Socialist Explorations in Africa’s De-Westernizing Transformation and Development

Socialist theory and practice have played an important role in the political development process of Africa, making significant contributions to the realization of national liberation and economic independence in Africa. Although it encountered setbacks after the Cold War, socialism has not been completely severed from Africa. The various explorations with socialist characteristics currently underway in Africa are precisely the development and manifestation of socialist theory and its values at the present stage. The renewed vitality of socialist elements in Africa’s development provides a concrete African case for fully interpreting the bright prospects of socialism’s development worldwide.

社会主义理论与实践在非洲政治发展进程中发挥着重要的作用，为非洲实现民族解放和经济独立作出了重要贡献。尽管在冷战后遭遇了挫折，社会主义并没有从此与非洲绝缘。当前非洲的各类带有社会主义性质的探索，正是社会主义理论及其价值在现阶段的发展和表现。社会主义元素在非洲发展中重新迸发活力，为充分诠释社会主义在全世界发展的光明前景，提供了具象化的非洲案例。

I. Manifestations of the Renewed Vitality of Socialist Exploration in Africa

一、社会主义探索在非洲重现活力的表现

In the process of changes in the governance philosophies of relevant political parties or in the dynamism of social activity, socialism and Africa’s political and economic development are showing an accelerating trend of integration, providing theoretical guidance and impetus for institutional exploration to promote Africa’s transformative development.

在相关政党执政理念或社会活跃度变化的过程中，社会主义与非洲政治经济发展呈现加速融合态势，为推动非洲实现转型发展提供理论指导与制度探索动力。

(A) Socialist Exploration Forms the Foundation for Reforms by Some Ruling Parties

(一)社会主义探索构筑部分执政党改革的基础

These parties are essentially the star political parties of Africa that led their countries to independence, weathered the impact of the so-called “third wave of democratization” [1]1 The “third wave of democratization” refers to a global trend of transitions from authoritarian rule to democracy, identified by political scientist Samuel Huntington as beginning in the mid-1970s and accelerating after the end of the Cold War, which significantly impacted African political systems. after the Cold War, and remain in power today. They can be further subdivided into two major categories.

这类政党基本上是带领非洲国家独立、且经历过冷战后所谓“第三波民主化浪潮”冲击、至今仍然执政的非洲政坛明星政党，具体可以细分为两大类。

First, ruling parties that seek breakthroughs for reform from past socialist practices. Although these parties, facing the strangulation of the “Washington Consensus” [2]2 The “Washington Consensus” refers to a set of neoliberal economic policy prescriptions (including privatization, deregulation, and trade liberalization) promoted by Washington-based institutions like the IMF and World Bank, often imposed on developing countries in the 1980s and 1990s. after the end of the Cold War, temporarily suspended socialist practices in their textual expressions, the underlying logic supporting their governance still bears significant socialist characteristics. Compared with the general electoral parties in Africa today, these ruling parties possess multiple advantages: First, they have relatively complete ideologies and governance philosophies, with relatively well-established organizational structures that can basically achieve comprehensive coverage of various regions and industries within the country, enjoying high political prestige among the populace; second, they attach great importance to developing the public ownership economy, emphasizing in particular, in foreign cooperation, that adhering to public ownership and controlling departments or industries vital to the national economic lifeline is indispensable for the country’s stable development; third, they have constructed a democratic political system with the party at its core, where the party’s broad representativeness complements its internal supervision and decision-making mechanisms, ensuring smooth channels for popular participation in national governance and safeguarding the people’s rights as masters of the country. In recent years, these parties have focused on further expanding the above advantages, enhancing their adaptability to the times, and promoting the improvement of quality and efficiency in national development. Since 2015, under the leadership of John Magufuli, the Revolutionary Party of Tanzania (Chama cha Mapinduzi, hereinafter referred to as CCM), guided by the socialist theories of Julius K. Nyerere and Ujamaa [3]3 Ujamaa is a socialist ideology developed by Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania, emphasizing communal cooperation, self-reliance, and African familyhood as the basis for economic and social development., has implemented a combination of measures to promote Party conduct and clean governance, economic reform, and national unity. This not only eliminated the trust deficit the party faced among the masses but also led the country into the ranks of middle-income countries in 2020, achieving its set development goals five years ahead of schedule and creating a development miracle in East Africa. In 2017, after João Lourenço was elected president, relying on several measures from the era of António Neto’s construction of a Marxist-Leninist party, he vigorously cleaned up the privileged stratum within the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, hereinafter referred to as MPLA), expanded the space for ordinary party members, especially young party members, to participate in and discuss politics, actively recovered state assets lost overseas due to corruption, and increased the intensity of guiding the profits of the state-owned company Sonangol to support livelihood projects. The Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frente de Libertação Moçambique, hereinafter referred to as FRELIMO), under the leadership of Filipe Nyusi since 2014, has continuously drawn on the experiences of socialist exploration based on party building by Samora Machel and Nyerere, strengthening internal party unity and reinforcing the party’s macro-guidance over economic and social development, using this as the basic focus for improving political performance to counter the political offensives of opposition parties. Since 2018, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), with Emmerson Mnangagwa at its core, drawing on the experiences of Robert Mugabe’s socialist exploration based on land reform, has proposed continuing to reasonably deepen land reform and reshape a New Economic Order that achieves a balance between fairness and efficiency for the country’s people in foreign cooperation, leading the nation to accelerate its pace out of economic difficulties.

第一，从曾经的社会主义实践中寻找改革突破口的执政党。尽管在冷战结束后，这些政党面对“华盛顿共识”的绞杀，在文字表述上暂时中止了社会主义实践，但支撑其治国理政的底层逻辑依然带有显著的社会主义特征。相较于当前非洲一般的选举型政党，这些执政党具有多重优势：其一，拥有较为完备的意识形态和执政理念，组织建设相对完备，基本可以实现对国内各地与各行业的全方位覆盖，在民众中拥有较高的政治威望；其二，高度重视发展公有制经济，特别在对外合作中强调，坚持公有制、掌控事关国家经济命脉的部门或行业，对于国家的稳定发展不可或缺；其三，构建了以党为核心的民主政治体系，党的广泛代表性与党内的监督与决策机制相辅相成，保证民众参与国家治理的渠道畅通，维护了人民当家作主的权益。这些政党近年来着眼于继续扩大上述优势，增强自身的时代适应性，推动国家发展提质增效。2015年以来，在约翰·马古富力(John Magufuli)的带领下，坦桑尼亚革命党(Chama cha Mapinduzi, 以下简称革命党)以尼雷尔(Julius K. Nyerere)、乌贾马(Ujamaa)的社会主义理论为引领，打出了一套推进党风廉政建设、经济改革、国家统一的组合拳，不仅消除了党在群众中遭遇的信任赤字，而且于2020年带领国家迈入中等收入国家行列，提前5年实现了既定的发展目标，创造了东非的发展奇迹。2017年，若昂·洛伦索(João Lourenço)当选总统后，以内图(António Neto)执政时期建设马列主义政党的若干举措为依托，在安哥拉人民解放运动(Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, 以下简称“安人运”)内部大力清理特权阶层，扩大普通党员特别是青年党员参政议政的空间，同时积极追讨因腐败而流失海外的国有资产，并加大引领安哥拉国家石油公司(Sonagal)的利润反哺民生工程建设的力度。莫桑比克解放阵线(Frente de Libertação Moçambique, 以下简称“莫解阵”)在菲利佩·纽西(Filipe Nyusi)的领导下，自2014年以来不断借鉴萨莫拉(Samora Machel)、尼雷尔依托政党建设进行社会主义探索的经验，巩固党内团结，强化党对经济社会发展的宏观引领，以此作为提升政绩以应对反对党政治攻势的基本着力点。2018年以来，以埃默森·姆南加古瓦(Emmerson Mnangagwa)为核心的津巴布韦非洲民族联盟(Zimbabwe African National Union, 以下简称“津民盟”)吸取穆加贝(Robert Mugabe)以土地改革为依托的社会主义探索的经验,提出了继续合理深化土改，重塑本国人民在对外合作中实现公平与效率平衡的新经济秩序(New Economic Order),带领全国加快摆脱经济发展困境的步伐。

Second, left-wing ruling parties that have not previously engaged in socialist practice but increasingly value socialist values. The role played by this type of party in the political development of the African countries they govern is broadly similar to that of the first category, with the difference being that the ideology of these parties is primarily nationalism. Currently, within these parties, a growing number of insightful members recognize that borrowing from socialist practices to implement reforms should serve as the fulcrum for breaking the deadlock in organizational construction and national development. For example, the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) has long adhered to nationalism. However, facing the increasingly severe socio-economic crisis in Namibia today, calls within SWAPO to draw on socialism have been rising continuously. The party’s governance focus has shifted to curbing the excessive expansion of privatization and strengthening government macro-control. At the party’s special congress in 2018, a proposal to build “socialism with Namibian characteristics” reflected the party’s confidence in socialism. Another example is the African National Congress (ANC), which originally centered nationalism as the core of building a new South Africa. However, facing the crisis of intensifying social division in the country in recent years, the party has gradually endorsed the program of the South African Communist Party within its governing alliance, responding to the call of the times by making firm support for land reform, restricting white monopoly capital, preventing the emergence of black monopoly capital in advance, and nationalizing the South African Reserve Bank the focus of its governance. The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, hereinafter referred to as PAIGC), although its leader Amílcar Cabral was deeply influenced by Marxism-Leninism, still emphasized that the party’s foundation was nationalism. Entering the 21st century, with frequent coups d’état in Guinea-Bissau, since its 8th Congress in 2014, the PAIGC has actively drawn on Cabral’s exploratory achievements under the influence of Marxism-Leninism. On the one hand, it unifies internal party thought and resists liberalization interference; on the other hand, it strengthens the government’s macro-guidance and regulation of economic development, increases the proportion of the public ownership economy, and enhances the state’s capacity for development to safeguard people’s livelihoods and well-being.

第二，此前没有进行社会主义实践，但愈发重视社会主义价值的左翼执政党。这类政党在其执掌的非洲国家政治发展中所扮演的角色与第一类政党大体相同，区别在于这类政党的意识形态以民族主义为主。当前，在这些政党中，越来越多的党内有识之士认识到，应以借鉴社会主义实践实施改革作为破解组织建设与国家发展僵局的支点。例如，西南非洲人民组织(Southwest Africa People's Organization, 以下简称“人组党”)长期坚持民族主义，然而，面对当下纳米比亚日益严峻的社会经济危机，人组党内部要求借鉴社会主义的呼声持续高涨，全党施政的重点已转变为遏制私有化的过度膨胀，强化政府的宏观调控。在2018年全党特别会议上，党内提出的建设“纳米比亚特色社会主义”提案,反映了全党对于社会主义的信心。又如，非洲人国民大会(African National Congress, 以下简称“非国大”)原本将民族主义作为建设新南非的中心，但面对近年来国内社会加剧撕裂的危机，全党逐渐认同执政同盟中南非共产党的纲领，顺应时代呼声，将坚定支持土地改革、限制白人垄断资本、提前预防黑人垄断资本出现、国有化南非储备银行等举措作为施政焦点。几内亚与佛得角独立党(Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, 以下简称“几佛党”)领袖阿米卡尔·卡布拉尔(Amílcar Cabral)虽深受马列主义影响，仍强调党的基础是民族主义。进入21世纪以来，几内亚比绍政变频发，几佛党自2014年八大后，积极借鉴卡布拉尔在马列主义影响下的探索成就，一方面统一党内思想，抵制自由化干扰；另一方面强化政府对经济发展的宏观指导与调控，提升公有制经济的占比，增强国家发展保障民生福祉的能力。

(B) Socialist Exploration Enhances the Social Influence of Some Non-Ruling Parties

(二)社会主义探索增强部分非执政党的社会影响力

Various non-ruling parties that identify with socialist ideas have seen a significant increase in their political activity in African countries in recent years, with their social recognition and popular support steadily rising.

认同社会主义理念的各个非执政党，近年来在非洲各国政治中的活跃性显著增强，社会认可程度和民众支持率稳步提升。

First, the political status of long-standing non-ruling parties is gradually rising.

第一，老牌非执政党的政治地位日渐上升。

The South African Communist Party is one of the oldest socialist parties in Africa and a typical representative of left-wing political forces in South Africa. In the increasingly severe social crisis in South Africa in recent years, the South African Communist Party has actively engaged in the struggle to defend the political and economic rights of socially vulnerable groups, and its social support rate has continued to rise. The tripartite governing alliance formed by the South African Communist Party, the African National Congress, and the Congress of South African Trade Unions has become a central force pushing the ruling party to attach importance to socialism. The Communist Party of Lesotho and the Communist Party of Eswatini, which are closely linked to the South African Communist Party, play key roles respectively in promoting political democratization and economic inclusiveness reforms centered on limiting the power of the two countries’ monarchies, and are also the main forces driving the integrated development of these two countries with South Africa. The Sudanese Communist Party is the oldest and largest left-wing force among Africa’s Arab countries, striving to achieve comprehensive political democratization and genuine economic independence for Sudan. Especially after President Omar Hasan Ahmad Al-Bashir was overthrown in a military coup in 2019 and after the military terminated the power-transfer agreement with the interim government at the end of 2021, the Sudanese Communist Party actively mobilized the people to hold democratic demonstrations, becoming an important leading force in protecting civil rights. The Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism (Parti Algérien pour la Démocratie et le Socialisme, hereinafter referred to as the PADS) takes Marxism-Leninism as its guiding ideology and has strong appeal among low-income groups in the country’s large cities, particularly artisans and young students. Whether in defending Algeria against the “Arab Spring” color revolution from 2010 to 2011, or in vigorously defusing the domestic political crisis triggered by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s resignation in 2019, the PADS actively promoted dialogue and consultation between the rulers and the people, laying the foundation for the introduction of several subsequent reform measures and effectively maintaining national peace and the unity of the whole society. The Convention People’s Party of Ghana (hereinafter referred to as the CPP) is the socialist party founded by the African socialist pioneer Kwame Nkrumah, which later lost its ruling status due to a coup. In recent years, the CPP has explicitly set regaining ruling status as its goal, taking the revival of Nkrumah’s thought as the guiding ideology and action guide for saving Ghana from its development predicament, and has won a high reputation among youth and women’s groups, ranking among the top three in vote share in successive parliamentary elections. In addition, the Ghana Socialist Forum, aimed at promoting solidarity and mutual assistance among the working class, was restructured into the Socialist Movement of Ghana in September 2021, providing a necessary framework mechanism for exchanges and unity among left-wing parties, including the CPP. The National Union for Development and Renewal is the largest non-ruling party in Chad, advocating for the realization of democracy and socialism on the basis of promoting the sharing of political rights and economic development dividends among the entire people, thereby laying the foundation for the country to achieve sustainable peace.

南非共产党是非洲历史最为悠久的社会主义政党之一，也是南非左翼政治力量中的典型代表。在近年来南非愈演愈烈的社会危机中，南非共产党积极投身于维护社会弱势群体的政治经济权益的斗争，社会支持率持续走高。南非共产党与非国大、南非工会大会(Congress of South African Trade Unions)形成的三方执政联盟，成为推动执政党重视社会主义的中心力量。与南非共产党联系密切的莱索托共产党和斯威士兰共产党，分别在推动以限制两国王室权力为中心议题的政治民主化、经济普惠化的改革进程中扮演关键性的角色，也是推动两国与南非实现一体化发展的主要力量。苏丹共产党是非洲阿拉伯国家中历史最悠久、规模最大的左翼力量，以推动苏丹实现全面的政治民主化和真正的经济独立为奋斗目标。特别是在2019年巴希尔(Omar Hasan Ahmad Al-Bashir)总统被军事政变推翻，以及2021年年底军方终止与临时政府的交权协议后，苏丹共产党积极发动民众举行民主示威，成为保护民权的重要领导力量。阿尔及利亚民主与社会主义党(Parti Algérien pour la Démocratie et le Socialisme, 以下简称“民社党”)以马列主义为指导思想，对该国大城市中的低收入群，特别是手工业者、青年学生有着较强的号召力。无论是在2010年～2011年保卫阿尔及利亚免受“阿拉伯之春”颜色革命的侵袭，还是在2019年大力化解布特弗利卡(Abdelaziz Bouteflika)总统辞职后引发的国内政治危机，民社党都积极推动执政者与民众开展对话协商，奠定了其后若干改革措施出台的基础，有效维护了国家的和平与全社会的团结。加纳人民大会党(Convention Peoples' Party, 以下简称“人大党”)为非洲社会主义先驱恩克鲁玛(Kwame Nkrumah)创立的社会主义政党，后因政变丧失执政地位。近年来，人大党明确提出将重新赢得执政地位作为奋斗目标，把复兴恩克鲁玛思想作为从发展困局中拯救加纳的指导思想和行动指南,并且在青年、妇女群体中赢得较高声誉，得票率在连续多届议会选举中位居前三。此外，旨在促进工人阶级团结互助的加纳社会主义论坛，于2021年9月改组为加纳社会主义运动(Socialist Movement of Ghana),为包括人大党在内的左翼政党的交流与联合提供了必要的框架机制。争取发展与革新全国同盟(Union Nationale pour le Développement et le Renouveau)为乍得最大的非执政党，主张在推动全民共享政治权利和经济发展红利的基础上，实现民主与社会主义，奠定国家实现可持续和平的基础。

Second, newly established communist parties demonstrate social influence.

第二，新成立的共产党彰显社会影响力。

After the end of the Cold War, many African countries strictly prohibited the establishment of communist parties within their borders. However, after 2010, new communist parties emerged successively in several African countries, marking a renewed attention to Marxism-Leninism in Africa. In 2014, the Communist Party of Namibia was formally established, advocating for the protection of mining workers’ rights and actively supporting the SWAPO Party’s explorations with a socialist character, laying the necessary foundation for the formation of a left-wing party alliance in Namibia. South Sudan formally seceded from Sudan and became independent in 2011, making it the youngest sovereign state in Africa. The original branches of the Sudanese Communist Party in the southern states merged to form the Communist Party of South Sudan. Despite the separation of North and South Sudan, the Communist Party of South Sudan maintains close cooperative relations with the Sudanese Communist Party, and its basic political positions are consistent with the latter. On the one hand, it actively calls for the two countries to end as soon as possible the disputes and conflicts arising from the distribution of oil revenues and the ownership of the Abyei region; on the other hand, it actively promotes comprehensive political reconciliation between the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups within the country and supports UN resolutions and actions related to resolving the security situation in South Sudan, winning broad popular support. In Kenya, long regarded by the West as a model of East African development, the Communist Party of Kenya, established in 2017, focuses on the country’s privatization issue, pointing out that the privatization of public wealth is the root cause of the periodic political turmoil in the country. However, neither the new Constitution promulgated after the 2010 political reform nor the current “Building Bridges Initiative” for reconciliation between the ruling party and the opposition has touched on the substantive issue of halting privatization reforms. For this reason, the Communist Party of Kenya made the promotion of land nationalization the primary issue for its participation in the 2022 general election, leading the voice of Kenya’s left-wing political forces.

冷战结束后，不少非洲国家一度严格禁止本国成立共产党。但2010年后，多个非洲国家相继出现新成立的共产党，标志着马列主义开始重新受到非洲重视。2014年，纳米比亚共产党正式成立，主张捍卫矿业工人权益，并积极支持人组党开展带有社会主义性质的探索，为纳米比亚左翼政党联盟的形成奠定了必要的基础。南苏丹于2011年正式脱离苏丹而独立，是非洲最年轻的主权国家，苏丹共产党原在南方各州的支部合并组建成南苏丹共产党。尽管南北苏丹分立，南苏丹共产党与苏丹共产党仍保持着密切的合作关系，基本政治主张与后者一致，一方面积极呼吁两国尽快结束因石油收益分配、阿卜耶伊(Abyei)地区归属权而产生的分歧与冲突；另一方面积极推动国内努尔族、丁卡族实现全面政治和解，支持联合国解决南苏丹安全局势相关决议和行动，赢得民众的广泛支持。在长期被西方视为东非发展样板的肯尼亚，2017年成立的肯尼亚共产党聚焦该国的私有化问题，指出公共财富的私有化是引发国家政局周期性动荡的根源，但无论是2010年政改后颁布的新《宪法》,还是当前执政党与反对派之间实现和解的“建桥倡议”(Bridge Building Initiative),都没有触及叫停私有化改革的实质性问题。为此，肯共将推动实现土地国有化作为参加2022年大选的首要议题，引领了肯尼亚左翼政治力量的呼声。

(3) Socialist explorations have strengthened the unity between Africa and international left-wing forces

(三)社会主义探索强化了非洲与国际左翼力量的团结

The significance of socialism for Africa’s development also lies in the fact that it has built a necessary bridge for relevant African parties to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with international left-wing forces.

社会主义之于非洲发展的意义，还在于为非洲的相关政党与国际左翼力量强化交流合作搭建了必要的桥梁。

First, in the sphere of international multilateral exchanges, relevant African political parties generally participate in left-wing party alliances. At present, all Marxist-Leninist parties in Africa are members of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties. Within the framework of this mechanism, these parties cooperate closely with fraternal parties from other regions of the world, actively supporting the Meeting’s critique of international monopoly capitalism, pointing out that international monopoly capitalism is the root cause of the unjust international political and economic order, and reaffirming the necessity of the public ownership of the means of production and the democratization of international relations for advancing global governance. Particularly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, African parties under this mechanism actively voiced their opinions, accusing the West of seeking geopolitical interests through the pandemic, and at a special (online) meeting held at the end of 2021, they reached a joint action declaration, proposing issues such as properly resolving the refugee problem, uniting to combat the pandemic, protecting the ecological environment, and strengthening the contribution of the working class to global governance, thereby laying a solid foundation for the revival of the international communist movement. At the same time, other African parties associated with socialism are generally members of the Socialist International and endorse democratic socialism. Besides the parties mentioned earlier, these mainly include Burkina Faso’s People’s Movement for Progress (MPP), Morocco’s Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), Togo’s Democratic Convention of African Peoples (CDPA), Senegal’s Socialist Party (PS), Cameroon’s Social Democratic Front (SDF), Niger’s Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS), Mali’s Alliance for Democracy in Africa (ADEMA), Gabon’s Progressive Party (PGP), Algeria’s Socialist Forces Front (ASF), the Central African Republic’s Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People (MLPC), Mauritania’s Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD), the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), Tunisia’s Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties (FDTL), Djibouti’s Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development (MRD), the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic’s Polisario Front (PF), Gambia’s United Democratic Party (UDP), and Equatorial Guinea’s Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS). The 2017 reform of the Socialist International’s mechanism further strengthened the functions of its subordinate regional committees, prompting the above parties to establish a fixed dialogue mechanism through the Africa Committee. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, how to overcome the funding obstacles facing the construction of Africa’s public healthcare system became the focus of dialogue among these parties. In June 2021, the Africa Committee held its annual meeting, focusing on democracy and security in Africa under the pandemic, emphasizing that only by substantially reversing the severe imbalance in the distribution of real development rights and interests between countries and classes can inclusive development truly be achieved in Africa.

第一，在国际多边交流方面，非洲相关政党普遍参加左翼政党联盟。目前，非洲的各个马列主义政党，都是共产党和工人党国际会议的成员。在此机制框架下，各党与世界其他地区的兄弟政党通力合作，积极支持会议批判国际垄断资本主义，指出国际垄断资本主义是催生不合理的国际政治经济秩序的根源，重申生产资料公有化、国际关系民主化对于推进世界治理的必要性。特别是新冠肺炎疫情发生后，非洲各党在此机制下积极发声，指责西方借疫情谋求地缘政治利益，并且在2021年年底召开的特别(线上)会议上达成联合行动声明，提出妥善解决难民问题、团结抗击疫情、保护生态环境、加强工人阶级对世界治理的贡献等议题,为国际共产主义运动的复兴夯实了基础。与此同时，非洲其他与社会主义相关联的各个政党，基本都是社会党国际的成员，认同民主社会主义。除了前文提到的相关政党之外，主要还包括肯布基纳法索人民进步运动(MPP)、摩洛哥人民力量社会主义联盟(USFP)、多哥非洲人民民主大会(CDPA)、塞内加尔社会党(PS)、喀麦隆社会民主阵线(SDF)、尼日尔民主与社会主义党(PNDS)、马里非洲统一与正义党(ADEMA)、加蓬进步党(PGP)、阿尔及利亚社会主义力量阵线(ASF)、中非人民解放运动(MLPC)、毛里塔尼亚民主力量大会(RFD)、刚果(金)民主与社会进步联盟(UDPS)、突尼斯劳动与自由民主论坛(FDTL)、吉布提民主革新与发展运动(MRD)、西撒哈拉波利萨利奥阵线(PF)、冈比亚联合民主党(UDP)、赤道几内亚社会民主联盟(CPDS)等。2017年社会党国际机制改革，进一步强化下设区域委员会的职能，促使上述各党依托非洲委员会(Africa Committee)建立起固定的对话机制。新冠肺炎疫情发生后，如何破解非洲公共医疗体系建设面临的资金障碍成为各党对话的焦点。2021年6月，非洲委员会举行年度会议，聚焦疫情下的非洲民主与安全，强调只有实质性扭转现实发展权益在国家和阶层间分配的严重失衡，才能真正在非洲实现包容性发展。

Second, in the sphere of international bilateral exchanges, African parties actively strengthen dialogue with the ruling parties of socialist countries, with the exchanges between some African ruling parties and the Communist Party of China (CPC) serving as a typical example. The CPC is not only the world’s largest Marxist political party and the ruling party of the world’s largest socialist country, but has also always been a staunch supporter of Africa’s national liberation and modernization. Inter-party exchanges between China and Africa are an important cornerstone supporting the development of China-Africa relations. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC [7]7 The 18th National Congress of the CPC, held in November 2012, marked the beginning of Xi Jinping’s leadership and the official proclamation of the “New Era” of socialism with Chinese characteristics., and especially after the upgrading of China-Africa relations to a comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership in 2015, China-Africa inter-party exchanges and cooperation have entered a fast track of development. First, the CPC has continuously sent senior representatives to attend the national congresses of some African political parties. After 2016, due to fluctuations in the global economic situation and the proliferation of conservative forces in Western countries, the development predicament of most African countries intensified. The CPC sending senior representatives to attend meetings in Africa is a full affirmation of the relevant parties’ independent exploration of a development path suitable for Africa, laying a solid foundation for continuously consolidating China-Africa political mutual trust in the New Era. Second, the CPC has vigorously promoted the strengthening of exchanges on governance experience with African political parties. In recent years, through mechanisms such as the China-Africa Political Parties Theoretical Seminar, the CPC and World Political Parties Summit, and senior seminars for African political parties, China has invited representatives from African parties such as the African National Congress (ANC), the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), and the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) to China for exchanges and study, providing solid political guarantees for deeply aligning the Belt and Road Initiative with the African Union’s Agenda 2063. Finally, African political parties have resolutely resisted the West’s groundless smearing of the CPC. Currently, the West, by fabricating so-called “arguments” such as the pandemic responsibility theory, the debt trap theory, the human rights violation theory, and the environmental destruction theory, is vigorously slandering the CPC’s governance achievements and China-Africa relations. Faced with these provocations, African parties such as the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), and the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) have angrily denounced Western lies. On major historical occasions such as China’s victory in the battle against poverty, the centenary of the CPC’s founding, and the convening of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee [8]8 The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC, held in November 2021, adopted a landmark resolution on the Party’s historical achievements and experiences, formally establishing Xi Jinping’s core position., they have actively spoken out, highly praising the significance of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a New Era as a reference for the whole world.

第二，在国际双边交流领域，非洲各党积极加强与社会主义国家执政党的对话，以部分非洲执政党与中国共产党的交流为典型代表。中国共产党不仅是全世界规模最大的马克思主义政党和全世界最大的社会主义国家的执政党，而且始终是非洲民族解放与现代化建设的坚定支持者，中非党际交往是支撑中非关系发展的重要基石。中共十八大以来，特别是2015年中非关系升级为全面战略合作伙伴关系之后，中非党际交流合作步入发展快车道。首先，中共持续派出高级代表出席部分非洲政党的全国代表大会。2016年后，由于全球经济形势波动，西方国家保守主义势力泛滥，大多数非洲国家发展困局加剧。中共派出高级代表赴非参会,是对相关政党独立探索适合非洲发展道路的充分肯定，为在新时代持续夯实中非政治互信打下了牢固的根基。其次，中共大力推动与非洲政党加强治国理政经验交流。近年来，中方通过举办中非政党理论研讨会、中共与世界政党领导人峰会，开办非洲政党高层研修班等机制，邀请非国大、安人运、莫解阵等非洲政党代表来华交流学习，为推动“一带一路”倡议深度对接非洲联盟《2063年议程》,提供了坚实的政治保障。最后，非洲政党全力抵制西方对中共的无端抹黑。当前西方借助炮制疫情责任论、债务陷阱论、人权践踏论、环境破坏论等所谓“论据”,大肆诋毁中共治国理政成就和中非关系，面对这些挑衅，人组党、革命党、津民盟等非洲政党怒斥西方谎言，在中国决胜脱贫攻坚、中共建党百年、十九届六中全会召开等重大历史时刻积极发声，盛赞新时代中国特色社会主义之于全世界的借鉴意义。

II. Reasons for Africa’s Renewed Emphasis on Socialist Values

二、非洲重新重视社会主义价值的原因

Africa’s renewed exploration of the significance of socialism for advancing reform and transformation is the result of the combined effect of multiple factors and possesses historical inevitability.

非洲重新探索社会主义之于推进改革和转型的重要意义，是多重因素共同作用的结果，具有历史发展的必然性。

(A) Structural Conflict between Capitalism and the Objective Laws of African Development

(一)资本主义与非洲发展客观规律间存在结构性冲突

Due to the legacy of colonial rule, the countries of pre-independence Africa had not experienced the process of capitalist economic development and modern national integration, and therefore were not suited to mechanically applying Western development concepts, paths, and models. The objective differences between Africa and the West are the internal reason driving post-independence African countries to incline towards socialist exploration.

由于殖民统治的原因，独立前的非洲各国并没有经历过资本主义经济发展和现代民族融合的过程，因此并不适合机械套用西方的发展理念、道路、模式。非洲与西方之间的客观差异，是推动独立后的非洲国家倾向于社会主义探索的内在原因。

At the political level, Western competitive democratic politics is detrimental to the ethnic integration of African countries. Because colonial invasion disrupted the natural process of ethnic integration in Africa, the foundation supporting the development of post-independence African countries remains the various ethnic groups of the pre-capitalist era, and the modern nations corresponding to sovereign states have not yet fully taken shape. If Western-style democracy is rashly introduced, it in fact facilitates the proliferation of ethnic politics, running counter to the original intention of African countries to promote ethnic integration. For this reason, whether it is Pan-Africanism or the nationalism of various African countries, both emphasize relying on the unity and mutual assistance among various ethnic groups to establish political authority that transcends ethnic differences. The political concepts promoted by socialism, such as collective cooperation and solidarity and mutual assistance, align with the demands of African leaders and are a guarantee for maintaining political stability in African countries.

在政治层面，西方竞争性民主政治不利于非洲国家的族群融合。由于殖民入侵扰乱了非洲族群的自然融合进程，支撑独立后的非洲国家发展的基础仍然是前资本主义时代的各个族群，与主权国家相适应的现代民族并未完全成型。如果贸然引入西式民主，实则为族群政治泛滥行了便利，与非洲国家推动族群融合的初衷背道而驰。为此，无论是泛非主义，还是非洲各国的民族主义，都强调依托各个族群间的团结互助，建立起超越族群差异的政治权威。社会主义推崇的集体协作、团结互助等政治理念，契合非洲领导人的诉求，是非洲国家维持政治稳定的保障。

At the economic level, capitalist exploitation and oppression restrict Africa from achieving genuine economic independence. Most post-independence African countries still excessively rely on exporting raw materials to their former colonial metropoles, essentially not changing their role as raw material producers in the capitalist international economic system. Under the combined assault of neo-colonialist means such as the price scissors [9]9 The “price scissors” refers to the economic mechanism by which industrialized countries sell manufactured goods to developing countries at high prices while buying their raw materials at low prices, a concept central to dependency theory and critiques of neocolonialism., technological barriers, and financial monopoly, if Africa does not start anew, it has no hope of completely breaking free from the “center-periphery” relationship model with Western countries. By introducing socialist elements, African countries, after “decoupling” from the West, not only did not cut off their economic sources, but also, relying on systems such as the public ownership economy, state macroeconomic regulation, and distribution according to work, gradually uprooted the deeply entrenched colonial economy, enabling their own people to truly become participants in and beneficiaries of economic development, thereby consolidating the material foundation for achieving economic independence.

在经济层面，资本主义的剥削与压迫制约非洲实现真正的经济独立。独立后的非洲国家，大多仍过度依赖对前殖民宗主国的原料出口，实质上并未改变在资本主义国际经济体系中的原料产地的角色。在剪刀差、技术壁垒、金融垄断等新殖民主义手段的夹击下，非洲如果不另起炉灶，则无望彻底摆脱与西方国家之间的“中心-边缘”关系模式。通过引入社会主义要素，非洲国家与西方“脱钩”后，不仅没有断绝经济来源，而且依托公有制经济、国家宏观调控、按劳分配等制度，逐步拔除了根深蒂固的殖民地经济，让本国人民真正成为经济发展的参与者和受益者，夯实了实现经济独立的物质基础。

At the cultural level, capitalist individualist values conflict with Africa’s traditional collective consciousness. Traditional concepts such as collectivism and the extended family are deeply rooted in African society, essentially a projection of the public ownership of primitive society in the ideological sphere. In the modern Black Enlightenment movement, whether it is the emphasis on “Négritude” in philosophy or the promotion of “Afrocentrism” in politics, both are responses to collective consciousness. Therefore, the concepts advocated by capitalism, such as individual liberation, free will, and the denial of authority, clearly have irreconcilable structural contradictions with Africa’s traditional culture. In contrast, the principles promoted by socialism, such as equal pay for equal work, win-win cooperation, and common prosperity, are more easily accepted by African society and help transform the people’s traditional values into a social collective consciousness that adapts to the development and construction of African countries.

在文化层面，资本主义的个人主义价值观与非洲传统的集体意识相左。集体主义、大家庭等传统观念，在非洲社会根深蒂固，本质是原始社会公有制在思想领域的投射。在近代黑人启蒙运动中，无论是哲学中对“黑人性(Négritude)”的强调，还是政治中对“非洲中心”的推崇，皆是对集体意识的呼应。因此，资本主义鼓吹的个人解放、自由意志、否定权威等理念，与非洲的传统文化之间，明显存在着难以调和的结构性矛盾。相较之下，社会主义推崇的同工同酬、合作共赢、共同富裕等原则，更容易被非洲社会接受，有助于将民众的传统价值观转化为适应非洲国家发展建设的社会集体意识。

In summary, Nyerere’s assertion that “Africa is naturally socialist in nature” reveals to a certain extent the inevitability of newly independent African states’ priority choice of socialism. To this day, the expositions of the older generation of African socialist theorists have not become outdated; the vast majority of African states still face the three aforementioned challenges. The significance of socialism for African nationalism remains the underlying logical support driving African states to rediscover the value of socialism.

综上来看，尼雷尔关于“非洲天然带有社会主义性质”的论断,在一定程度上揭示了独立后的非洲国家优先选择社会主义的必然性。时至今日，老一辈非洲社会主义理论家的论述并未过时，绝大多数非洲国家仍面临上述三方面的挑战。社会主义之于非洲民族主义的重要意义，依然是推动非洲国家重新发掘社会主义价值的底层逻辑支撑。

(2) The Failure of Neoliberal Reforms Intensifies Contradictions between Africa and the West

(二)新自由主义改革失利激化非洲与西方的矛盾

After the end of the Cold War, the West used a “carrot and stick” policy to forcibly peddle neoliberal “prescriptions” to African states. These arrived in the guise of promising to “help” Africa escape its development predicament, yet ended with the outcome of exacerbating Africa’s governance disorder. The gradual fall of the “Washington Consensus” from its pedestal in Africa is the catalyst that prompted African states to take up socialism once again.

冷战结束后，西方以“胡萝卜+大棒”政策强行向非洲国家推销新自由主义“药方”,以承诺“帮助”非洲摆脱发展困局的形式登场，却以加剧非洲治理失序的结局走向尾声。“华盛顿共识”在非洲逐步跌落神坛，是促使非洲国家重拾社会主义的催化剂。

From the perspective of political evolution, multiparty elections are the chief culprit in inducing political instability in Africa. As large numbers of nationalist parties were removed from the political stage by Western-style democracy, the vote politics rampant in the ensuing power vacuum accelerated the fragmentation of African societies. On the one hand, ethnic politics resurfaced, triggering horizontal societal fractures. The newly formed electoral parties generally lack systematic guiding ideologies and complete organizational construction, relying mainly on ethnic identity to compete for votes. The regularly held multiparty elections are in fact a process of accelerating the disintegration of national politics into disorderly competition based on ethnic units. On the other hand, elite oligarchs have risen powerfully, exacerbating vertical societal fractures. The main sphere of activity of the aforementioned parties is central cities, and the candidates they nominate are generally financial oligarchs, big entrepreneurs, internet celebrities, and other wealthy groups. Multiparty elections are essentially a rotation of different members of this vested interest group in power, while the channels for the broad masses, especially rural people, to participate in politics are completely blocked. From the fall of the United National Independence Party, which advocated African socialism, in 1991, plunging Zambia into periodic electoral crises, to the dissolution of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, which advocated learning from China’s experience, triggering a civil war in Ethiopia at the end of 2020, it can be seen that political fragmentation under the sway of Western-style democracy is undoubtedly a major threat to Africa’s political stability.

从政治演进来看，多党选举是诱发非洲政治不稳定的罪魁祸首。随着大批民族主义政党被西式民主拉下政治舞台，权力真空下横行的选票政治加速非洲社会的撕裂。一方面，族群政治沉渣泛起，引发社会横向断裂。新成立的选举型政党普遍缺乏系统的指导思想和完备的组织建设，主要依靠族群认同来争夺选票。定期举行的多党选举，实系加速国家政治裂解为以族群为基本单元的无序竞争。另一方面，精英寡头强势崛起，加剧社会横向断裂。上述政党的主要活动范围为中心城市，推举的候选人普遍是金融寡头、大企业家、网红达人等富裕群体。多党选举实质上是这个既得利益群体中的不同成员轮流坐庄，广大人民特别是乡村人民参政的途径被彻底堵死。从1991年主张非洲社会主义的联合民族党(United National Independence Party)下台后，赞比亚陷入周期性选举危机，到主张学习中国经验的人民革命民主阵线(Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front)解散后，埃塞俄比亚于2020年年底爆发内战，可以看出，西式民主裹挟下的政治碎片化，无疑是非洲政治稳定的巨大威胁。

From the perspective of economic development, liberalization and privatization have exacerbated the outflow of Africa’s wealth. The Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) proposed by the West are in fact, on the one hand, a means to make the African people relinquish their leading role in economic development through privatization, and on the other hand, a way for Western monopoly capital to use liberalization to snap up African wealth at rock-bottom prices. Within less than a decade of accepting these prescriptions, the collective people’s wealth accumulated by the relevant African states over nearly half a century was largely drained away. Taking the Republic of the Congo as an example, after the Congolese Party of Labour implemented the restructuring of the Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo, Western oil giants such as Elf Aquitaine, Total, ExxonMobil, and Chevron quickly became the de facto controllers of local oil and gas development rights. At the same time, the West further strengthened and solidified its economic exploitation of Africa by signing cooperation agreements with Africa. From the European Union’s four Lomé Conventions and the Cotonou Agreement to the US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), on the surface these involve the West using most-favored-nation treatment to attract African states to open their doors, but in reality they push Africa back to the bottom of the food chain in the capitalist international economic system. After the end of the Cold War, although Africa maintained an average annual economic growth rate of over 5% for many years, while Western monopoly capital reaped huge profits, the African people did not truly enjoy the actual development dividends. Especially after the outbreak of the 2008 international financial crisis, while Africa received reduced investment, its wealth accelerated its outflow to the West, turning it into a site for Western developed capitalist countries to shift their economic crises. To date, not only has no African state fully crossed the threshold of industrialization, but Africa remains the region with the highest incidence of global poverty, the largest number of poor countries, and the largest total poor population. During the COVID-19 pandemic, although the US “Build Back Better World” (B3W) initiative proposed in 2021 and the EU’s “Global Gateway” plan tried their utmost to tout “helping” Africa recover, they cannot conceal that both are essentially a smokescreen for Western countries to continue controlling Africa’s economic lifelines.

从经济发展来看，自由化和私有化加剧非洲财富的外流。西方提出的《结构调整计划》(SAP),实则是一方面让非洲人民在私有化中放弃经济发展的主导权，另一方面让西方垄断资本借自由化抄底非洲财富。接受这些药方后不到十年，非洲相关国家在近半个世纪积攒起的人民集体财富基本流失殆尽。以刚果(布)为例，劳动党(Parti congolais du Travail)实施国有石油公司(Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo)的改制后，埃尔夫·阿奎坦(Elf Aquitaine)、道达尔(Total)、埃克森美孚(Exon Mobil)、雪佛龙(Chevron)等西方石油巨头迅速成为当地油气开发权的实际掌控者。与此同时，西方通过与非洲签署合作协定，进一步强化和固化对非洲的经济剥削。从欧洲联盟的四个《洛美协定》(Lomé Convention)与《科托努协定》(Cotonou Agreement),到美国的《非洲增长与机遇法案》(AGOA),表面上是西方用最惠国待遇吸引非洲国家开放国门，实则重新将非洲推向资本主义国际经济体系的食物链底层。冷战结束后，非洲虽然多年维持5%以上的年均经济增速，但在西方垄断资本赚得盆满钵满的同时，非洲人民却并未真正享受到实际的发展红利。特别是2008年国际金融危机爆发后，非洲获得投资减少的同时，财富却加速外流西方,沦为西方发达资本主义国家转嫁经济危机的场所。迄今为止，非洲不仅没有一个国家完全跨过工业化门槛，而且依然是全球贫困发生率最高、贫困国家数量最多、贫困总人口最多的地区。新冠肺炎疫情下，虽然美国2021年提出的“重返更好世界倡议(B3W)”和欧盟打造的“全球门户(Global Gateway)”计划竭力渲染“助力”非洲复苏，但掩盖不了两者本质上只是西方国家企图继续把控非洲经济命脉的幌子。

In terms of the security situation, new interventionism is a malignant tumor trampling on peace in Africa. After the end of the Cold War, Western countries, not hesitating to sacrifice Africa’s security interests, adopted harsh strangulation measures against African states that did not accept the “Washington Consensus.” From inciting genocide to ensure “electoral democracy” in Rwanda, to isolating Zimbabwe for “trampling on economic freedom” through land reform; from sanctioning Sudan for implementing “genocide” in Darfur, to launching color revolutions to overthrow the “dictators” in Tunisia and Egypt; from using the pretext of “human rights overriding sovereignty” to militarily overthrow Gaddafi’s “tyranny” in Libya, to wantonly bombing civilian targets under the guise of counterterrorism in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel region—all the current armed conflicts and humanitarian crises in Africa are directly linked to Western hegemonic interference in the internal affairs of African states. Currently, the most pressing security crisis facing Africa is the rampage and spread of terrorism. The reason why northern Mali, the Lake Chad Basin, and other areas have become the regions with the highest global risk of terrorist attacks lies in the fact that countries like Libya and Somalia, which were brought down by the West, have long been in a state of anarchy, objectively serving as channels for international terrorist forces such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State to infiltrate Africa from the Middle East. Furthermore, the security deficit brought by the West to Africa has also exacerbated the livelihood plight of African residents. More and more people, unable to make a living, take desperate risks, either becoming pirates active in the Gulf of Guinea and the Gulf of Aden, or joining various extremist organizations, pushing African security further into an unsolvable quagmire.

在安全形势上，新干涉主义是践踏非洲和平的毒瘤。冷战结束后，西方国家不惜牺牲非洲的安全利益，对不接受“华盛顿共识”的非洲国家采取了严酷的绞杀措施。从确保实现卢旺达的“选举民主”而煽动大屠杀，到孤立因土地改革“践踏经济自由”的津巴布韦；从制裁在达尔富尔实施“种族灭绝”的苏丹，到发动颜色革命颠覆突尼斯、埃及的“独裁者”;从借口“人权高于主权”武装推翻利比亚卡扎菲“暴政”,到在非洲之角、萨赫勒地带借反恐肆意轰炸民用目标，非洲当前存在的所有武装冲突和人道主义危机，都与西方霸权主义肆意插手非洲国家内政有着直接的关联。当前，非洲面临最紧迫的安全危机是恐怖主义的肆虐和蔓延，马里北部、乍得湖沿岸等地之所以会沦为全球恐袭风险最高地区，祸根仍在于被西方搞垮了的利比亚、索马里等国长期处于无政府状态，客观上成为基地组织、伊斯兰国等国际恐怖主义势力从中东渗透进非洲的通道。此外，西方给非洲带来的安全赤字也加剧了非洲居民的民生困境，越来越多难以维持生计的民众铤而走险，或者成为活跃在几内亚湾、亚丁湾上的海盗，或者加入各类极端主义组织，令非洲安全愈发滑向无解。

Neoliberalism has exacerbated governance disorder in Africa. This proves from an empirical perspective that the combination of the “Washington Consensus” with Africa’s development path is merely a product forcibly generated by Western hegemonism and neocolonialism, a reflection of the West’s dominance in the early post-Cold War multipolar world order. In recent years, with the collective rise of developing countries and the intensification of internal contradictions within the West itself, the West’s “control” over Africa has been increasingly weakened. Under these circumstances, the “Washington Consensus,” which both deviates from the objective laws of Africa’s development and fails to deliver on its development promises, is inevitably being gradually abandoned by African states. This is an inevitable result of Africa’s historical development.

新自由主义加剧了非洲治理失序，这从实证角度证明，“华盛顿共识”与非洲发展道路的结合，只是西方霸权主义和新殖民主义强行催生的产物，是西方在冷战后初期的世界多极秩序中一家独大的反映。近年来，随着发展中国家的集体崛起，自身内部矛盾日益激化的西方，对非洲的“管控”日益减弱。在此形势下，“华盛顿共识”既背离非洲发展的客观规律，又无法兑现发展承诺，必然被非洲国家逐步抛弃，这是非洲历史发展的必然结果。

(3) The Disorder of the Capitalist International System Intensifies Africa’s Crisis of Trust in the Western Paradigm

(三)资本主义国际体系失序加剧非洲对西方范式的信任危机

All countries in the world share weal and woe and are increasingly forming a community with a shared future. Solving the common challenges facing humanity requires strengthening practical cooperation among nations. However, the irrational international political and economic order originating from the Western capitalist international system has become the biggest obstacle to international cooperation. As the continent with the largest concentration of developing countries in the world, Africa has now become the biggest victim of the proliferation of Western unilateralism and protectionism.

全球各国休戚与共，正日益形成命运共同体，解决人类面临的共同挑战需加强各国间的务实合作。但源于西方资本主义国际体系的不合理国际政治经济秩序，却成为制约国际合作的最大障碍。作为全球发展中国家最集中的大陆，非洲当前成为西方单边主义、保护主义泛滥的最大受害者。

In combating the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa has found it difficult to rely on the capitalist international system to bridge the “immunity gap.” Raising vaccination rates is a consensus in the international community’s pandemic response. The African Union (AU) has set a target of achieving a 60% vaccination rate among the African population by 2022, a key component of the AU’s post-pandemic recovery plan for Africa. However, the reality is that by the end of 2021, the first-dose vaccination rate in Africa was less than 6%, with no African country having truly launched a universal vaccination program, making it nearly impossible for the AU to achieve a universal and equitable immunization plan on schedule. The obstruction by Western countries in vaccine production and distribution is the fundamental reason why Africa has become the weakest link in the global immunization chain. On the one hand, regarding vaccine production, the profit-driven nature of capital determines that Western countries will not cede advantages in biomedical technology to Africa. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Western countries, while full of promises to strengthen bilateral medical aid to Africa and participating in the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative, have largely failed to deliver on their words. Although the pandemic has persisted for over two years, cooperation between Western pharmaceutical giants such as AstraZeneca and Pfizer and African countries has stagnated, leaving Africa still unable to achieve the goal of reducing vaccine costs through localized production and forced to queue up on the international market for high-priced purchases. Meanwhile, major Western countries delayed until mid-2021 before slowly beginning to fulfill their vaccine donation commitments to the WHO, prioritizing the provision of soon-to-expire vaccines not needed domestically. This has meant that while some African countries have received free vaccines, they are effectively unable to administer them to their populations. On the other hand, regarding vaccine distribution, the monopolistic nature of capital has given rise to Western vaccine hegemony. As the pandemic spread globally, Western countries, with their advantages in capital and technology, not only failed to treat vaccines as an international public good but instead turned them into a tool for exploiting geopolitical interests. Since the second half of 2020, Western countries have intensified their hoarding of vaccines. The United States, with a population of only 330 million, has hoarded over 2.6 billion doses, making it the world’s largest vaccine hoarder. The vaccine shortage on the international market caused by this hoarding has objectively deepened Africa’s dependence on Western countries, creating new opportunities for Western hegemonic intervention in Africa’s internal affairs. Whether examining the focus of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s “virtual visit” to Africa in 2021 or the agenda of the “New Africa-France Summit,” the core variable determining whether the West provides vaccine aid is not the local epidemic situation but rather African countries’ attitudes toward the “Washington Consensus.” The West’s political manipulation of vaccine distribution severely tramples on African countries’ legitimate rights to share international public goods and hinders the normal conduct of pandemic response efforts.

在抗击新冠肺炎疫情方面，非洲难以依靠资本主义国际体系弥合“免疫鸿沟”。提升疫苗接种率是国际社会的抗疫共识，非盟力争在2022年实现非洲民众的疫苗接种率达到60%,这是非盟制定的非洲疫后复兴计划的关键。但实际情况是，截至2021年年底，非洲第一针疫苗的接种率不到6%,没有任何一个非洲国家真正启动了全民接种计划，非盟几乎没有可能如期实现普惠、公平的免疫计划。西方国家在疫苗生产与分配上的作梗，是导致非洲成为全球免疫链条上最薄弱一环的根本原因。一方面，在疫苗的生产问题上，资本的逐利性决定了西方国家不可能在生物医药技术方面让利于非洲。疫情发生以来，西方国家虽满口承诺加强对非洲的双边医疗援助，并参加世界卫生组织发起的新冠肺炎疫苗实施计划(COVAX),但大多口惠而实不至。疫情虽已持续两年多，阿斯利康(AstraZeneca)、辉瑞(Pfizer)等西方医药巨头与非洲国家的合作却裹足不前，致使非洲至今未能实现通过本土化生产降低疫苗成本的目标，仍然需要到国际市场排队高价抢购。与此同时，西方主要国家一直拖延到2021年中才开始缓慢兑现对世卫组织的疫苗捐赠承诺，且优先拿出国内不需要的临期疫苗，导致一些非洲国家虽然等来了免费疫苗，但实际上无法给民众实施有效接种。另一方面，在疫苗的分配问题上，资本的垄断性催生了西方的疫苗霸权主义。随着新冠肺炎疫情在全球的蔓延，拥有资金、技术优势的西方国家不仅没有把疫苗当作一种国际公共产品，反而将其打造成为一种趁机谋取地缘政治利益的工具。自2020年下半年来，西方国家变本加厉地囤积疫苗，其中仅有3.3亿人口的美国就囤积了超过26亿支疫苗，是全球疫苗的最大囤积国。囤积引发的国际市场疫苗短缺，客观上加剧了非洲对西方国家的依赖，造就西方霸权主义插手非洲内政的新契机。无论从2021年美国国务卿布林肯(Antony Blinken)“虚拟访问”非洲时的焦点，还是从“非洲-法国新型峰会”的议题来看，决定西方是否给予疫苗援助的核心变量并非当地疫情，而是非洲国家对待“华盛顿共识”的态度。西方在疫苗分配上的政治操弄，严重践踏非洲国家分享国际公共产品的合法权益，阻碍抗疫工作的正常开展。

In addressing climate change, Africa has found it difficult to rely on the capitalist international system to uphold “climate justice.” Africa is one of the regions most severely affected by global climate change. On the one hand, Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions account for only about 2% to 3% of the global total, making it the region closest to the carbon neutrality target. On the other hand, Africa has the weakest climate resilience in terms of economic and social development. Climate disasters such as droughts, hurricanes, and desert locust plagues have directly and indirectly affected nearly 10 million people, generating the world’s largest population of climate refugees. Western climate hegemony has further exacerbated the severe imbalance between Africa’s low “contribution rate” and high “victimization level” in addressing climate change. First, Western countries have passively responded to climate financing commitments. The 2012 UN Climate Conference’s Cancun Agreement stipulated that developed countries provide $200 billion annually in climate financing to support climate adaptation in developing countries, including Africa. However, the actual implementation of this agreement is questionable. At the 2021 Glasgow Climate Conference (COP26), the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi, who served as the rotating chair of the AU, accused Western countries of reneging on their commitments, leaving Africa with an annual climate financing gap of up to $27 billion and unable to implement effective climate adaptation. Second, Western countries have aggressively promoted green protectionism. In March 2021, the European Union formally adopted the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), imposing high tariffs on “non-green” imported goods under the pretext of forcing carbon emission reductions. Due to constraints such as technology and costs, many of Africa’s current exports to Europe face the risk of being taxed for failing to meet “low-carbon” standards. African media have criticized this move as a potential trigger for a trade war between Europe and Africa. Additionally, the United States is currently considering imposing a carbon border tax on imported goods, with carbon barriers becoming a new tool for the West to exploit developing countries, including Africa. Third, Western countries have set a climate trap for deindustrialization. Most African countries are currently at a critical stage of crossing the threshold of industrialization and still rely primarily on traditional fossil fuels to meet their energy needs. Western countries, as the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, are deliberately shifting the burden of carbon emission reductions onto developing countries, including Africa. This essentially aims to offset the manufacturing cost advantages of developing countries through forced energy structure transformation. As a result, Africa, which already has limited industrialization achievements, is highly likely to be constrained by technological shortages and cost surges, ultimately moving toward complete deindustrialization and being reduced to a source of raw materials and a market for Western goods.

在应对气候变化方面，非洲难以依靠资本主义国际体系捍卫“气候正义”。非洲是当前全球遭受气候变化影响最为典型的地区之一。一方面，非洲的温室气体排放量只占全世界的2%～3%左右,是全球最接近碳中和目标的地区；另一方面，非洲经济社会发展的气候韧性最弱，干旱、飓风、沙漠蝗灾等气候灾难直接和间接波及近千万人口，引发全球最大规模的气候难民。西方国家的气候霸权进一步加剧了非洲在应对气候变化时低“贡献率”与高“受害度”之间严重失衡的矛盾。其一，西方国家消极应对气候融资承诺。2012年联合国气候大会《坎昆协议》规定发达国家每年提供2000亿美元气候融资，支持包括非洲在内的发展中国家气候适应，但该协议实际执行度堪忧。在2021年格拉斯哥气候大会(COP26)上，非盟轮值主席国刚果(金)总统齐塞克迪(Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi)指责西方国家爽约，导致非洲每年的气候融资缺口高达270亿美元,无力实施有效的气候适应。其二，西方国家大肆炮制绿色保护主义。2021年3月，欧盟正式通过碳边界调整机制(CBAM),以倒逼碳减排为名，对“非绿色”的进口商品征收高额关税。受技术和成本等因素的限制，非洲当前多项对欧出口商品因不符合“低碳”标准而面临被征税的风险，因此非洲舆论批评欧盟此举将是欧非贸易战的导火索。此外，美国目前也在酝酿对进口货物征收碳边境税，碳壁垒正在成为西方盘剥包括非洲在内的发展中国家的全新利器。其三，西方国家埋下去工业化的气候陷阱。非洲大多数国家当前正处于迈过工业化门槛的关键时期，仍主要依靠传统化石燃料满足能源需求。西方国家作为温室气体的最主要排放者，却处心积虑地向包括非洲在内的发展中国家甩锅碳减排义务，实质是企图通过能源结构强行转型，抵消发展中国家的制造业成本优势。受此影响，工业化成果本就有限的非洲，极有可能受制于技术短缺和成本激增，最终完全走向去工业化，从而彻底沦为西方的原料产地和商品倾销市场。

The widening immunity gap and the absence of climate justice are a true reflection of Africa’s marginalized position within the capitalist international system. Therefore, only by thoroughly breaking free from the constraints of the international order dominated by Western countries can Africa explore African solutions to the common challenges facing humanity on the basis of genuine international fairness and justice.

免疫鸿沟的扩大与气候正义的缺失，正是非洲在资本主义国际体系中边缘化地位的真实写照。因此，只有彻底摆脱西方国家主导的国际秩序的束缚，非洲才能在真正的国际公平与正义的基础上，探索出应对人类面临的共同挑战的非洲方案。

III. Challenges to the Comprehensive Revival of Socialism in Africa

三、社会主义在非洲全面复兴面临的挑战

To promote a new upsurge in the development of socialism in Africa, it is necessary to comprehensively examine the challenges currently facing socialist exploration in Africa and, on this basis, seek appropriate solutions.

如要推动社会主义在非洲再度迎来发展高潮，则必须全面审视当前非洲的社会主义探索面临的挑战，并以此为基础，寻找合适的解决方案。

(I) Multiple Limitations of the Practitioners of Socialist Exploration

(一)社会主义探索的实践者具有多重局限性

From a micro perspective, as the main force driving socialist exploration in Africa, the relevant political parties still have many limitations in their own development and construction. Therefore, whether they can ultimately grow into the leading force guiding Africa onto the path of scientific socialism remains highly uncertain.

从微观角度来看，作为在非洲推动社会主义探索的生力军，相关政党在自身的发展建设方面仍然存在着诸多局限性。因此，它们能否最终成长为带领非洲走上科学社会主义道路的领导力量，仍然存在着相当程度上的不确定性。

First, the proportion of Marxist-Leninist parties is relatively low. Among the political parties in Africa that identify with socialism or engage in socialist exploration, the vast majority are members of the Socialist International, endorsing democratic socialism that transcends class interests. Fewer than ten are members of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties, and currently, no Marxist-Leninist party is in power. This actually reflects Africa’s current transitional period in ideology. Under the influence of the fact that Western political and economic influence has not fully receded and the political and economic institutional framework created by post-Cold War neoliberal reforms has not been completely abandoned, political parties other than communist parties—especially ruling parties—while increasingly leaning toward or returning to socialism in their governance, rarely openly declare socialism as their guiding ideology, let alone adhere to Marxism-Leninism. Particularly amid the intensifying Sino-U.S. competition, African political parties have become more cautious in their ideological stances to preserve political maneuvering space. However, from the internal logic of socialist evolution, without the guidance of scientific theory, the explorations of African political parties will inevitably suffer from blindness and fragmentation, making it impossible to truly forge a socialist development path that transcends neoliberalism.

其一，马克思列宁主义政党的占比偏低。在非洲认同社会主义或者实施社会主义探索的政党中，绝大多数都是社会党国际的成员，认可所谓超越阶级利益的民主社会主义，共产党和工人党国际会议的成员只有不到十个，且目前没有一个马列主义政党是执政党。这实际上是非洲当前正处于意识形态过渡期的体现。在西方的政治经济影响并未全面消退，冷战后新自由主义改革创造的政治经济体制框架尚未被全面抛弃的影响下，除共产党外的其他政党特别是执政党，虽然在施政上愈发回归或者偏向社会主义，但鲜有公开宣称以社会主义作为指导思想，更难奢谈坚持马克思列宁主义。尤其在当前中美博弈加剧的态势下，非洲相关政党在意识形态方面的表态更为谨慎，以备政治回旋空间。但从社会主义的内在演进逻辑来看，如果缺乏科学理论的指导，则非洲各政党的探索将难以避免盲目性、碎片化的弊端，无法真正走出一条超越新自由主义的社会主义发展道路。

Second, the proletarian character of the various parties is relatively weak. As noted above, because the fruits of economic and social development are limited, ethnic identity rather than class differentiation is the primary variable shaping political development within African countries. In the African context, where socialism is taken as the most effective means of achieving nationalism, the relevant parties in practice still rely on the politicization of ethnicity to advance their socialist explorations. For ruling parties or opposition parties with a broad scope of activity, in order to enhance the legitimacy of their authority, they typically aggregate and balance the political demands of all ethnic groups within the country, remolding themselves into catch-all parties—for example, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) after revising their guiding ideologies. For newly established or smaller parties, they usually base themselves on certain disadvantaged or marginalized ethnic groups, relying on those groups’ rights-defense or protest demands as the entry point for the party’s political participation—this applies even to communist parties. For instance, the newly formed Communist Party of Kenya draws its membership mainly from the Mijikenda and Kamba ethnic groups in the eastern counties. Therefore, strictly speaking, the above-mentioned African parties are all different manifestations of ethnic parties. Because their class character is weakened, the socialist explorations of these parties lack a clear practical subject and service object, and instead manifest more as political compromises among ethnic groups and among different interest groups within the same ethnic group.

其二，各党的无产阶级属性偏弱。如前所述，由于经济社会发展成果有限，族群认同而非阶级分化是左右非洲各国内部政治发展的首要变量。在把社会主义作为实现民族主义最有效手段的非洲语境下，相关政党在实践上仍然依靠族群的政治化来推动社会主义探索。对于执政党或者活动范围较广的在野党而言，为增强其权威的合法性，通常会聚合且平衡本国所有族群的政治诉求，将自身打造成为全民党，比如修改指导思想后的安人运、莫解阵；对于新成立或者规模较小的政党，则通常会以某些弱势或边缘化族群为基础，依托其维权或抗争诉求，作为本党参政的切入点，即便是共产党也不例外，比如新成立的肯尼亚共产党的成员，主要来自东部各郡的米基肯达族(Mijikenda)、康巴族(Kamba)。因此，从严格意义上讲，上述非洲政党都是族群政党的不同表现。由于阶级属性弱化，这些政党的社会主义探索缺失明确的实践主体与服务对象，而更多表现为族群间以及族群内部不同利益群体间的政治妥协。

Third, participation in elections is the only avenue for each party to engage in politics. Influenced by the so-called Western “third wave” of democratization, African countries have all made constitutional provisions for multiparty elections. Without amending the constitution, there is basically no basis for coming to power by leading and mobilizing mass movements. Given that electoral participation is currently the only path for African parties to enter the political stage, the relevant parties cannot avoid the problem of compromising their political programs for the sake of survival. Ruling parties, due to their catch-all nature, need to maintain a rough balance between the left and the right to win votes. For example, in response to opposition parties in South Africa accusing the African National Congress (ANC) of “ultra-leftist” policies such as land reform and cracking down on monopoly capital, the ANC has to some extent adopted the views of right-wing parties like the Democratic Alliance (DA), supporting the development of a private economy to address employment, so as to maintain its own center-left political image. Opposition parties, especially those of relatively limited scale, often need to form electoral alliances with parties holding other political views. For Marxist-Leninist parties in particular, this kind of political compromise inevitably brings the dilemma of Bernsteinism. For example, as the Marxist-Leninist party with the highest degree of political participation in Africa, the South African Communist Party (SACP) participates in cabinet formation by allying with the ANC, with its members running for office under the ANC banner. Some of the right-wing measures the ANC adopts to win votes fundamentally contradict the SACP’s tenets, effectively weakening the development of Marxism-Leninism in South Africa.

其三，参选是各党参政的唯一途径。受所谓西方“第三波”民主化浪潮的影响，非洲各国目前均对多党选举作出了宪制性规定，在不修宪的前提下，基本不存在通过领导和发动群众运动上台执政的基础。鉴于参选是目前非洲政党登上政治舞台的必由之路，相关政党无法回避为生存而接受政治纲领折中化的问题。执政党出于其全民党的性质，需要通过在左翼和右翼间保持大体平衡来获取选票。例如，为回应南非反对党指责土改、打击垄断资本等政策“极左”,非国大也在一定程度上采纳民主联盟(DA)等右翼政党的政见,支持通过发展私营经济来解决就业，以维护自身中间偏左的政治形象。反对党特别是规模相对有限的政党，往往需要与持其他政见的党派组建竞选联盟。尤其对于马克思列宁主义政党而言，这种政治妥协不免会带来伯恩施坦主义的困境。例如，作为在非洲参政程度最高的马克思列宁主义政党，南非共产党通过与非国大结盟，本党成员以非国大党员身份参选的方式参与组阁。非国大为争取选票而采取的部分右翼措施，与南非共产党的宗旨根本相左，实质上是对马克思列宁主义在南非发展的弱化。

(II) The efficacy of socialist explorations in leading Africa’s development needs to be further highlighted

(二)社会主义探索引领非洲发展的功效需进一步凸显

From a macro perspective, the relevant African parties and countries have not yet, from a theoretical and strategic height, made a scientific and systematic exposition of the intrinsic connection between their own development and socialism. If the current shortcomings of spontaneity, blindness, utilitarianism, and fragmentation in the explorations are not overcome, the comprehensive revival of socialism in Africa will still be a long and arduous task.

从宏观角度来看，非洲相关政党和国家目前尚未从理论和战略的高度，对自身发展与社会主义之间的内在联系作出科学系统的论述。如果当前探索中的自发性、盲目性、功利性、分散性等弊端得不到克服，则社会主义在非洲全面复兴依然任重而道远。

First, the relevant African parties still lack a dialectical understanding of the socialist explorations in Africa before the end of the Cold War. To date, Africa’s theoretical analysis of the alignment between its own development characteristics and socialism remains largely confined to the expositions of pioneers such as Julius Nyerere, Léopold Sédar Senghor, and Kenneth Kaunda. It has not formed new theoretical breakthroughs that transcend neoliberalism in light of the new opportunities and challenges Africa currently faces. Reflected at the practical level, Africa’s current stage of socialist exploration is mainly embodied in the relevant parties directly borrowing or reviving the ideas or policies of their predecessors to replace failed neoliberal reform measures. But from the perspective of evolutionary logic, this direct “take-it-as-it-is” approach is merely a simple repetition, not a revolutionary advance. While the beneficial explorations of predecessors remain effective today, those explorations also had limitations or even made mistakes; clinging to old ways can become an obstacle to development. Therefore, if the real reasons why earlier African socialist practices fell into a trough after the end of the Cold War cannot be effectively answered, it will be difficult for Africa’s current socialist explorations to thoroughly break through the historical limitations of previous models. In particular, the military coups that overthrew the African Party for the Solidarity and Justice of Mali (ADEMA-PASJ) in May 2021 and the People’s Progressive Movement of Burkina Faso (MPP) in January 2022—both ruling member parties of the Socialist International—and the helplessness of the ANC-SACP governing coalition in the face of the nationwide riots in South Africa in July 2021, once again highlight the urgency for Africa to inject new momentum into its socialist explorations and promptly close the governance capacity deficit.

第一，对于冷战结束前非洲的社会主义探索，非洲相关政党仍缺少辩证的认知。截至目前，非洲对自身发展特征与社会主义对接的理论剖析，仍主要停留在尼雷尔、桑戈尔、卡翁达等先驱的论述上，并没有结合非洲当前面临的新机遇、新挑战，形成有关超越新自由主义的全新理论突破。反映在现实层面，非洲现阶段的社会主义探索集中体现在相关政党通过直接借用或复兴前人的思想或政策，替代失效的新自由主义改革措施。但从演进逻辑上来看，这种直接的拿来主义只是一种单纯的简单重复，而非具有革命性的进步。前人有益的探索在当前固然仍旧有效，但前人探索有局限性甚至出现失误，因循守旧会成为制约发展的障碍。因此，如果不能有效回答先前的非洲社会主义实践在冷战结束后陷入低谷的真正原因，则非洲当前的社会主义探索恐难以彻底突破先前模式的历史局限性。尤其是马里非洲团结与正义党、布基纳法索人民进步运动这两个加入社会党国际的执政成员党分别于2021年5月和2022年1月被军事政变推翻,非国大与南非共产党执政联盟面对2021年7月的全国骚乱束手无策，这些事件再次凸显了非洲需给社会主义探索注入新动能，尽快弥补治理能力赤字的紧迫性。

Second, regarding whether the goal of the current explorations is to establish and perfect a socialist system, the relevant African countries lack a clear plan. Africa’s gradual abandonment of neoliberal policies is certainly a reflection of the objective law that socialism will inevitably replace capitalism. However, in the specific African context, whether this change marks a comprehensive revival of socialism in Africa remains to be seen. Since the end of the Cold War, Africa’s reforms have carried a strong pragmatic coloration, and the descriptions of the institutional foundation in the short- and medium-term plans formulated by various countries are generally vague. The fundamental reason African countries previously accepted neoliberalism was that their original socialist explorations encountered difficulties; now, their renewed emphasis on socialism is to seek ready-made solutions to replace gradually failing neoliberal policies. The motivations and methods for change in both phases are roughly the same. Although socialism is, in the long run, more suited to Africa’s development characteristics, without the guidance of scientific theory, the practice of the proletariat, and clear institutional guarantees, simply following the explorations of predecessors will make it difficult to achieve a leap from quantitative to qualitative change within a foreseeable period. If the difficulties of earlier explorations are encountered again in the future, it remains uncertain whether Africa, under the sway of pragmatism, will once again turn to neoliberalism or other paradigms concocted by the West, or perhaps veer toward statism. Only by thoroughly breaking this cycle of repetition can the socialist-natured explorations carried out by African countries truly clarify their thinking, define their direction, and make the necessary practical preparations for promoting the re-establishment of the socialist system in Africa.

第二，对于当前探索的目标是否为建立健全社会主义制度，非洲相关国家并没有清晰的规划。非洲逐步放弃新自由主义政策固然是社会主义必然取代资本主义的客观规律的反映，但结合非洲的具体语境来看，目前的变化是否标志着社会主义已经在非洲全面复兴，仍然有待继续观察。冷战结束后，非洲的改革就开始带有浓厚的实用主义色彩，各国制定的近期和中期规划中对制度基础的描述普遍较为模糊。非洲相关国家之前接受新自由主义的根本原因，是由于原有社会主义探索遭遇困难，而如今重新重视社会主义则是为寻求现成的解决方案，替代逐步失效的新自由主义政策，两个阶段变化的动因和方法大致相同。社会主义虽然从长远上看更符合非洲发展的特点，但如果不依靠科学的理论指导、无产阶级的实践、明确的制度保障，单纯沿袭前人的探索难以在可预见时期内实现从量变到质变。倘若未来再度遇到前人探索的困境，实用主义左右下的非洲是否又会转向新自由主义或西方炮制的其他范式，亦或是走向国家主义，仍存在一定的不确定性。只有彻底打破这种循环往复，非洲各国开展的具有社会主义性质的探索，才能真正厘清思路、明确方向，为推动社会主义制度重新落地非洲进行必要的实践准备。

Third, regarding the relationship between socialism and Pan-Africanism at the present stage, African countries currently lack a strong consensus. With the spread of neoliberalism in Africa after the end of the Cold War, the significance of socialism for achieving the goals of Pan-Africanism was once forgotten by various sectors of African society. Although some African countries and political parties have begun to rediscover the value of socialism, their strength is relatively limited for a continent composed of 54 countries. Under the circumstances where many African countries currently adopt a wait-and-see attitude toward whether to completely abandon neoliberalism, whether socialism can re-empower African integration still faces several practical obstacles. At the level of the top-level design of African integration, Africa lacks an autonomous multilateral cooperation mechanism to promote socialist exploration. The socialist international exchange mechanisms mentioned above have indeed played a positive role, but they are not directly related to the autonomous multilateral cooperation mechanisms led by the African Union, and therefore cannot directly influence all African countries. The relevant African countries and political parties have so far not established mechanisms similar to the São Paulo Forum in Latin America within the framework of the African Union or subregional organizations, nor have they raised related topics at leaders’ summits. This not only makes it difficult to further strengthen direct cooperation among relevant African countries based on socialist exploration, but also prevents the extraction of socialist reform plans or measures that can be referenced and promoted for other African countries. Affected by this, socialist exploration has not yet played an effective role in improving the quality and efficiency of African integration. At the practical level of African integration, cooperative relations between African countries carrying out socialist exploration and other African countries urgently need to be established. The establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area is currently the top priority project for promoting integration in Africa. However, regarding how to define the unimpeded circulation of factors of production, there are real conflicts of interest between African countries that have taken the lead in strengthening public ownership reform and the remaining countries that are still waiting and seeing. For example, the Magufuli reforms triggered a trade war between the two major East African economies starting in 2017. Tanzania accused Kenya of “scissors gap” economic exploitation, while Kenya condemned Tanzania’s growing nationalization reforms and public ownership economy as “violating” the principle of free competition. The conflict between the two countries has hindered the construction of the East African common market, and similar problems may also appear in other regions of Africa. How to successfully embed a country’s socialist-oriented reforms into and ultimately lead regional development linkages still requires efforts to explore.

第三，对于现阶段社会主义与泛非主义的关系，非洲各国目前尚缺乏强有力的共识。随着冷战结束后新自由主义在非洲的蔓延，社会主义之于实现泛非主义目标的意义，一度被非洲社会各界所淡忘。虽然当前一些非洲国家和政党开始重新发掘社会主义的价值，但对于由54个国家构成的非洲大陆而言，力量相对有限。在不少非洲国家当前对是否完全抛弃新自由主义持观望态度的形势下，社会主义能否重新赋能非洲一体化，仍然面临着若干现实的障碍。在非洲一体化的顶层设计层面，非洲缺少推动社会主义探索的自主多边合作机制。前文所述的社会主义国际交流机制固然发挥了积极作用，但与非盟主导下的非洲自主多边合作机制并无直接关联，因此并不能直接影响所有非洲国家。相关非洲国家与政党至今没有在非盟或次区域组织框架下成立类似于拉丁美洲圣保罗论坛之类的机制，或在领导人峰会上提出相关的议题，不仅难以进一步强化以社会主义探索为基础的非洲相关国家间的直接合作，而且也无法为其他非洲国家提炼出可供借鉴和推广的社会主义改革方案或举措。受此影响，社会主义探索尚未能对非洲一体化提质增效发挥有效的推动作用。在非洲一体化的实践层面，开展社会主义探索的非洲国家与其他非洲国家的合作关系亟待建立。建立非洲大陆自由贸易区(African Continental Free Trade Area)是当前非洲推动一体化的头号工程，但在如何定义生产要素无障碍流通方面，率先强化公有制改革的非洲国家与其余尚在观望的国家存在现实利益冲突。例如，马古富力改革自2017年引发东非两大经济体间贸易战，坦桑尼亚指责肯尼亚的“剪刀差”经济剥削，而肯方则谴责不断壮大的坦桑国有化改革和公有制经济“违背”自由竞争原则。两国交恶导致东非共同市场建设受阻，而同样的问题也可能出现在非洲其他地区。如何使一国带有社会主义性质的改革成功嵌入并最终引领区域发展联动，仍需要努力探索。

IV. Conclusion

四、结 语

Africa’s current explorations with a socialist character are the result of a series of factors working together under the changes unseen in a century in the world, and have multiple connotations and profound significance. Empirical cases from multiple micro perspectives within Africa fully illustrate the great significance of socialism for human development and progress. Admittedly, the above explorations are currently limited to some African countries and political parties, and still face constraints from multiple challenges. However, as the structural contradiction between the “universality” of neoliberalism and global governance becomes increasingly prominent, socialism will further burst forth with strong vitality in the process of leading Africa to accelerate the implementation of development transformation and fully achieve decoupling from the Western paradigm, and will ultimately become the consensus of all African countries. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the decline of the West, the collective rise of developing countries will help Africa fully absorb the beneficial achievements of other countries in developing socialism. In particular, under the epochal background of China and Africa jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind in the New Era, the theory and practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics continue to contribute Chinese wisdom and solutions to Africa’s development, continuously empowering Africa’s exploration of self-renewal, and laying a solid foundation for the comprehensive revival of socialism in Africa. As the weakest link in the global capitalist development chain, socialism is highly likely to boost Africa’s development, achieving a leap from stagnation to catching up on a different track, and providing an answer for the New Era for the ultimate realization of the goals of Pan-Africanism. (Notes omitted)

非洲当前带有社会主义性质的探索，是世界百年未有之大变局下，一系列因素共同作用的结果，具有多重内涵与深刻的意义。非洲范围内多个微观视角的实证案例，充分诠释了社会主义之于人类发展进步的伟大意义。诚然，上述探索目前只局限于一些非洲国家和政党，且仍面临多重挑战的制约，但随着新自由主义“普适性”与全球治理间的结构性矛盾加剧凸显，社会主义将在引领非洲加快实施发展转型，全面实现与西方范式脱钩的进程中，进一步迸发出强大的生命力，并最终成为所有非洲国家的共识。在新冠肺炎疫情加速西方衰落的背景下，发展中国家的集体崛起，有助于非洲充分吸取其他国家发展社会主义的有益成果。特别是在中非携手构建新时代命运共同体的时代背景下，中国特色社会主义理论和实践为非洲发展持续贡献的中国智慧、方案，不断赋能非洲实现自我革新的探索，为社会主义在非洲的全面复兴打下坚实的基础。作为全球资本主义发展链条上的最薄弱环节，社会主义极有可能助推非洲的发展，实现从停滞不前到换道追赶的跨越，为泛非主义目标的最终实现提供新时代的答卷。（注释略）

Online Editor: Zhang Jian

网络编辑：张剑