The history of collective labour in Tanzania: a case of Mwanga district, 1900-2005

This study examines the forces which necessitated the development and change of people and their collective labour in Mwanga district from 1900-2005. This period represents the history of acceleration of changes and the integration of the Mwanga people into Tanzania as a part of the nation based on observation, primary, secondary, archival, and oral sources. The people of Mwanga from time immemorial had a cultural spirit of working collectively. By recognizing the presence of others beyond, they raised their consciousness and awareness, their feeling with others as one people and later as a nation. However international capital, tax, slave trade, missionaries’ activities, colonialism, the First and Second World Wars and other external forces forced people out of their communities, traditional settings and occupations which integrated them with others. This influenced their collective labour and while working with others, the seeds of nationalism were sown and Mwanga people today have attained the attitude of dispora. The beginning of African Nationalism and the achievement of independence brought other changes in the development of collective labour in Mwanga. The Arusha Declaration, the villagization programmes, economic liberalization, is some of the prominent changes in post independence period which have impact on the nature and development of collective labour. However these changes were not only threats but also advantages and opportunities.