World War II, Pan-Africanism And the Origins of Decolonization Early Nationalism
“… Nationalism was a way to become less poor, to send their children to school, benefit from better roads, prices, public services.
They [the majority of the people] looked to nationalism for social gains, while the educated few mostly had their eyes on political gains.”
[B. Davidson, Modern Africa, p. 130]
Video
Basil Davidson, “This Magnificent African Cake”
(Pt. 4 – link in ‘Readings’) Colonial World
There were three major ‘watersheds’ in early ‘colonial world’:
- Great Depression (1929-1935)
- Italian Colonization of Ethiopia (1935)
- World War II (1939-1945)
Colonial World
WWII, Italian Imperialism grew out of Great Depression and Rise of Fascism in Europe:
- by extension, moved into Africa
- altered impetus of and ultimate direction of Colonialism
- created new roles for ‘Colonial African’: rise of activist ‘Pan-Africanism’
Economic Depression
Economic situation arising from Great Depression revealed degree to which Africa was dependent on healthy functioning of world economy:
- Uganda: cotton 80% exports - Gold Coast: cocoa 79% exports - Gambia: peanuts 98% exports - Zanzibar: cloves 61% exports Economic Depression
When Depression caused prices to drop for all commodities produced in Africa:
- wages and benefits to workers cut
- colonial governments attempted to ‘recoup’ Europe’s losses from African through cuts to education, health, welfare
Economic Depression
Colonial economics now clear:
- where profits were made, bulk of money invested NOT in Africa but in Europe!
Economic Depression
Northern Rhodesia:
1937 more than 4million pounds in profits, 540,000 pounds returned to country through import/export taxes but colony still “too poor” to afford schools. Economic Depression
Gold Coast:
1920s-1949 more than half of all profits from mineral exports went directly to Britain yet colony had only one higher education institution (Achimota College, 1924)
Most companies foreign owned therefore profits ‘profited’ Europe not Africa Development for Whom?
“Population, Area, Trade and Investment: A comparison” (produced for official purposes during the war)
[French Equatorial Africa and the Cameroons (Native Intelligence Division 1942): 417] Africans Respond
Combination of: - economic crises everywhere affecting labour, consumption, ability to pay taxes - increasing frustrations of educated Africans with no place in either the economy or the society …
Began to ‘radicalize’ both workers and political movements!
Africans Respond
The 1929 “Aba Women’s Riots”:
[Photo from 1989 re-enactment; from “The Aba Women’s Tax War”, Resources] - protesting against taxing women, economic hardships late 1920s (women petty market traders) [see also “Sitting on a Man”, ‘Resources’ Women’s Demands
1. The Government will not tax women. 2. No personal property, such as boxes, is to be counted. 3. Any one woman who is a known prostitute is (not) to be arrested. 4. Women are not to be charged rent for use of common market shade. 5. They ask that licenses for holding plays should not be paid for. 6. They do not want Chief Mark Pepple Jaja to be Head Chief of Opobo Town. 7. The Women do not want any man to pay tax. 8. They are speaking for Opobo, Bonny, and Andoni Women‘. (Colonial Report, 1930; from “The Aba Women’s Tax War”, Resources)
Africans Respond
Gold Coast Cocoa Hold-Ups (1930, 1938):
Cocoa Pod
[referred to in the Davidson video: ‘Magnificent African Cake’]
See also reference to horrendous impact ‘swollen root disease’ had on this mono-cash crop c.1950 in Short Story ‘Khaya Tree’ , Readings. Another example of what this kind of Dependence meant – here issue not market but disease. Cocoa Harvesting Gold Coast Transporting Cocoa:
- ‘human-powered’ rail
- Head-loading from river “Voices of discontent”
Impact of long-term labour migration:
- creating new class of ‘semi-permanent’ workers in cities
- undermining self-sustainability of rural areas (turning into ‘labour reserves’, housing women and children, elderly and sick workers)
- same time, radicalizing urban politics through workers’ strikes
The 1930s: Africa responds
Workers’ Strikes
[see ‘BBC Story of Africa’ “Between the Wars” in Readings. Click on ‘Early Nationalism’] “Voices of discontent”
"The African is conditioned, by the cultural and social institutions of centuries, to a freedom of which Europe has little conception, and it is not in his nature to accept serfdom for ever.
He realizes that he must fight unceasingly for his own complete emancipation; for without this he is doomed to remain the prey of rival imperialisms, which in every successive year will drive their fangs more deeply into his vitality and strength."
Jomo Kenyatta, Facing Mount Kenya
“Voices of discontent”
Sudan: Tramway men On Strike
"There was a lightening strike of tramway men this morning and many official and businessmen were obliged to use other means of transport... This appears to be the first strike of its nature in Sudan and it is all the more regrettable as the tramway men seem to have no legitimate grounds for striking."
[British-owned Sudan Daily Herald, 19 Dec 1936]
“Voices of discontent”
Nigeria - Strikes Of Inspectors Threatened
"Streams of sanitary inspectors were seen early this morning moving to and fro with evident signs of dissatisfaction on their faces. One of their main grievances is reported to be the placing of an untrained and illiterate sanitary inspector to supervise their work. A petition has been addressed to the Senior Resident of the Province. "
[Nigeria Daily Times, 2 Dec 1936.]
“Voices of discontent”
South Africa - Strike At Krugersdorf
“Thirty nine natives on shaft sinking contracts at East Champs d'Or, Krugersdorf, refused to start work and tried to prevent others working... they wanted higher pay, although they had signed up to contract."
[Rand Daily Mail, 5 Dec 1936].
“Voices of Discontent”
French Soudan (Senegal-Mali): - Dakar-Niger Railway Strike 1947-48 - supported throughout French West Africa by transport workers (rail, dockers) - ‘General Strike’ of 1952 finally achieved overall goals Demands: - health care, pensions, family allowances, “same advantages as White workers” - revealed generational differences, recovered role of women, challenging of racial hierarchy “Voices of Discontent”
Ousmane Sembene, God’s Bits of Wood (based on history of real strike; full text in Resources. See also “Fact and Fiction in….”, article/website, Resources)
Excerpts (In Readings): 1. generational tensions, decision to strike
2. revelations racial hierarchy: impact of strike on both African and French Supervisor
3. politics: attempt to restrict impact of strike from generating General Strike (‘success’ of General Strike actually in 1952, not 1948) “Voices of discontent”
Educated Africans and Radicalization of Politics:
In British Colonies where an educated professional elite was slowing growing:
"It is the policy to appoint Africans to take the place of Europeans, but the real point of disagreement is as to the rate this process should proceed. The government feels this process is too fast. The people, that it is too slow."
[Sierra Leone Daily Mail, 3 Dec 1936]
“Voices of discontent”
Political parties in 1930s less accommodating than earlier ‘moderate’ elite because of: - impact of Great Depression, lowered prices paid for agricultural produce & higher prices for imported goods
- falling wages, unemployment
- impact of long-term cash cropping felt on environment and food-supplies
[reference Nigerian historian commenting on ‘early nationalists’ in Davidson Video ‘Magnificent Cake’, #4, Readings] Nationalist Political Parties
Who Were the “Educated Africans”?
- Colonialism cultivated political activity among ‘moderate’ elite who were closer to British and French (socially, education, culture) than to illiterate and semi-literate, working class and rural Africans
- Shaped nature of early nationalism and early nationalist parties
Educated African Elite
Leopold Senghor (1906 – 2001) Senegal Educated African Elite
Leopold Senghor: - born near Dakar 1906, father merchant
- educated Catholic Mission School and Jesuit College, Dakar
- Lycee Louis-le-grand, Sorbonne University Paris, acquired French citizenship
- taught language and literature in France Educated African Elite
Leopold Senghor: - 1930s, part of intellectual movement “Negritude”: wrote poetry celebrating ‘being African’ [in spite of name, was not about skin colour]
- 1939 mobilized into French Army
- taken prisoner June 1940 (18 months camp)
- released because of illness, participated National University Front resistance 1942
Educated African Elite
Jomo Kenyatta (1889 – 1978) Kenya: Educated African Elite
Jomo Kenyatta: - born Kamau Wa Ngengi ; became ‘John Peter’ when converted to Christianity (1914)
- later changed to Jomo; called himself ‘Kenyatta’ after name of mountain/colony to reflect commitment to seeking its freedom
- primary education Church of Scotland Mission; also learned carpentry
- worked as clerk to Asian storekeeper, later as storekeeper to European firm
Educated African Elite
-- had opportunities to travel in Europe and study Soviet Union, then London School Economics
- protested against British ‘land grab’ in reserve area Kenya (subsequently labeled ‘communist’)
- wrote book on Kikuyu language and famous anti-colonial tract ‘Facing Mount Kenya’
- spent World War II in UK Educated African Elite
Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904-1996): - educated in the US (Howard, Lincoln Universities; Masters Univ. Pennsylvania)
- contemporary of Nkrumah from southern Nigeria
- strongly influenced by black radical American journalism
Educated African Elite
- 1934 returned to job with the African Morning Post (Accra, Gold Coast): successfully politicized ‘the masses’
- charged with sedition for publishing the article “Has the African a God?”
- established The West African Pilot (Lagos, Nigeria): dedicated to achieving independence from the British
[Please note: there are some inaccuracies in the BBC Story of Africa account of Azikiwe on the ‘Between the Wars: Newspapers’ page] Educated African Elite
Kwame Nkrumah (1909 – 1972) Educated African Elite
-attended Achimota College (Gold Coast) - University of Pennsylvania (US)
[Nkrumah’s Student Visa for U. Penn Educated African Elite
Kwame Nkruma, University of Pennsylvania, 1935 “The Straw that broke…”
Italian Invasion of Ethiopia: - economic consequences of depression -legacy of WWI
- led to rise of Fascism in Germany, Italy
- Mussolini, like 19th predecessor Bismarck, wanted place in ‘The African Sun’
-1935 invaded Ethiopia with no opposition from other European powers [see Davidson, video “Magnifican African Cake” Pt. 4, ‘Readings] Italian Invasion Ethiopia 1935 World War II and Africa
World War II (1939 - 45):
- many argue that WWII actually began in Africa, in 1935, with Italian invasion of Ethiopia [Adu Boahan in Davidson’s ‘Magnificent African cake’; “Africans Who Fought in WWII, both in Readings]
- as in WWI, so-called voluntary enlistment had to actually be ‘forced’ by chiefs in many areas
- situation fully addressed in local media
World War II and Africa
Enlist today!
Your country needs you! Not for learning how to shoot the big howitzers
Or how to rat tat tat the machine guns
Or how to fly o'er peaceful countries Dropping bombs on harmless people
Or how to fix a bayonet and charge at The harmless workers of another clime .
World War II and Africa
Your country needs you!
For the rebuilding of your shattered homeland.
Your homeland ruined by exploitation.
By the tyrants of foreign nations Who would use you as their cats paw
While they starved you to subjection .
(African Standard, 28 July 1939)
[from “BBC Story of Africa” – Between the Wars, Readings]
World War II and Africa
First African Battleground:
- Ethiopia (1941)
- reclaiming land lost to Fascist Italy in 1935: symbolically important
- involved troops from West, East and South Africa
’ World War II and Africa
Second major theatre: North Africa - Italy invaded Egypt (1940)
- German ‘Afrika Corps’ (under Rommel) in western Libya (1941)
- British and Germans chased each other back and forth, next two years
- Germans defeated in 1943: memorialized in novel /movie ‘The English Patient’ [see animated map of ‘The North African Campaign’, Resources] World War II and Africa
[from BBC News ‘The Africans who fought in WWII’, Readings] World War II and Africa
Overall situation of general discontent gravely worsened with impact of WWII:
- return to forced labour
- shortages of imported goods (food, cloth, other manufactured goods/equipment
- ‘war effort priorities’ exacerbated problems (as in WWI)
- settler colonies, South Africa: ‘white’ servicemen left workforce open to black labourers – ‘colour bar’ breached World War II and Africa
“The European merchant is my shepherd, And I am in want;
He maketh me to lie down in cocoa farms,
He leadeth me beside the waters of great need; The general managers & profiteers frighten me.
Thou preparedst a reduction in my salary In the presence of my creditors. Thou anointest my income with taxes;
My expense runs over my income And I will dwell in a rented house forever!”
[The ‘African Morning Post’ of Accra, as submitted by Gold Coast serviceman, c.1944; cited in Basil Davidson ‘Modern Africa’ p.66]
View from the War
1945, Nigerian serviceman writing to Nigerian Nationalist leader Herbert Macaulay:
“We all overseas soldiers are coming back home with new ideas. We have been told what we fought for. That is ‘freedom’.
We want freedom. Nothing but freedom”
[cited in Basil Davidson, Modern Africa, p.66; see also ‘Atlantic Charter’, Resources] Rising Expectations
Expectations raised by Atlantic Charter (1941): (agreement between Churchill and Roosevelt) [see full document in Resources]
Rising Expectations
Expectations raised by Atlantic Charter (1941): (agreement between Churchill and Roosevelt) [see full document in Resources]
Article Three:
“They [President of the United States, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom] respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them…”
Rising Expectations
Atlantic Charter (1941):
Article Five: “[And] … they desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement and social security…”
- further inflated expectations ! - inflamed frustrations ! WWII and the French
French Colonies in unique situation, not anticipated by anyone (including British neighbours):
- France (and Belgium) fell to the Axis powers (Germany) in 1940
- France left in hands German puppet regime based in Vichy
-France’s colonies left without formal ‘Colonial Master’.
WWII and the French
French West Africa (FWA or ‘AOF’):
- part of collaborative Vichy regime until 1942 when Allies took North Africa
- thereafter, supported “Free French” effort
WWII and the French
French Equatorial Africa (FEA) :
-supported ‘government in exile’, so-called “Free French” under General Charles de Gaulle, from outset
- Felix Eboue (Chad) critical in preventing Axis base in Africa
- FEA base for Free French
- 15,000 Chadian soldiers joined war effort
WWII and the French
FEA important in generating Brazzaville Conference (1944): promised ‘improvements'’ to colonialism -Felix Eboue and Charles de Gaulle (right) -(below) 1974 stamp commemoration
WWII and the French
General principles:
1. The French Empire would remain united.
2. Semi-autonomous assemblies would be established in each colony.
3. Citizens of France's colonies would share equal rights with French citizens.
[see also “Brazzaville Conference” – de Gaulle’s opening speech, in Resources] WWII and the French
4. Citizens of French colonies would have the right to vote for the French parliament.
5. The native population would be employed in public service positions within the colonies.
6. Economic reforms would be made to diminish the exploitative nature of the relationship between France and its colonies.
WWII and the French
But the Key Passage read:
“.. the colonizing work of France makes it impossible to accept any idea of autonomy for the colonies, or any possibility of development outside of the French empire.
Even at a distant date, there will be no self- government in the colonies.” WWII and Aftermath
Clear that both British and French ex- servicemen had expectations of markedly different post war world than their colonial masters: - expected jobs, employment
- conditions equal to European co- workers
- pension payments
- freedom and democracy
Video Presentation:
Basil Davidson “Africa: Rise of Nationalism”
[Ch. 1: 1:10– 8:20min]
WWII and Aftermath
Expectations furthered by:
- creation United Nations (replacing ineffective League of Nations formed after WWI)
- Increase in anti-colonial rhetoric in both US and Soviet Union
- attachment Pan-Africanist movement to anti-colonial struggles
Pan-Africanism
Origins: Edward Blyden (1832 – 1912)
- Caribbean-born Liberian educator
- Wrote of those united by ‘African roots’: blacks in Americas brought from Africa by slave trade
- Late 19th C. wrote about achievements of Africans: first used term ‘Pan-African’ Pan-Africanism
Ideas Reflected: 1st Pan-Africanist Conference (London, 1900): ‘Address to All Nations’
Let the German Empire, and the French Republic, true to their great past, remember that the true worth of colonies lies in their prosperity and progress, and that justice, impartial alike to black and white, is the first element of prosperity.
Let the Congo Free State become a great central Negro State of the world, and let its prosperity be counted not simply in cash and commerce, but in the happiness and true advancement of its black people. Pan-Africanism
Let the nations of the World respect the integrity and independence of the first Negro States of Abyssinia, Liberia, Haiti, and the rest, and let the inhabitants of these States, the independent tribes of Africa, the Negroes of the West Indies and America, and the black subjects of all nations take courage, strive ceaselessly, and fight bravely, that they may prove to the world their incontestable right to be counted among the great brotherhood of Mankind. … Pan-Africanism
Following WWI, became formalized Congress: - during war, focus shifted back to US and future of Afro-Americans
Differing views: -WEB Du Bois: educated Blacks should seek larger role in society (including Africans in colonies) -Marcus Garvey “Back to Africa”: move away from ‘black unity’ with Africa as symbolic towards ‘Black as African’
Pan-Africanism
Post-War, 1920s : several Congresses
- 1919 First Pan-African Congress, Paris - 1921 Second Pan-African Congress, London, Brussels and Paris - 1923 Third Pan-African Congress, London, Paris, Lisbon - 1927 Fourth Pan-African Congress, New York City Ideas expressed in various forms but Africa and Africans largely ‘ideals’ to be sought rather than realities to be engaged with… Pan-Africanism
1930s Pan-Africanism: Cultural as well as Political articulations
- French: expressed as ‘Negritude’ (founded Paris Senghor, Cesaire, Damas) [see “Negritude” in Readings]
- ‘literary’: combined Black pride and African tradition - rejecting Colonial domination and Western values: strongly Marxist Pan-Africanism
1930s Pan-Africanism: Cultural as well as Political articulations - US: tapped into Harlem Renaissance
- writers (including du Bois); musicians; artists celebrating ‘Black African’ achievement
- by late 1930s, focus shifting back to Africa and Africans: Afro-American activists addressing issues of Colonialism
[see also ‘Pan-Africanism and Somalia’, Resources] Pan-Africanism
1930s Pan-Africanism: Cultural as well as Political articulations - United Kingdom (London): International African Friends of Ethiopia (responding to 1935 invasion)
- became International African Service Bureau: focal point for anti-colonialist, Pan- Africanist intellectuals
- active publishing seen as key to generating political change Pan-Africanism
International African Service Bureau:
- headed by George Padmore
- among key members/publishers - Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya) - Peter Abrahams (South Africa) - Kwame Nkrumah
- all involved in Fifth Pan-African Congress, Manchester (1945) [see below] Pan-Africanism
George Padmore (1903 -1959): - born Trinidad, worked as journalist
- 1924 moved to New York to study sociology
- joined Communist Movement
- 1929 moved to Soviet Union, worked for “Negro Bureau” of Workers’ Union
- expelled 1933 for defending ‘nationalist’ (Black) interests
Pan-Africanism
- London UK: moved in left-wing circles, continued to write for socialist publications - active Pan-Africanist, wrote two books on Britain and Africa (1936, 1937) Pan-Africanism
Kwame Nkrumah: Work with Pan-Africanists shifted his beliefs - travelled to US via London: there during Italian invasion Ethiopia – radicalized
- encountered Pan-Africanism in US in its late 1930s cultural and political orientation
- founded African Student Organization: promoted Pan-Africanism
- took several degrees in US, taught at Lincoln College
-
Pan-Africanism
Kwame Nkrumah: Work with Pan-Africanists shifted his beliefs - returned to London to study London School Economics 1945
- 1945-47: active with IASB, especially influenced by George Padmore (who later became personal advisor)
- one of central organizers of Pan-African Congress, 1945
[story of Nkrumah continues with return to Gold Coast in 1947, see ‘Case Studies: Gold Coast]
Pan-Africanism
At the Fifth Pan-African Congress (Manchester, 1945):
- strongly reflected post-war politics, emphasis on ‘freedom and democracy’
- Congress focus also reflected current Pan- Africanism: activist in contrast to earlier passive voice
- pronounced that armed struggle could be justified to overthrow colonialism
Pan-Africanism
At the Fifth Pan-African Congress (Manchester, 1945):
Discussion Class Friday, 7 February
Pan-Africanism: Voice of Decolonisation
[ 1963 “Reprint of Documents from 5th PAC”, complete with ‘Messages of Good Will’ from WEB du Bois, Nandi Azikiwe , Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah, and Mrs. George Padmore, in ‘Readings’]