The Brazzaville Conference (French: Conférence de Brazzaville) was a meeting of prominent Free French leaders held in January 1944 in Brazzaville, the capital of French Equatorial Africa, during World War II.
Charles de Gaulle speaking at the opening of the Brazzaville Conference on 30 January 1944
After the Fall of France to Nazi Germany, the collaborationist Vichy France regime controlled the colonies. One by one, however, they peeled off and switched their allegiance to the Free France, a movement led by Charles de Gaulle. In January 1944, Free French politicians and high-ranking colonial officials from the French African colonies met in Brazzaville, now in the Republic of the Congo. The conference recommended political, social and economic reforms and led to an agreement called the Brazzaville Declaration.
De Gaulle believed that the survival of France depended on support from the colonies, and he made numerous concessions. They included the end of forced labour, the end of special legal restrictions that applied to indigenous peoples but not to whites, the establishment of elected territorial assemblies, representation in Paris in a new "French Federation" and the eventual entry of black Africans in the French National Assembly. However, independence was explicitly rejected as a future possibility.
The Brazzaville Declaration included the following points:
- The French Empire would remain united.
- Semi-autonomous assemblies would be established in each colony.
- Citizens of France's colonies would share equal rights with French citizens.
- Citizens of French colonies would have the right to vote for the French National Assembly.
- The native population would be employed in public service positions within the colonies.
- Economic reforms would be made to diminish the exploitative nature of the relationship between France and its colonies.
However, the possibility of complete independence was soundly rejected.[2] As de Gaulle stated:
The aims of France's civilizing mission preclude any thought of autonomy or any possibility of development outside the French empire. Self-government must be rejected - even in the more distant future.[3]
This is stated in the preamble of the draft document of the Conference:[4]
- The ends of the civilizing work accomplished by France in the colonies excludes any idea of autonomy, all possibility of evolution outside the French bloc of the Empire; the eventual Constitution, even in the future of self-government in the colonies is denied.[4]
The Conference also recommended ending forced labour.[2]
The Brazzaville Conference is still regarded as a turning point for France and its colonial empire. Many historians view it as the first step towards decolonization, albeit a precarious one.
Low, Donald Anthony, Britain and Indian Nationalism: The Imprint of Amibiguity 1929–1942 Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 16
- Brazzaville, janvier-février 1944 : aux sources de la décolonisation. Colloque. Paris: Plon. 1988. ISBN 9782259019927.
- Shipway, Martin (1999). "Reformism and the French 'Official Mind': the 1944 Brazzaville Conference and the legacy of the Popular Front". In Chafer, T.; Sackur, A. (eds.). French Colonial Empire and the Popular Front: Hope and Disillusion. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 131–151. ISBN 9780333729731.