Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964.
PDG victory did not simply wipe out ethnic divisions, though the party had for the first time in Guinea history managed to span these differences. The shift from the BAG marked a change in the balance of ethnic groups within Guinea. Fulani influence decreased, and Malinke and Soussou townsmen had greater influence. Incidents which took place in Conakry in October 1956 showed how close to the surface ethnic differences still were. The PDG leaders took care to conciliate Fulani opinion, and blamed colonial rule for the division which still reigned among ethnic groups:
in this world there are but two races, that which dominates and exploits in an inhuman fashion …and that which is dominated and profoundly exploited, which includes all the colonised peoples to which belong the Almamys of the Fouta in the gallés, the Fulani in their foulassos and margas and the matchoubées in their roundées. They should know that today more than ever before if they can have any secular hatred of any race, it is surely against the one which, trampling to the ground the Treaty of Protectorate of the Fouta Djallon, submitted them to the same system of daily humiliation and exploitation as their Soussou, Malinke, Toma, Guerze, Kissi, Koniaguis, Baga and Landouman brothers. 1
Thus ethnic divisions drove the PDG leaders to greater nationalism. To limit ethnic fragmentation, the PDG leaders adopted several other measures. They refused to recognize or accept ethnic or regional organizations in the party. They insisted — unlike the PDCI leaders of Ivory Coast— that local PDG committees be organized on a strict neighbourhood basis. This meant that in Conakry, where neighbourhoods included people of different origins, the local party structure mixed people. The PDG leaders publicly refused to mention a man's ethnic group or status; their very rigidity on thig principle showed there was a problem. At the same time, the leaders took great care to keep balance within their ranks; the top four leaders reflected the four major regions
Ethnic divisions also impelled the PDG leaders to weaken further the traditional leaders. In the countryside, defeat of the BAG also marked defeat of the 'chiefs' in local politics. As long as the PDG was in opposition, the leaders did not attack the chieftaincy collectively; instead they argued we are not against the chiefs, we are only against the bad chiefs. 3 PDG organizers learned it was fruitful to investigate if there was a violation of pre-European tradition in the designation of the official chief, and to seek out his rival.
1.Moriba
Magassouba. La Liberté, 26 October 1956.
2. An African doctor, he became minister of foreign affairs.
3. Citafion from interviews.
