Patrice Lumumba

1925-1961

Question: "Some of your political opponents accuse you of being a Communist. Could you reply to that?"
Answer: "This is a propagandist trick aimed at me. I am not a Communist. The colonialists have campaigned against me throughout the country because I am a revolutionary and demand the abolition of the colonial regime, which ignored our human dignity. They look upon me as a Communist because I refused to be bribed by the imperialists."
(From an interview to a "France-Soir" correspondent on July 22, 1960)

“We are neither Communists, Catholics nor socialists. We are African nationalists. We reserve the right to choose our friends in accordance with the principle of positive neutrality.”
The goal Patrice sought to achieve

Biography

Political Statements

Statement at the Closing Session of the Belgo-Congolese Round Table Conference, February 20, 1960
Independence Day Speech, June 30, 1960 [alternative translation]
Interview with TASS, July 28, 1960
Correspondence with United Nations General Secretary Dag Hammarskjöld, July & August, 1960
From a letter to the President of the Security Council, August 1, 1960
From a telegram to the President of the Security Council, August 1, 1960
Statement at a press conference in Leopoldville, August 16, 1960
Statement at a press conference in Leopoldville, August 17, 1960
Statement at a press conference in Leopoldville, August 19, 1960
Speech at the opening of the All-African Conference in Leopoldville, August 25, 1960
Concluding speech at the All-African Conference in Leopoldville, August 31, 1960
Address to Congolese Youth, August, 1960
Radio Broadcast Message, September 5, 1960
Solemn Appeal to the President and members of the Security Council and to all the member states of the United Nations, September 10, 1960
From the letter to the President of the UN General Assembly, November 11, 1960
Letter to A.M. Dayal, Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General, January 4, 1961
Letter from Thysville Prison to Mrs. Lumumba . [alternative translation]

Poetry

May Our People Triumph
[alternative translation]

Reminiscences of Lumumba

A Life given up for the People by Jean Bulabemba
The goal Patrice sought to achieve by N. Khokhlov
Patrice Lumumba's Second Life by Tomas Kolesnichenko
In the Struggle for Independence by Henri Laurent
Meetings with Lumumba by Romano Ledda
The Congo before and after the arrest of the Prime Minister by Oleg Orestov
Last days of Freedom by Lev Volodin
Such was Lumumba by Yuri Zhukov