It is interesting how both Nyerere and Marx understand man, society and development. There is no doubt that their understanding of man, society and development were the product of their historical epoch, Nyerere from the experience of colonialism and Marx from the experience of unmerciful capitalism. Both of them built their philosophy based on their reflection on the exploitatively, in which case man was treated as a means for colonial and capitalist ends.

It appears clearly that both Nyerere and Marx developed their philosophy from mainly the point of view of social anthropology. Nyerere centering on the Bantu basic notion of anthropocentrism while Marx relies heavily on the dialectical materialism. The end of both systems, Ujamaa and Communism, is to free man from exploitation and to build equitable society. In order to achieve this, Nyerere proposes a return to values that held together the African traditional society. Though these values are African by nature, they are universal in essence and are the ideals of the ideal human society. On the other hand, Marx proposes a violent overthrow of capitalism by the proletariat, meaning dictatorship of proletariat.

DOI:  www.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3408300

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