Hodgkin, Thomas <br/><br/>
Mahdisme, Messianisme et Marxisme dans le contexte africain 

 -  1970.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 62 
<br/><br/> This article gives a global comparison of a large number of works dealing with the mahdist and messianic movements in Africa. A brief analysis of their conceptual bases brings to light the difference in their tone and content beyond the common points shared by them as ideologies of the oppressed. Mahdism (a pre-Islamic and Islamic syncretism) was often understood more clearly and coherently by its adherents than was messianism (a Judaeo-Christian and traditional African syncretism).Next, the historical evolution of these movements is studied at great length, including the many theses submitted on the origins of mahdism ; the nature of the crisis that acted as a catalyst in the « radicalization » of latent mahdism in the 19th. century; the various « pre-nationalist » resistance movements to European imperialism in non-Muslim Africa; the internal dissent that led to the birth of mahdism in pre-colonial African countries and, finally, the evolution of these movements after being defeated and repressed in recent times.The author examines the historical direction taken by mahdism and messianism and attributes three essential roles to them : the creation of a new solidarity going beyond family, geographical, ethnic or linguistic ties; the futuristic vision of a social order (that has yet to see the light of day) which would abolish all forms of oppression and not only that of the colonizer ; the formation (for the first time in modern history) of an alliance between the wide strata of the peasantry called upon to play an active, creative and conscious part in society.If the divergences of these movements (sustained by utopianism and deprived of a clear and efficient conception of the necessary strategy to attain their ends) from Marxism are obvious there are, however, points of resemblance and historic relationship. It would be interesting to know to what degree the fact of having a millenarian tradition helps the growth of today’s revolutionary organizations.