The Senegalese Popular Bloc (in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

: Bloc Populaire Sénégalais) held its constitutive congress in Dakar

Dakar

Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

 February 23-25 1957. BPS was the result of the merger of the Senegalese Democratic Bloc

Senegalese Democratic Bloc

Senegalese Democratic Bloc was a political party in Senegal, founded on October 27, 1948 by Léopold Sédar Senghor, following a split from the French Section of the Workers' International...

 (BDS) of Léopold Sédar Senghor

Léopold Sédar Senghor

Léopold Sédar Senghor was a Senegalese poet, politician, and cultural theorist who for two decades served as the first president of Senegal . Senghor was the first African elected as a member of the Académie française. Before independence, he founded the political party called the Senegalese...

, Senegalese Democratic Union

Senegalese Democratic Union

Senegalese Democratic Union was a political party in Senegal, founded in 1946 by the Communist Study Groups...

 (UDS), Casamancian Autonomous Movement

Casamancian Autonomous Movement

Casamancian Autonomous Movement was a political party in Casamance, southern Senegal. MAC was led by Assane Seck....

 (MAC) and a fraction of the Senegalese Popular Movement

Senegalese Popular Movement

Senegalese Popular Movement was a political party in Senegal. MPS was formed as the Senegalese section of the African Democratic Rally , following the expulsion of the Senegalese Democratic Union...

 (MPS) led by Abdolaye Thiaw. The merger was however already in effect since August 1956.

The congress elected Senghor as its political director and Mamadou Dia

Mamadou Dia

Mamadou Dia was a Senegalese politician who served as the first Prime Minister of Senegal from 1957 until 1962, when he was forced to resign and was subsequently imprisoned amidst allegations that he was planning to stage a military coup to overthrow President Léopold Sédar Senghor.- Biography...

 as the general secretary.

On January 11 the same year BPS organized a meeting in Dakar, launching the African Convention

African Convention

African Convention was a political party in French West Africa. The CA was formed at a meeting in Dakar on 11 January 1957. The CA constisted of the Senegalese Popular Bloc of Léopold Sédar Senghor, the African Popular Movement of Nazi Boni in Upper Volta and the Nigerien Democratic Front of...

. The Convention was intended to evolve into an all-AOF

French West Africa

French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan , French Guinea , Côte d'Ivoire , Upper Volta , Dahomey and Niger...

 party. The launching of the Convention was preceded by failed efforts of unity between BPS and the African Democratic Rally

African Democratic Rally

The African Democratic Rally was a political party in French West Africa, led by Félix Houphouët-Boigny. Founded in Bamako in 1946, the RDA quickly became one of the most important forces for independence in the region. Initially a Pan-Africanist movement, the RDA ceased to function as a...

 (RDA). Senghor wanted the Convention to fill the role of a party corresponding to the Indépendents d'Outre-Mer parliamentary fraction that he belonged to.

In 1958 the African Convention

African Convention

African Convention was a political party in French West Africa. The CA was formed at a meeting in Dakar on 11 January 1957. The CA constisted of the Senegalese Popular Bloc of Léopold Sédar Senghor, the African Popular Movement of Nazi Boni in Upper Volta and the Nigerien Democratic Front of...

 and the African Socialist Movement

African Socialist Movement

African Socialist Movement was a political party in French West Africa. The MSA was formed following a meeting of the Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière federations of Cameroon, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, French Sudan , Gabon, Guinea, Niger, Oubangui-Chari , and Senegal; the...

 merged to form the Party of African Regroupment (PRA). As a result of this merger BPS merged with the Senegalese section of MSA, Senegalese Party of Socialist Action

Senegalese Party of Socialist Action

Senegalese Party of Socialist Action was a political party in Senegal led by Lamine Guèye...

 (PSAS), and formed the Senegalese Progressive Union (UPS).

Source: Zuccarelli, François. La vie politique sénégalaise (1940-1988). Paris: CHEAM, 1988.