The New Class and Rebellion in the Congo

Abstract

"We will show the world what the black man can do when he works in freedom and we shall make the Congo an example to the whole of Africa." Patrice Lumumba said this the very day on which the Congo, without any period of transition, formally acceded to full independence. Today, such words have a peculiarly bitter ring, particularly for those who, in 1959-60, believed in the possibility of building peacefully, at the heart of black Africa, a powerful African State of 14 million people, united and economically strong, with nearly half a million industrial workers and an urban population of more than 3 million.