AFRICAN STUDIES HISTORY, POLITICS, ECONOMICS, AND CULTURE Edited By Molefi Asante Temple University A ROUTLEDGE SERIES AFRICAN STUDIES HISTORY, POLITICS, ECONOMICS, AND CULTURE MOLEFI ASANTE, General Editor KWAME NKRUMAH'S CONTRIBUTION TO PAN-AFRICANISM An Afrocentric Analysis D.Zizwe Poe KWAME NKRUMAH’S CONTRIBUTION TO PAN- AFRICANISM An Afrocentric Analysis D.Zizwe Poe Routledge New York & London Published in 2003 by Routledge 29 West 35th Street New York, NY 10001 Copyright © 2003 by Routledge Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photcopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Poe, D.Zizwe (Daryl Zizwe), 1954– Kwame Nkrumah’s contribution to Pan-Africanism: an Afrocentric analysis/by D.Zizwe Poe. p. cm.—(African studies: history, politics, economics, and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-94643-3 1. Nkrumah, Kwame, 1909–1972—Political and social views. 2. African cooperation. 3. Pan-Africanism. I. Title. II. African studies (Routledge (Firm)) DT512.3.N57P64 2003 341.24′ 9–dc21 2003004068 ISBN 0-203-50537-9 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-57724-8 (Adobe eReader Format) Contents 1. Introduction 1 A Presentation of Key Terms 7 Africology and ‘Africalogy’ 7 African Centered 8 African Liberation Movement (ALM) 9 Pan-African Nationalist Movement (PANM) and the African Unity 9 Movement (AUM) African Personality 9 Collectivist African Personality 10 Composite African 10 Pan-Africanism 11 Philosophical Consciencism 11 Centrism 11 Object-Subject 11 Traditional Rulers 12 2. Method to Examine Nkrumah’s Contribution to Pan-African Agency 13 Afrocentricity 13 A Synthetic Afrocentric Paradigm 14 Individual and Organizational Agency in the Intellectual and Social 15 Landscape Psychological, Political, and Philosophical Location 19 Historicity and Hermeneutics 20 Critique and Delinking 22 Denunciation of Hegemony 22 vi Assertion of an African Culture, Personality, and Genius 22 3. The Basis of Nkrumah’s Contribution 24 Custom Locatives 24 Primary Source Data—Nkrumah 26 Nkrumah’s Speeches 27 Nkrumah and the Pan-African Centered Perspective 28 Nkrumah’s Written Works 29 Autobiographical Works 32 Nkrumah’s Theoretical Works 33 Testimonial of Key African Revolutionists 34 Secondary Sources 35 Comrade-Authors 37 Tertiary Sources 39 Pan-African Historiography 39 Biographers 41 4. The Pan-African Nationalistic Trend in African Culture: An 43 Afrocentric Presentation The Pan-African Centered Perspective 44 Definitions and Typology 46 The Problem of Eurocentric Hegemony and African Phenomenon 46 Pan-Africanism as a Racial Concept 47 African Centered Version of Pan-Africanism 50 Pan-Africanism’s Typology (Revolutionary versus Retrogressive) 53 An Afrocentric Perspective to Understand Pan-African Development 57 Historical Origins of Pan-Africanism 57 Opposition to Pan-Africanism During the Modern Era 58 Conclusion 59 5. Major Tributary Events That Influenced Nkrumah’s Pan-African 61 Agency Periodization of Pan-African Nationalism 61 vii ‘Liberty’ and ‘Unity’ as Pan-African Themes 63 Abyssinia: A Pan-African Nationalist Symbol of a Liberated Zone 66 The Liberated Ghanaian State and Pan-African Nationalism 74 Conclusion 83 6. Part1 Nkrumah and the Pan-African Movement 1945–1966 85 Pan-African Conference to Leader of Gold Coast Government 85 1945 –1951 Nkrumah and the 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress 85 West African National Secretariat 88 The Circle 89 Organization of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) 90 Organization of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) 94 The Accra Evening News and Other Publications 96 Pan-African Agency in the Gold Coast Colony 97 Pa rt 2 From Leader of Gold Coast Government to Leader of Pan-African 98 Liberated Zone 1951–1956 Global Reconnections and the Push for West African Unity 98 The Opposition 101 Pa rt 3 From Leader of Pan-African Liberated Zone to Founder of 103 Pan-African Nationalism 1957–1966 Ghana Becomes Politically Independent and Nkrumah Declares Pan- 103 African Policy Conference of Independent African States (CIAS) 107 Nkrumah’s Trip A broad 108 Ghana-Guinea Union (G-GU) 109 The All-African People’s Conference (AAPC) 110 Inauguration of the All-African Trade Union Federation 113 The Sanniquellie Agreement 115 Tenth A nniversary of the CPP 117 Tenth Anniversary of the Positive Action Campaign 120 The Freedom Fighters Conference 121 viii The Organization of African Unity 1 22 7. Nkrumah’s Organization of Key Pan-African Agents 128 Organization of African Women for Pan-African Agency 129 Organization of African Youth for Pan-African Agency 133 Institutions of Higher Learning, Africanists, Institute of African Studies 138 and the Encyclopaedia Africana 8. Nkrumahism: An Ideology to Enhance Pan-African Agency 147 Ideological Base to Achieve Pan-Africanism 152 Philosophic Thought 154 A Summation of Nkrumah’s Philosophic and Ethical Statements157 The Cardinal Ethical Principles 157 Analytical Focus 158 9. Afrocentric Summary of Nkrumah’s Major Contributions 159 Linked Traditions of West African Nationalism and Pan-African 161 Nationalism Development of the First Pan-African Liberated State in Modern 162 History Elevation of Pan-African Agency to the Level of Nation-States163 The Concept of Socialist African Union as the Optimal Level for the 164 African Personality, Genius, Community, and Pan-African Agency A Philosophy to Defend the Ideology of the African Revolution165 The First African State Sponsored Afrocentric Research 165 10. Notes 168 1 1. Works Cited 175 12. Index 182 ix CHAPTER 1 Introduction The Afrocentric approach to African Area Studies and African American Studies is a relatively new and budding endeavor. It differs from other academic disciplines by concerning itself with the empowerment of Africans. Units of analysis inherited from other disciplines, however, have restricted its approach. Most of the resultant theories focus on individuals and diasporic elements. Within Africa, these scholars recognize only ethnic and linguistic groups while they attack a continental-wide African identity as being pejoratively essentialist. These models, therefore, have not satisfactorily addressed the question of African agency at macro levels. This new approach requires agential models at the level of African nation states and the ‘African world.’ The life and works of Kwame Nkrumah, including the ideology of Nkrumahism, offers a set of analytical and coherency tools with which to build an African-centered base in the study of international politics. Indeed, Nkrumah offers a revolutionary model of Pan-Africanism to the explication of African Personality studies. Nkrumahism stands as the intellectual progeny of Garveyism and the earlier works of Blyden. The life and works of Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972), the most influential agent of African liberation and organizational unity since Marcus Garvey (1887– 1940), provide a useful ideological foundation and strategic models for agency to the construction of African Centered curriculums. He personally influenced and was impacted by an impressive number of anti-imperialists (some of which were Pan-African nationalists1) in West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, Central Africa, North Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the United States of America. Most notable among these were W.E.B.DuBois (1868–1963), Amy Ashwood Garvey (1897–1969), Shirley DuBois (1906–1977), George Padmore (1902– 1959), Ras T. Makonnen, Jomo Kenyatta (1894–1978), Tom Mboya (1930–1969), Milton Obote (b. 1924), Abd-el Nasser (1918–1970), Julius Nyerere (1922– 1999), Frantz Fanon (1925–1961), Sékou Touré (1922–1984), Amilcar Cabral (1921–1973), Patrice Lumumba (1923–1961), Robert Mugabe (b. 1924), Ndabaningi Sithole (b. 1920), Malcolm X (1925–1965), and Kwame Ture (1941– 1998). Nkrumah is inevitably mentioned in scholarly discussions that assess Pan- Africanism from the Manchester 1945 Pan-African congress onward. His work 2 KWANE NKRUMAH’S CONTRIBUTION in the area of African liberation has overshadowed his early theoretic contributions to African studies. His significant contribution to African Centered thought, through the ideology of Nkrumahism, has only scant mention among Black Studies, Africa Area studies, African-American Studies, Africana Studies and Pan-African studies departments in the United States. Nkrumah’s impact on the development of the fields of Black Studies and African Area studies requires further attention in the academy. This understatement results partly from political and epistemological debates between: Afrocentrists and Eurocentrists; Black nationalists and African nationalists;2 Diaspora nationalists and continentals; and, capitalists and socialists. Besides these various polemical entities, Black Studies and African Area Studies have housed debates between the languages of various disciplines. This is clearly seen on one hand by those scholars in literature fields who often find themselves wed to periodizations categorized by deconstructionism and post- modernity. The sub-categorization