Congolese National Movement
콩고 민족운동
An African nationalist party founded in the Belgian Congo in 1958. Unlike most other parties, which rested on regional or ethnic loyalties, it had support across the country, and it was led by Patrice Lumumba. In 1959 it split into the Lumumba wing (MNC-L) and the Kalonji wing (MNC-K), and after Mobutu banned party activity in 1965 its factions survived in exile and underground.
In depth
The Congolese National Movement was founded in 1958 (in October, according to the Russian-language source) as a united front for independence "within a reasonable time". Its charter was signed by Lumumba, Cyrille Adoula, Joseph Iléo and others, while Joseph Kasa-Vubu refused to sign, accusing the party of being too moderate. By the end of 1959 it claimed 58,000 members.
The party was polarised between moderate évolués and a more radical mass membership. After the 1959 split the majority became the MNC-Lumumba (MNC-L), based in the Stanleyville region, and the minority became the MNC-Kalonji (MNC-K) under Albert Kalonji, with support in Élisabethville and among the Baluba. The sources differ on who led the split: the English-language source says Iléo attempted in July 1959 to form a federalist party, while the Russian-language source says both that Adoula led the MNC-K and that a radical faction of Iléo and Kalonji broke away.
In the first election of June 1960 the MNC-L emerged as the largest nationalist party, and Lumumba became prime minister in coalition with Kasa-Vubu's ABAKO. In the Congo Crisis Kasa-Vubu dismissed Lumumba in September, and Lumumba's aide Colonel Joseph Mobutu arrested him; Lumumba was taken to Katanga and killed. A congress in Stanleyville in March 1961 elected Christophe Gbenye as leader, but leadership disputes continued, and in October 1963 Gbenye's faction joined the National Liberation Council (CNL), which organised the Simba rebellion.
When Mobutu seized power in November 1965 and banned party activity, the MNC's legal activity ended until 1990. The party allied with other anti-Mobutu groups in exile, and Lumumba's son François Lumumba led the main MNC-L faction. MNC activists claimed responsibility for bombings in Kinshasa in March 1984. After the fall of Mobutu's regime in 1997, MNC factions returned to national politics.