Many scholars and politicians have argued that pre-colonial Africa consisted of classless societies. For the politicians this was an advantage since it provided one point to advocate certain policies like African Socialism. This socialism argued that Africa could return to the 'socialist' past and build once again a classless society based on love, working together and respecting humanity. For the scholars this line arose out of being carried by the tide of African Socialism in the 1960s and 1970s. Some scholars just assumed the classlessness of pre-colonial Africa as a result of little research done on the topic. In Tanzania, African socialism took a strong hold in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and research on the classiness of pre-colonial African social formations almost ceased. This paper is an attempt to revive this research. Contrary to popular beliefs in Tanzania it is demonstrated (with a real historical case study) that modes of production in pre-colonial Tanzania were developed beyond the primitive communal level. It will be argued with real examples that there were class societies in pre-colonial Tanzania.
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