>[https://aaprp-intl.org/50th-anniversary-22-november-1970-operacao-mar-verde/ 50th Anniversary 22 November 1970 “Operação Mar Verde”]</ref><ref>[https://hoodcommunist.org/2023/04/20/the-relationship-between-sekou-toure-and-amilcar-cabral/ The Relationship Between Sekou Touré and Amilcar Cabral]</ref>
=== Independence ===
After rejecting the French Community, the territorial assembly declared the formal independence of the Republic of Guinea and empowered itself with the drafting of a new constitution. As a result, post-independence Guinea saw its self completely isolated and after France most Guinean imports, the country was stripped of its major export revenues and saw its economic progression severely limited;<ref name=":1">{{Citation|author=Elizabeth Schmidt|year=2007|title=Cold War and decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958|title-url=https://archive.org/details/coldwardecoloniz0000schm/mode/2up|publisher=Ohio University Press}}</ref> however, the creation of the [[Union of African States|Ghana-Guinea Union]] in an attempt to build a [[United States of Africa]] granted the nation substantial financial support from the [[First Republic of Ghana (1960–1966)|Republic of Ghana]].<ref>[https://aaprp-intl.org/ahmed-sekou-toure-at-100/ Ahmed Sékou Touré @ 100]</ref> A mere 17 days after securing independence, Sekou Touré and the Democratic Party broke off from the [[African Democratic Rally]] and formed the [[African Democratic Revolution]]. The new government also proclaimed a National Democracy, the stage in which colonial-era structures are replaced under the one-party state for the purpose of suppressing ethnic and social contradictions to develop a nation. Unlike a People's Republic, National Democracy doesn't presuppose class struggle and instead focuses on mass organization.<ref>{{Citation|author=Sekou Toure|title=Doctrine and Methods of the Democratic Party}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Sekou Toure|title=Africa on the Move}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Sekou Toure|title=Strategy and Tactics of the Revolution}}</ref>
 
With the start of China's 1960 aid program to Africa, Guinea was gifted an interest free loan equivalent to 25 million US dollars during Touré's state visit to Peking. Though Chinese aid grew less substantial over the years, the PRC continued to be an important source of development help.<ref>{{Citation|author=Thomas O'Toole|year=1978|title=Historical dictionary of Guinea (Republic of Guinea/Conakry)|title-url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000otoo/mode/2up|quote=In 1960 the People’s Republic of China began their aid program to Africa with an interest-free loan equivalent to US $25 million given to President Toure while he was on a state visit to Peking. Curtailed some¬ what in the mid 1960s PRC aid has continued to be an important source of development help. By 1970 China was Guinea’s third largest source of imports. Guinea depends heavily on Chinese rice to meet continued food shortages.|publisher=Scarecrow Press}}</ref>
 
In November 1961, teachers in Guinea took part in demonstrations in protest of working conditions, however documents presented by students protesting in support of the teachers promoted Guinea joining the Eastern Bloc and criticized its neutrality in the Cold War. The Guinean government believed the Soviet embassy was in collusion with the strike in an attempt to push Guinea into the Eastern bloc, prompting them to label the affair as the Teacher's Plot and expel Soviet ambassador Daniel Solod after the suppression of the strikes.<ref>{{Citation|author=Thomas O'Toole|year=1978|title=Historical dictionary of Guinea (Republic of Guinea/Conakry)|title-url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000otoo/mode/2up|quote=TEACHER'S PLOT. An alleged plot against the government announced by Guinean leaders in November 1961. Basically teachers were complaining about working conditions but some of the documents presented by the pupils demonstrating in support of the teachers contained some leftwing ideological criticisms of the government. Among these statements were those suggesting that Guinea had to choose between Eastern- bloc and Western-bloc support Toure ordered the expulsion of the Soviet ambassador suggesting that the ambassador was supporting teachers' demands that the Guinean government become a member of the Eastern bloc. The Soviet role in the strike has never been verified but five members of the teachers' union were executed and others fled or were imprisoned. See PLOTS|publisher=Scarecrow Press}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Thomas O'Toole|year=1978|title=Historical dictionary of Guinea (Republic of Guinea/Conakry)|title-url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000otoo/mode/2up|quote="Teacher’s Plot" put down; Daniel Solod, Soviet Ambassador, expelled|publisher=Scarecrow Press}}</ref>
 
=== Operation Green Sea ===
''See also: [[Portuguese Colonial War]], [[Operation Green Sea]]''
 
Under the leadership of the Democratic Party, Guinea played an active role in the national liberation of Guinea-Bissau by housing and supplying the [[African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde]] (PAIGC). Amilcar Cabral and his staff were headquartered in the Conakry, where they organized and strategized their revolution away from front-lines.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Nnamdi Sekou|newspaper=Hood Communist|title=The Relationship Between Sekou Touré and Amilcar Cabral|date=2023-04-20|url=https://hoodcommunist.org/2023/04/20/the-relationship-between-sekou-toure-and-amilcar-cabral/|quote=Conakry, the capital of Guinea, served as the headquarters of the PAIGC throughout their national liberation struggle and Touré and the PDG provided military, political, and educational support to the PAIGC throughout their struggle for independence.  In the liberated zone of Conakry, Cabral and the PAIGC were able to train PAIGC cadre, mobilizers, military personnel, and youth. They were able to forge strong diplomatic ties with revolutionary states like the USSR, China, and Cuba with which the PAIGC was able to secure aid in the form of weapons, military training, and technical advisors.}}</ref> This safety was nearly compromised during [[Operation Green Sea]], in which Portuguese forces [[Guinean National Liberation Front]] (FLNG) elements launched an amphibious invasion of Conakry<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=All-African People's Revolutionary Party|title=50th Anniversary 22 November 1970 “Operação Mar Verde”|date=2020-11-26|url=https://aaprp-intl.org/50th-anniversary-22-november-1970-operacao-mar-verde/|quote=On the night of 21–22 November 1970 about 200 armed Guineans — attired in uniforms similar to those of the Guinean Army and commanded by Portuguese officers — and 220 African-Portuguese and Portuguese soldiers landed at points around Conakry. The soldiers landed from four unmarked ships, including an LST and a cargo vessel, and destroyed 4 or 5 supply vessels of the PAIGC. Others landed near President Touré’s house, which they burnt. [4] Touré was in an unknown location at the time, where he announced that “foreign warships” were in Guinean territorial waters, the President declared in the afternoon that “hundreds and hundreds” of “mercenaries of various nationalities” were in the Guinean capital}}</ref> in an attempt to assassinate [[Amílcar Cabral|Cabral]] and [[Kwame Nkrumah|Nkrumah]], as well as depose Touré's government and install exiled opposition leader [[Siridiou Diallo]] who was living in exile in Paris.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=All-African People's Revolutionary Party|title=50th Anniversary 22 November 1970 “Operação Mar Verde”|date=2020-11-26|url=https://aaprp-intl.org/50th-anniversary-22-november-1970-operacao-mar-verde/|quote=Thad many targets that included the Guinean radio station, and TV; to kill Sekou Touré, Kwame Nkrumah, Amilcar Cabral and other PAIGC leaders; kill the President of the Guinea National Assembly, Saifoulaye Diallo, the Prime Minister Lassana Beaguvi, among others.
The imperialist invader had on board, anti-Guinean Siridiou Diallo, an exile living in Paris, who would be installed as “president” of what was to become neo-colonial Guinea-Conakry after Sekou Touré was neutralized (if their plan had worked).}}</ref> During the invasion, the PAIGC headquarters in Conakry was destroyed, Portuguese POWs were released<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=All-African People's Revolutionary Party|title=50th Anniversary 22 November 1970 “Operação Mar Verde”|date=2020-11-26|url=https://aaprp-intl.org/50th-anniversary-22-november-1970-operacao-mar-verde/|quote=Other soldiers captured two army posts, took control of the city’s main power plant, captured the headquarters of the PAIGC (but not Amílcar Cabral), and freed 26 Portuguese POWs who were being held by the PAIGC at Camp Boiro.}}</ref> and Nkrumah's villa was bombed; however the Portuguese Army was repelled before they could complete their major objectives.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=All-African People's Revolutionary Party|title=50th Anniversary 22 November 1970 “Operação Mar Verde”|date=2020-11-26|url=https://aaprp-intl.org/50th-anniversary-22-november-1970-operacao-mar-verde/|quote=When the raiders discovered that the Migs were not at the airport, they retreated after suffering casualties. 328 citizens of Guinea-Conakry died defending African soil. [...] This operation was considered a failure because the desired coup d’état was not achieved: the absence of the Mig’s at the airport made Commander Alpoim Calvão order the troops to return, fearing an attack by these planes for which they were not prepared, without support the FLNG fighters. Ironically later it was learned that his pilots were not yet ready for combat.}}</ref> Despite the retreat of Portuguese forces, fighting between FLNG and Guinean government forces ensued, eventually resulting in the defeat of the FLNG and the arrest and torture of those captured.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=All-African People's Revolutionary Party|title=50th Anniversary 22 November 1970 “Operação Mar Verde”|date=2020-11-26|quote=The FLNG guerrillas who, despite the lack of support, still wanted to move forward with their mission were unable to overthrow the regime, due to the lack of support from the population they naively counted on and to the counterattack by the loyal forces against Sékou Touré supported by a contingent of Cuban troops. The fighting lasted several days, with the FLNG suffering numerous deaths and 100 of its members were taken prisoner, tortured and subsequently executed as well as a group of twenty men who deserted during the operation and who still went to the radio station to transmit that they supported the PAIGC and who wanted to belong to their ranks.}}</ref> Guinean support for PAIGC activities in the country continued until the end of the [[Portuguese Colonial War]] in the event of the [[Carnation Revolution]].<ref>[https://aaprp-intl.org/50th-anniversary-22-november-1970-operacao-mar-verde/ 50th Anniversary 22 November 1970 “Operação Mar Verde”]</ref><ref>[https://hoodcommunist.org/2023/04/20/the-relationship-between-sekou-toure-and-amilcar-cabral/ The Relationship Between Sekou Touré and Amilcar Cabral]</ref>
 
=== Cultural Revolution and the Party-State ===


== Government ==
== Government ==
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== Administrative divisions ==
== Administrative divisions ==
== Foreign relations ==
In 1959, [[People's Republic of China|China]] began providing technical assistance and [[interest]]-free loans to Guinea.<ref name=":1222">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2008|title=The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World|chapter=Notes|page=300|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceascnzh26r5d6uitjjs2z7rflhaxlt7rboz5whzdf76qg6xxvecqq?filename=%28A%20New%20Press%20People%27s%20history%29%20Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20The%20darker%20nations_%20a%20people%27s%20history%20of%20the%20third%20world-The%20New%20Press%20%282008%29.pdf|publisher=The New Press|isbn=9781595583420|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=9B40B96E830128A7FE0E0E887C06829F}}</ref>


== Economy ==
== Economy ==
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