Julius Nyerere

Julius Nyerere
Born	13 April 1922 Butiama, Tanganyika Territory
Died	14 October 1999 London, England, UK
Political orientation	African socialism Ujamaa
Political party	TANU

Julius Kambarage Nyerere (13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Tanganyika from 1961 until 1964. In 1964, Tanganyika and Zanzibar united to form the United Republic of Tanzania, and Nyerere became Tanzania's first president from 1964 to 1985. Nyerere is also often referred to as Mwalimu, meaning "teacher" in Swahili. Nyerere promoted socialist policies, especially promoting the concept of ujamaa, and was a prominent figure in the Non-Aligned Movement. In 1985, Nyerere stepped down from the presidency but remained the chair of the Party Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM).

Nyerere announced the Arusha Declaration in 1967, expressing Tanganyika African National Union (TANU)'s policy of building a socialist state. Historian Vijay Prashad notes that this announcement "discomforted" the British imperialists and Tanzanian bourgeoisie, the "owners and managers of most of the country's resources" including mines and the land, and that, "Hemmed in by pressures from the advanced industrial states, the aristocratic rural classes, and the emergent mercantile classes, the new state had little time" to pursue the necessary institutional changes envisioned in TANU's policies for socialist construction. Under Nyerere's administration, collectivization programs were organized that sent peasants to ujamaa villages, sometimes relying on coercion by the military.