West Africa Review (2001)
ISSN: 1525-4488
IN DEFENCE OF THE GREAT AFRICAN, KWAME NKRUMAH
West Africa Review (2001)ISSN: 1525-4488IN DEFENCE OF THE GREAT AFRICAN, KWAME NKRUMAH |
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-- Much has been made out of the fact that Mr. Nkrumah joined the Communist Part of Great Britain. So what? I know Nkrumah and defend him.
You published in, the West African Pilot of August 21, 1948, a precis of the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the disturbances in the Gold Coast last February. With the main finding of the Commission I am not here interested, except that part that deals with Mr. Kwame Nkrumah’s activity, more particularly the charge that Mr Nkrumah (whom Nigerian papers mistakenly call ‘Doctor’) “has never abandoned his aims for a Union of West African Soviet Socialist Republics.”
As a friend of Mr Nkrumah and one who worked with him until he left England, may you allow me to state the facts as I know them. Mr. Nkrumah was the Chief Editor (the writer was once on the editorial board) of the New African, a monthly paper published by, the West African National Secretariat in London. The motto of the paper was, “For unity and absolute independence” of West Africa. The paper described West Africa as “that strip of land with all its waterways, hills, mountains and habitations stretching from 30 degree south of the Sahara and 10 degrees west of the Congo on South of the Atlantic Ocean. In the inland, it borders Sudan and Kenya.”
It therefore follows that West Africa comprises all the territories which have been invaded and are temporarily occupied by foreign powers. Such territories known as the ‘British’ West Africa, ‘French’ West Africa, ‘Portuguese’ West Africa, the ‘Belgian’ Congo, ‘Spanish’ West Africa, and the Republic of Liberia—all put together into one united country is what we mean by West Africa.” It is difficult to discover anywhere from Kwame Nkrumah’s writings or statements any aim for a Union of West African Soviet Socialist Republics. Indeed, Nkrumah belonged to the school of thought among West Africans in Britain who held the view that in the incipient state of national consciousness, such as obtains in West Africa, the question as to what complexion the people’s government should wear is best left till the foreign power has transferred responsibility to the inhabitants of the colony.
To entertain such a question from the start would cause division within the camp and prolong the day of freedom. Consistent with this view he disagreed from, and fought against, the view of that insignificant and irresponsible section of West Africans who describe W.A.S.U. in London as the “West African Soviet Union.” Those whose view prevailed argued that a free West Africa should not join any of the blocs formed by the major powers against each other in the game of power politics but should rather develop a separate independent West African bloc similar to the Latin American, Arabic or Asiatic bloc; that West Africa should not become a “West African Soviet Socialist Union” anymore than it should apply to become the thirty-ninth state of the American Union.
Mr Nkrumah held this view with an unyielding conviction up until his departure from Britain. Much has been made out of the fact that Mr Nkrumah joined the Communist Party of Great Britain. So what? Surely, Communists all over the world have been gradually departing from the orthodox teachings of Karl Marx. Stalin has said that the Soviet Union was founded on the ideals of Lenin, more than of Marx. Zhdanov, Secretary General of the Communist Party in Moscow made a similar statement in 1936 May Day celebrations; the Communists of Yenan (Northern China) recognise the right of private property, as China, they argue, cannot pass from feudal peasantry to full Communism without passing through intermediate stages.
The Yugoslav Communists have been expelled from the Cominform for holding a too independent view, thereby showing that a Communist can be a nationalist. The Communists of the Arab countries are all in line with the other parties on the Palestine issue against partition to which the Soviet Union has given its blessing. Communism has now been transformed and can now be distinguished from subservience to Moscow. To what extent Nkrumah proposes to modify Marxism to suit West African conditions, or how soon he will be convinced that the philosophy that suited the peasants of the Volga banks cannot be applied to the Gulf of Guinea, is a matter of conjecture but to suggest that he will deliver the Gulf of Guinea to the, Kremlin is as ridiculous as it is fantastic.
The British Government is very ready to raise a cry of the red bogey real or imaginary. The Zinoviev letter was not the first, though it was the most widely known. Last year the Foreign Office gave its blessing to Protocol M which was an alleged secret instruction from Cominform headquarters to the Germans in the Western Zone of occupation to paralyse the administration. Like all others before it, this one was also exploded as mere delusion. Nearer home, some Nigerians still remember a statement by a high Government official that the women riot at Aba and elsewhere in 1929 was inspired from Moscow. It would be better to get at the root cause of the problem in the colonies rather than make unsuccessful attempt to find a scapegoat.
The people of the Gold Coast, who cannot be accused of being emotional, had started to complain of bad conditions and had voiced their dissatisfaction within the political and economic condition of their country, even when Mr Nkrumah was in London. The Gold Coast Convention was formed in his absence; he was only invited to be its Secretary-General. One fails to see therefore any justification for the Commission of Inquiry’s view that the policy of the Convention tends to be that of its secretary. One is bound to ask, “Was there no policy when the Convention was formed, until Mr Nkrumah arrived from England? This anti-Communist crusade should stop as it lends reality to the suspicion among some people that the ghost of Goebbels moves about in Whitehall.
Mr. Creech Jones and Mr. Rees Williams know that. Unfortunately their plans are hampered by some reactionary officials in the colonies who are still mentally refighting the Battle of Plassey, and cannot recognise the march of time. Those in whose care the destiny of the colonial people is entrusted should do well to remember that since 1939 the wind of freedom has been blowing and has reached West Africa. If the grievances of the people are not attended to in time, there will be troubles; it will be of no effect to obscure the issue by accusing communists because they lead or exploit the discontent. All political parties do that.
First published, West African Pilot, Thursday, October 21, 1948.
Copyright 2001 Africa Resource Center, Inc.
Citation Format
Uwechia, Nwabufo (2001). IN DEFENCE OF THE GREAT AFRICAN, KWAME NKRUMAH. West Africa Review: 3, 1.
