The National Movement of the Revolution (french: Mouvement national de la révolution, abbreviated MNR) was a political party in the Republic of the Congo. 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
Scientific socialism is a term coined in 1840 by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his book ''What is Property?'' to mean a society ruled by a scientific government, i.e., one whose sovereignty rests upon reason, rather than sheer will: Thus, in a given ...
Central Committee
Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party organizations, the c ...
and a
Political Bureau
A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states.
Names
The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
. The Political Bureau executed the decisions of the Central Committee. It also gave the
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
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 (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
Marien Ngouabi (or N'Gouabi) (December 31, 1938 – March 18, 1977) was the third President of the Republic of the Congo from January 1, 1969, to March 18, 1977.
Biography
Origins
Marien Ngouabi was born in 1938 at the village of Ombellé, Cu ...
, 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
Alphonse Massamba-Débat (February 11, 1921 – March 25, 1977) was a political figure of the Republic of the Congo who led the country from 1963 until 1968 in a one-party system.
Biography Early life
He was born in the small village of Nkolo, ...
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
The Congolese Party of Labour (french: Parti congolais du travail, PCT) is the ruling party of the Republic of the Congo. Founded in 1969 by Marien Ngouabi, it was originally a pro-Soviet, Marxist–Leninist vanguard party which founded the Pe ...
(PCT). PCT based itself on the MNR charter from 1966, but unlike MNR, PCT was a
vanguard party
Vanguardism in the context of Leninist revolutionary struggle, relates to a strategy whereby the most class-conscious and politically "advanced" sections of the proletariat or working class, described as the revolutionary vanguard, form orga ...
People's Republic of the Congo
The People's Republic of the Congo (french: République populaire du Congo) was a Marxist–Leninist socialist state that existed in the Republic of the Congo from 1969 to 1992.
The People's Republic of the Congo was founded in December 196 ...