Pre-Capitalist Modes of Production in Tanzania: Reference to Modes of Production in the Old Ugweno State of North-eastern Tanzania

Abstract

Many scholars and politicians have argued that pre-colonial Africa
consisted of classless societies. For the politicians this was an
advantage since it provided one point to advocate certain policies like
African Socialism. This socialism argued that Africa could return to
the •'socialist" past and build once again a classless society based on
love. working togethcr and respecting humanity. For the scholars this
line arose out of being carried by the tide of African Socialism in the
1960s and 1970s. Some scholars just assumed the classlessness of
pre-colonial Africa as a result of little research done on the topic. In
Tanzania. African socialism took a strong hold in the latc 1960s and
early 1970s. and research on the classiness of pre-colonial African
social formations almost ceased. This paper is an attempt to revivc
this rescarch. Contrary to popular beliefs in Tanzania it is
dcmonstrated (with a real historical case study) that modes of
production in pre-colonial Tanzania were developed beyond the
primitive communalleveI. It will be argued with real examples that
there were class societies in pre-colonial  Tanzania