Definition:

The Comité de l'Unité Togolaise (CUT, Committee of Togolese Unity) was formed on 13 March 1941 under the leadership of Sylvanus Épiphanio Olympio. As the decade progressed, party members became more radical, and by 1947 they were calling for independence. A moderate breakaway party, the Union des Chefs et des Populations du Nord (UCPN, Union of Chiefs and Populations of the North), was formed in 1951.

The CUT were the main opposition party of French Togoland in the 1950s, and in 1958 won a majority of the seats in the legislative assembly (29 out of 46). The party changed its name in 1963 to the Parti de l'Unité Togolaise (PUT, Party of Togolese Unity).