Studies of political parties that came to power in newly independent African states have frequently assumed that they, to a large degree, reflected a consensual nationalist popular consciousness, and a relative lack of social differentiation, in the countries which they governed. In this regard, it has generally been accepted that the ruling United National Independence Party (UNIP) represented the progressive aspirations and expectations held by Zambians, at least in the years immediately after independence. While Gertzel, Baylies, and Szeftel identified important foci of opposition to and within UNIP, their contemporaneous research did not describe the extent and range of such opposition, in particular the degree to which UNIP was preoccupied about such challenges. 1 My research has uncovered evidence of significant and ongoing discontent within, and opposition to, the United National Independence Party and its policies and practices. 2 This weakness in the existing literature reflects a tendency amongst political scientists to take official declarations by the state and ruling party at face value, and to take the political temperature of the country at an institutional level, for example in the analysis of voting patterns during elections. 3

* Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Southern African Historical Society, Cape Town, 26-29 June 2005, and the" Zambia: Independence and After" Conference, Lusaka, 11-13 August 2005. The author is grateful for the useful comments of attendees at both events, particularly David Gordon, which have considerably improved the paper. The author would also like to express his gratitude to Mulenga Sokoni, who provided invaluable assistance in research carried out in Zambia's Northern Province in April 2005.