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People's Republic of the Congo République populaire du Congo (French) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969–1992 | |||||||||
| Motto: "Travail, Démocratie, Paix" (French) "Work, Democracy, Peace" | |||||||||
| Anthem: "Les Trois Glorieuses" | |||||||||
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| Capital | Brazzaville | ||||||||
| Common languages | French,Kituba,Lingala | ||||||||
| Religion | State atheism | ||||||||
| Government | UnitaryMarxist–Leninist state[1][2] under amilitary regime[3] | ||||||||
| Head of State | |||||||||
• 1970–1977 | Marien Ngouabi | ||||||||
• 1977 | Joachim Yhombi-Opango (Military Committee of the Congolese Party of Labour) (acting) | ||||||||
• 1977–1979 | Joachim Yhombi-Opango | ||||||||
• 1979 | Jean-Pierre Thystère Tchicaya (Presidium of the Central Committee of the Congolese Party of Labour) (acting) | ||||||||
• 1979–1992 | Denis Sassou-Nguesso | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1973–1975 | Henri Lopes (first) | ||||||||
• 1991–1992 | André Milongo (last) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||
• Established | 31 December 1969 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 15 March 1992 | ||||||||
| Currency | CFA franc (XAF) | ||||||||
| Calling code | +242 | ||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | CG | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Republic of the Congo | ||||||||
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| History of the Republic of the Congo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Republic of the Congo portal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ThePeople's Republic of the Congo (French:République populaire du Congo) was asocialist state established in 1969 following aMarxist–Leninist revolution, replacing the earlierRepublic of the Congo and remaining in place until political reforms in 1992.
The People's Republic of the Congo was founded in December 1969 as the first Marxist-Leninist state in Africa, three months after the government ofAlphonse Massamba-Débat was overthrown in theSeptember 1968 coup d'état. The rulingCongolese Party of Labour (French:Parti congolais du travail,PCT) appointedMarien Ngouabi as president, who established the Congo as aone-partycommunist government aligned with theSoviet Union. Ngouabi was assassinated in 1977 and succeeded byJoachim Yhombi-Opango until he was overthrown in 1979.Denis Sassou Nguesso succeeded Yhombi-Opango, confirmed the PCT's rule in the Congo with a newconstitution, formed closer relations withFrance, and allowed greater foreign investment in the country. The People's Republic of the Congo transitioned into amulti-party system following thedissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, restoring the country's earlier name and flag, and ceased to exist by March 1992.André Milongo was appointed as transitional prime minister while Sassou remained as president.
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The People's Republic of the Congo had 2,153,685 inhabitants in 1988. There were 15 ethnic groups, although most people wereKongo,Sangha,Mbochi, orTeke. 8,500 Europeans were present as well, mostly ofFrench extraction.French was the official language, but other recognized languages includedKituba andLingala. Most of the population was centered in urban areas such asBrazzaville.Literacy was 80%, butinfant mortality was also high.
Alphonse Massamba-Débat, who became the president of the Republic of the Congo in 1963, was the first African head of state who proclaimed himself openly aMarxist. He established asingle-party system in 1964 around his own political group, theNational Revolution Movement(Mouvement National de la Révolution). Massamba-Débat was elected Secretary General of the National Revolution Movement whileAmbroise Noumazalaye became its First Secretary. The Congolese single party was backed by a well-armed popular militia, theDéfense Civile, headed byAnge Diawara. However, by 1968 mounting protests led Massamba-Débat to imprison one of its leaders, CaptainMarien Ngouabi.[4]
Seeing that themilitantleftist opposition was not giving up, Massamba-Débat ended up yielding and proclaimed an amnesty, freeing Marien Ngouabi, among other political prisoners in mid-1968. Following the amnesty Massamba-Débat relinquished his power in September giving way to a period of instability. Finally on 31 December 1968 Marien Ngouabi became the head of state. The new leader officially proclaimed a socialist-oriented state in the form of a "Popular Republic" on 31 December 1969.[5] The administration became strongly centralized inBrazzaville and the main government posts were taken over byCongolese Workers' Party—Parti congolais du travail (PCT)—cadres after abolishing the national assembly of the previous republic. TheMarxist–Leninist PCT held a constitutive congress in the capital from 29 to 31 December 1969, becoming the sole party of the new state. Marien Ngouabi further introduced a number of communist policies—such as nationalizing themeans of production—in the succeeding years. Ngouabi was assassinated in 1977 and was succeeded by colonelJoachim Yhombi-Opango, who ruled until February 1979, whenDenis Sassou-Nguesso rose to power.[4]
In the same manner as other African communist states of theCold War era, the People's Republic of the Congo shared close ties with theSoviet Union.[6] This association remained strong after Ngouabi's assassination in 1977. However, the PCT government also maintained a close relationship withFrance throughout its existence.[7]
In mid-1991, the Sovereign National Conference removed the wordpopulaire ("People's") from the country's official name, while also replacing the flag and anthem that had been used under the PCT government. The Sovereign National Conference ended the PCT government, appointing a transitional Prime Minister,André Milongo, who was invested with executive powers. PresidentDenis Sassou Nguesso was allowed to remain in office in a ceremonial capacity during the transitional period.[8]
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…Military Coups of a new type, which introduced revolutionary regimes self-declared Marxist-Leninist. This is the case of Somalia (1969) and Ethiopia (1974), the most emblematic case, but also of four french-speaking countries: Congo-Brazzaville (1968), Daomey/Benin (1972-74), Madagascar (1975) and Alto Volta/Burkina Faso (1983).
In contrast to Angola and Mozambique, where the Marxist component was associated with National Liberation Movements, those in Ethiopia and Somalia, as well as the four Francophone States, had Marxist Military Revolutions/Regimes after more than a decade of independence. […] In Somalia and Ethiopia, military coups in 1969 and 1974, respectively, evolved into socialist-oriented Marxist Military Regimes, which did not prevent the outbreak of a war between both states in 1977-78. In Somalia, the conflict complicated the strategy of socialist transformation, but in Ethiopia the opposite happened, with its deepening. In parallel, Congo-Brazzaville, Benin, Madagascar and Alto Volta (Burkina Faso), four former French colo-nies, suftered military coups that took the same path.
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