The Spirit of Lumumba Lives On
(Adapted from a short article by Ahmed Azad, “Africa Notes and Comment: The Spirit of Lumumba Lives On”, The African Communist, No. 105, Second Quarter, 1986, pp. 65 – 66).
On 20 January 1961, Patrice Lumumba was brutally murdered by agents of Belgian and United States imperialism. Lumumba, a son of peasants, remains one of the most outstanding leaders produced on our continent. He helped to found the Congolese National Movement (MNC) which was the only organisation in the Belgian Congo to transcend tribal and ethnic divisions. The anti-colonial struggle led by the MNC compelled Belgium to grant independence in 1960. The Belgian government only wanted to transfer the trappings of power to the people, and expected the MNC to be a willing tool of imperialism. But due to the racist attitudes the Belgians could not understand that in Lumumba they were dealing with a genuine revolutionary and patriot.
On independence day Lumumba made a blistering attack on colonialism and imperialism which infuriated Belgium and the USA. From then on imperialism stepped up its destabilisation plans, culminating in the murder of Lumumba. As with UNITA, MNR and other counter-revolutionary groups of the present time, the imperialists created a Tshombe and armed and financed Mobutu’s cutthroats in the Force Publique, a force raised and trained in Belgium.
The murder of Lumumba angered millions upon million of people throughout the world. In South Afri
