JOURNAL OF MARXISM-NKRUMAISM Issues of Pan-Africanism and Building the Socialist Mode of Production The Annual Theoretical Organ of the Centre for Consciencist Studies and Analyses (CENCSA) Vol. 1 No. 1 December 31, 2014 EDITORIAL Liberty Ayivi Memorial Mango Plantation (LAMMP) On Building Socialist Power In our next issue Hitherto, the pursuit of socialism has essentially been at the political level, to begin with. This stands in contrast to the laws governing the evolution and emergence of new modes of production in dominance within the historical process. History attests to the fact of newly emerging socio-economic systems (modes of production) being evolved, upheld, promoted and defended by emergent economically powerful class forces. The attraction of the new mode of production in assuring immediate and future livelihood in prosperity and happiness has always been its source of inexorable growth and development. Political and other superstructural CONTENTS institutions of power, attendant upon such economic systems to defend them, are a consequence of the process of economic Our Stance evolution but never ever their cause. The attempts at a Here We Are reversed process have generally failed. The laws governing Ideological Determinations this process of history are never reversed. The poor do not Dr. Kwame Nkrumah on Religion and Atheism come to rule their lives until and unless they create for On the Democratic Revolution within the African themselves an economic system in which they are the Revolution powerful. Yes, until and unless the working people build for themselves the socialist mode of production in superiority A Course in Marxism-Nkrumaism over the capitalist and neo-colonial system the attainment of Introductory Welcome Discourse socialism as a socio-economico-political system shall remain elusive. It is that mode of production which attracts to it the Applications free and voluntary participation of others in it not only for its On the Question of Who Founded Ghana: onward development but also for its moral justification and Constructing and Executing the Strategy for the all-round defence. The current practice of creating or seeking Attainment of Sovereign Nation-Statehood to create a moral, political and military defence system for a socialist mode of production which is yet to emerge while Political Economy feeding precariously within the existing corrupt system is, to Surplus-Value: A Manual for the Study of Karl put it mildly, self-deceptive. It has no independent legs to Marx‟s Theories of Surplus-Value stand on. It is, in fact, a clear and clean expression of a mistake and travesty of the laws of history which operate with Pan-Africanism iron discipline. And, to put it more seriously, it is, on the part Revolutionary Pan-Africanism of those who are not that unaware, an innocent betrayal of the very working people whose cause they seek (and sometimes Matters Arising pretend) to defend. For far too long, socialism has been 1. Dr. Abu Sakara-Forster and the Dramatic Neo- misconceived as the rule of ‗the poor and suffering masses‘. Colonial Mentality No, the poor and the suffering never rule even their own 2. Pacifism and the Democratization of Violence lives. Those class forces that ever emerged dominant in 3. A Critique in Socialist Policy Direction history had always been described, once upon a time, as ‗the Development in Africa: Evaluating Professor poor and suffering lot‘. To be dominant – that is, to put their Ansa K. Asamoa‟s Depeasantization Policy poverty and suffering behind them and determine their fortunes over other classes – they evolved and erected their In Our Next Issue own liberating mode of production which enabled them Land Ownership Patterns and Acquisition in simultaneously to develop a defence and socio-politico- Ghana: A Case Study of Opportunities for the administrative system appropriate to it. So let it be with the Settlement of African Agricultural Mobile Labour poor and suffering masses of today. Thus sayeth History. Our Stance HERE WE ARE For decades now, the thought and practice of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah have been categorized simply as ‗Nkrumaism‘, following his own initial usage. This affords reactionary forces the world over an opportunity to empty the concept of its Marxist content. Nkrumaism is, in those circles, so emasculated that Dr. Nkrumah is no longer seen as the socialist Pan- African Revolutionary that he is. So abused is the ‗Nkrumaism‘ concept that we are now required to use ‗Marxism-Nkrumaism‘ for definiteness. That reactionary and compromised view of his thought and practice system is used essentially to create the false impression on the masses of the African people that the pursuit of his ideals is on the agenda of those neo-colonial forces seeking or holding political power; while what is intended or is in practice is the neo-colonial and unscientific negation of that system to service and reproduce the archaic capitalist neo- colonial system and superstitious modes of thought. The Journal of Marxism-Nkrumaism sets out to emphasize the Marxist fundamentals and foundation of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah‘s thought system. In his compilation of the book Revolutionary Path, Dr. Nkrumah‘s overriding concern is the exhibition of his consistency in Marxist applications not only in his writings but also in his political activities right from the 1940s to the last moment of his breath in life in 1972. His introductory pieces to each item in the compilation attest to this. In publishing the Journal of Marxism-Nkrumaism as its annual theoretical organ, the Centre for Consciencist Studies and Analyses (CENCSA) seeks, first, to restore the Marxist premises to the interpretation and understanding of Dr. Nkrumah‘s thought system; for, without this the scientific concerns of that system are lost in any interpretation of his theoretical efforts to demystify superstition in traditional African thought processes so as to install the reign of scientific modes of thought. Secondly, CENCSA seeks to demonstrate Dr. Nkrumah‘s applications of Marxist principles in theory as well as political strategy and tactic formulations. Demonstrations of this nature are found in the paper On the Question of Who Founded Ghana, for instance. Here, Dr. Nkrumah‘s application of revolutionary pragmatism, as a principle in Marxist revolutionary praxis, is exhibited to show how he goes pragmatic without abandoning set objectives but rather for their realization. Thirdly, the effort is made to show that he is not dogmatic but creative in his application of Marxist principles to the African reality. In this regard, importation of the results in other people‘s application of such principles 2 in their peculiar conditions is abhorred. He insists on such applications to the African reality in deriving results therefrom as the scientific attitude. Hence, he does not call himself a Marxist-Leninist or Maoist. By this he renders Afrocentricism (the African-centred approach) scientific. This buries within it no suggestion of not learning from the experiences of other people under different climes and conditions. It is rather held that the utilization of foreign experiences in our endeavours must first be validated through an analysis of our own African conditions. Hence, the uncritical import of ideas without subjecting them to local validation amounts to the unscientific mode of mechanical or metaphysical thinking. Such lazy resort to solution-finding is always resisted without let. With these three objectives, CENCSA aims at developing a critical mass of African professional revolutionaries with their hearts, minds and eyes set on the concrete analysis of African society on the lines of scientific thinking and practice. In this respect, the African is encouraged to eschew mystifying modes of thought in the manner of the physical scientist‘s practice. Principles of Marxism, just like those of the physical sciences, are universally applicable anywhere to achieve local results. In this spirit, CENCSA prefers Dr. Kwame Nkrumah‘s reported use of ‗Marxism-Nkrumaism‘ (by June Milne) in its characterization of his thought and practice to that of ‗Nkrumaism‘ which has been corrupted to mean something other than the Marxist ideology and philosophy that it is. Where ‗Nkrumaism‘ is used instead of ‗Marxism-Nkrumaism‘ in the pages here it is the latter that is meant; just as the use of ‗Leninism‘ elsewhere implies ‗Marxism-Leninism‘. In this first edition of the Journal of Marxism-Nkrumaism, we publish articles, papers and extracts of a manual, previously written and published by the Director of the Centre for Consciencist Studies and Analyses (CENCSA), Lang T. K. A. Nubuor, to provide a definition of the content and orientation of Marxism-Nkrumaism. Topics treated range from issues of philosophy through history to those of political economy and development in areas like creating collective co-operatives as basis of the socialist mode of production in the spirit of Revolutionary Pan-Africanism. ‗Practice without thought is blind; and thought without practice is empty.‘ The dialectic is herein observed. Be Focused, Determined and Bold! Forward Ever! Onward To The African Revolution! December 31, 2014 BACK TO CONTENTS 3 Ideological Determinations DR. KWAME NKRUMAH ON RELIGION AND ATHEISM This is part of a series. The other parts are found at www.marxistnkrumaistforum.wordpress.com MARXISM-NKRUMAISM: DR. KWAME NKRUMAH‟S APPLICATION OF MARXISM TO AFRICA SERIES IV THE CONCEPT OF COSMIC CONTRAST IN “CONSCIENCISM” A CONTRIBUTION TO MARXIST DIALECTICS By HABIB NIANG Foreword by Lang T. K. A. Nubuor Dr. Kwame Nkrumah‘s position on atheism within the Marxist philosophical system occasions doubts in the minds of some revolutionary forces regarding his Marxist essence and credentials. But do we properly understand that position as it finally turns out to be in its evolution? That is, as a conception of the existence of an all-powerful natural but not a supernatural force subject to scientific scrutiny? Setting out to unfold the scientific basis of religion, Dr.