M 24 was a political movement in the People's Republic of Congo. The grouping emerged out of a strike organized on March 24, 1976. The March 24 strike had demanded the rehabilitation of the Central Committee

Central Committee

Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...

 of the Congolese Party of Labour

Congolese Party of Labour

The Congolese Party of Labour , founded in 1969 by Marien Ngouabi, is the ruling political party of the Republic of the Congo...

 (PCT). The leaders of the strike were arrested. The name 'M 24' was accorded by the Congolese Students Association (AEC) in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 in reference to the coalition who backed the March 24 strike.

Leading figures of the M 24 network include Pierre Nzé

Pierre Nze

Pierre Nzé is a Congolese politician and diplomat. During the single-party rule of the Congolese Labour Party , he held leading positions in the government and party...

 (former no. 2 of PCT), Jean-Jules Okabando (former leader of the Congolese Socialist Youth Union

Congolese Socialist Youth Union

The Congolese Socialist Youth Union was the youth wing of the Congolese Party of Labour , intended to supervise the young people. From 1969 to 1992, it played a major role in disciplining the young members of the Party and building up their character with Socialist ideas.The destiny of the young...

), Anatole Khondo and Nicodème Ekamba-Elombé (trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

ists).

When a new PCT Central Committee was elected in 1979, two members of the M 24 network (Nzé and Okabando) were included. The M 24 network was weakened in the mid-1980s as Denis Sassou Nguesso

Denis Sassou Nguesso

Denis Sassou Nguesso is a Congolese politician who has been the President of Congo-Brazzaville since 1997; he was previously President from 1979 to 1992. During his first period as President, he headed the single-party regime of the Congolese Labour Party for 12 years...

 strengthened his influence, and Nzé was excluded from the government. In 1987 Nzé left the PCT Politburo

Politburo

Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...

. He was not included in the PCT Central Committee elected in 1989.