Seydou Cissokho

Seydou Cissokho (September 6, 1929 – March 10, 1986) was a Senegalese politician.[1][2][3]

Youth

Cissokho was born at Bakel. His father worked as a blacksmith.[3] The young Cissokho became a school teacher. He finished his secondary education in 1949. He worked in the countryside, later beginning to teach in Kaolack and Dakar.[3]

Political activist

Cissokho was also involved in the struggle against French colonial rule.[1] During his years as a student he had joined the Communist Study Groups (GEC).[3][4] He also became a member of the African Democratic Rally (RDA).[3] He took part in founding the African Independence Party (PAI, later renamed the Party of Independence and Labour, PIT), the first Marxist-Leninist political party in West Africa, in 1957.[1][5] Following the ban on the party in 1960, Cissokho was active in underground organizing work.[1] He lost his employment as a result of his political work.[3]

Party leader

The 1962 party executive committee meeting held in Bamako confirmed Cissokho as the deputy general secretary of the Central Committee.[1][6][7] In 1967 an extraordinary conference placed Cissokho at the helm of a provisional committee to lead the party. Within the party Cissokho represented a hard-line, pro-Soviet Marxist-Leninist position.[2][3]

The first party congress, held illegally in Senegal in 1972, confirmed the expulsion of the PAI general secretary Majhmoud Diop and elected Cissokho as party general secretary.[1][6][7][8] Cissokho played an important role in organizing the first conference of Communist and Workers' Parties of Tropical and Southern Africa.[2]

PIT legalized

Cissokho spent two decades as leader of the underground party. In 1981 PIT was legalized and Cissokho led the efforts for the formation of an anti-imperialist united front. He was elected party chairman at the second PIT congress, held in 1984.[1]

Cissokho died in Moscow whilst visiting the 1986 Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.[9]

References
  1. World Marxist Review, Vol. 29, Eds. 1–6. 1986. pp. 118–119.
  2. The African Communist, eds. 104-111. South African Communist Party. 1986. pp. 73–74.
  3. Heinz Tillmann (1989). Biographien zur Weltgeschichte: Lexikon. Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften. p. 128. ISBN 978-3-326-00218-7.
  4. Niang, Moctar Fofana (16 March 2007). "Sénégal: Le président Seydou Cissokho dans le rétroviseur". allafrica.com.
  5. Amadou Booker Sadji (2006). Le rôle de la génération charnière ouest-africaine: indépendance et développement. L'Harmattan. p. 244. ISBN 978-2-296-00457-3.
  6. François Zuccarelli (1988). La vie politique sénégalaise: 1940-1988. CHEAM. pp. 93, 123. ISBN 978-2-903182-24-3.
  7. Adebayo O. Olukoshi (1 January 1998). The Politics of Opposition in Contemporary Africa. Nordic Africa Institute. pp. 115–116. ISBN 978-91-7106-419-6.
  8. World Marxist Review, Vol. 32, Eds. 7-12. Progress Books. 1989.
  9. Yearbook on International Communist Affairs. Yearbook on International Communist Affairs. Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University. 1987. p. xxx. ISBN 978-0-8179-8651-3.
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