1944–1950s: (Elections and Political Parties in French and Belgian Africa — The Syndicat Agricole Africain Founded in Côte d’Ivoire in 1944 to Abolish Forced…

1944–1950s: (Elections and Political Parties in French and Belgian Africa — The Syndicat Agricole Africain Founded in Côte d’Ivoire in 1944 to Abolish Forced Labor, Houphouet-Boigny Elected to the Paris Assembly, the RDA Formed as the Major Nationalist Bloc, Senghor’s Rural-Based Nationalist Party in Senegal, an Avalanche of Polls and Referenda Across French West Africa, and Belgium’s Determination to Isolate the Congo from Continental Political Developments): An important stimulus for nationalism was the organization of local elections by the colonial state. In Côte d’Ivoire in 1944, cocoa and coffee farmers founded the Syndicat Agricole Africain with the primary aim of abolishing forced labor. Parliamentary elections saw the Syndicat mobilize support for its leader Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who was elected to the Assembly in Paris and succeeded in securing abolition of the hated corvée. While in Paris, he allied with West African representatives to form the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain, which constituted the major nationalist bloc pushing for radical reform of the French African empire. In Senegal, the extension of the franchise enabled Senghor to form a nationalist party with rural support, launching an assault on the urban monopoly of political process. Between the mid-1940s and mid-1950s, Francophone West African voters participated in several ballots — electing delegates to the National Assembly in Paris, the Assembly of the French Union, Grand Councils in Brazzaville and Dakar, and territorial assemblies, in addition to referenda and new constitutions. Whether this avalanche of polls would give rise to a culture of participatory and accountable politics remained to be seen. The Belgian approach contrasted sharply: Belgium sought to prevent significant reform movements and isolate nationalists from developments elsewhere, keeping a firm lid on dissent in the Congo and Ruanda-Urundi — an approach that would ensure the most chaotic of transitions when the pressure finally became irresistible.