The National Movement of the Revolution (french: Mouvement national de la révolution, abbreviated MNR) was a
political party in the
Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...
. MNR was founded at a congress held June 29 to July 6, 1964. MNR was instituted as the sole legal political party in the country on July 20, 1964, according to the Law No. 25-65.
[Bazenguissa-Ganga, Rémy. ]
Les voies du politique au Congo: essai de sociologie historique
'. Paris: Karthala, 1997. pp. 105-106 Pre-existing political parties were ordered to fuse into the MNR.
[Nohlen, Dieter, Michael Krennerich, and Bernhard Thibaut. ]
Elections in Africa: A Data Handbook
'. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. p. 260 MNR adopted
scientific socialism as its ideological foundation.
Ambroise Noumazalaye was the First Secretary of the party.
[Bazenguissa-Ganga, Rémy. ]
Les voies du politique au Congo: essai de sociologie historique
'. Paris: Karthala, 1997. p. 109
MNR was a mass party. It had two central leading organs, a
Central Committee
Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...
and a
Political Bureau. The Political Bureau executed the decisions of the Central Committee. It also gave the
President approval regarding the appointment of ministers in the government of the Republic.
The leftwing faction of party was based in the northern areas of the country.
MNR published the journal ''Etumba''.
In August 1964, a founding congress of the
Youth of the National Movement of the Revolution
Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Y ...
(JMNR) was held. JMNR soon went beyond the control of the party, and on June 20, 1965 a new paramilitary structure National Civilian Defense Corps (''Defense civile'') was formed. The ''Defense civile'' was put under the direct control of the MNR.
In the summer of 1966 MNR moved to politicize the armed forces. A law was passed on June 22, 1966, which transformed the Congolese Armed Forces into the National People's Army (APN). A High Command of the APN was formed jointly by the government and the MNR. The High Command was led by a political commission, consisting of civilians and led by an officer party member. The lieutenant
Marien Ngouabi, later the president of the country, became the APN representative in the MNR Central Committee.
In the same year 1966 a political dispute erupted between the President
Alphonse Massamba-Débat and the leftwing of the MNR. As a result, in the summer of 1967 a Permanent Commission of the MNR was formed. The task of the Permanent Commission was to control the day-to-day work of the government.
In December 1969 MNR was substituted by a new party, the
Congolese Party of Labour (PCT). PCT based itself on the MNR charter from 1966, but unlike MNR, PCT was a
vanguard party.
[Bazenguissa-Ganga, Rémy. ]
Les voies du politique au Congo: essai de sociologie historique
'. Paris: Karthala, 1997. p. 159
Electoral history
Presidential elections
National Assembly elections
See also
*
Cold War in the Third World
*
People's Republic of the Congo
References
{{Authority control
Defunct political parties in the Republic of the Congo
Political parties established in 1964
Political parties disestablished in 1969
Communism in the Republic of the Congo
1964 establishments in the Republic of the Congo
1969 disestablishments in the Republic of the Congo
Parties of one-party systems