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Issues of Decolonization: View from the Imperial Centres

[lecture not delivered because of

scheduling problems/illness

… but important context

for Case Studies to follow]

Europe and Europeans Post WWII

Impact of WWII: Britain and France used African forces ‘overseas’

- created veterans’ groups that shared particular experience in Europe and (especially) Asia

- voice important addition to post-war Africans’ discontent…


Britain, France sought ‘moderate’ change and reform

- looked to reshape colonial relationships through imposition new political frameworks

- encouraged political expression through elected parties

- sought out moderate leaders as allies


Direction, pace of reform influenced by post-war domestic politics:

- Britain: first Labour majority government

- Socialist platform: creation of welfare state (e.g. national health programme)

- saw an Africa in need of real development

- began speaking of ‘moderate reform’ in colonies like Gold Coast and Nigeria


Nigeria: Richards Commission (1946)

- all Nigerian Legislative council: advisory only, two Nigerian representatives

- three regional councils (south east, south west and north)

- Constitution revamped 1951: Macpherson Constitution devolved more power to Federal Government


Gold Coast: limited political participation encouraged

- 1951 Constitution: local elections, assembly to work with British Governor General who oversaw self-governance of colony

- military, foreign affairs, currency control: remained in British hands

[see Lecture Feb. 12 and Case Study ‘Gold Coast to Ghana’]


1950s saw rapid escalation of reforms:

- ‘returns’ on economic investment slow to be realized: disappointment

- Labour government and socialist experiment short-lived: conservatives returned to power

- attempts to ‘hold on to empire’ under Churchill failed


- will to continue colonialism waned

- Independence of India (1947) reflected shifting ‘mood’ of British public: influenced policy in Africa

- acceleration of reform influenced by events in British settler colonies East Africa

[more on this in discussion of ‘Settler Societies’]


- to quote Churchill (towards end of life): “I could have defended the British Empire against anyone except the British people.”


France: left-leaning coalition, including Communist Party came to power

- immediately pushed for change in colonial world

- 1946: Union Francaise created Commonwealth of French Colonies

- 20 African representatives to be elected to French Assembly, others to serve in new Assembly for the Union


Rapidly changed post 1947:

- conservative political forces took power in government

- favoured businessmen, settlers in African affairs

- against the rapid and radical actions as predecessors proposed


For example:

- attacked Houphouet-Boigny (Cote d’Ivoire) and regional Partie Democratique (PDCI) for ‘communist’ leanings

- several dozen members killed, hundreds imprisoned.

[see also in context of ‘International factors: Cold War’, below]


1956 “Loi Cadre”:

- devolved government from Dakar and Brazzaville (centres of former federations) to each of 12 colonies.

- context important: imminent independence of British colonies Gold Coast, Nigeria

- crisis in Algeria


1958: dramatic changes in France

- fall of fourth republic, recall Charles de Gaulle, formation Fifth Republic with new Constitution

- related to crisis in Algeria [“Settler Colony”]

- ‘Union’ became ‘Community’: France to control finance (common currency), foreign policy, military affairs


- local parliamentary government, flag,

anthem devolved to ‘states’

- African colonies provided with Referendum: retain status or become ‘members of the Community’?

- all (except Guinea) chose latter: assured strong continuing influence of France even in decolonized Africa

The French Community (1958): successor to the French

Union (from 1946) [included French Guyana, South America]


Process different, domestic politics different but outcome was form of Decolonization beginning with Britain’s Gold Coast in 1957, followed by France’s Referendum in 1958:

- debate continues as to most important factors shaping both process and politics


‘Push’ factors from Africa, Africans central :

- protest riots like 1948 in Gold Coast [Davidson “Rise of Nationalism”, Readings]

- labour strikes like Dakar-Niger Railway workers 1947-48 [impact WWII Readings]

- racial violence like Nyasaland (1957) and Kenya (1952-60)

- Wars of independence like Algeria (1954-60)


International factors: putting the question of ‘Africa’ in larger post-war picture

- Pan-Africanism [1945 Congress]

- Independence of India [1947] - US interests in acquiring ‘access’ to Africa

- Cold War

[see articles on British decolonization in Additional Readings]


Pan-Africanism:

- anti-colonial stance, rhetoric of 5th Pan African conference (1945) also drew on Socialist ideology [Readings Feb. 3-7, Discussion Class Feb.7]

- reinforced equation of ‘capitalism, colonialism, the West’

By 1950s, Pan-Africanism influenced almost ALL nationalist leaders


Included: - Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya) - Julius Nyerere (Tanzania)

- Kenneth Kaunda (Zambia),

- Haile Selassie (Ethiopia)

- Albert Luthuli (South Africa)

- Nambdi Azikiwe (Nigeria)…


… and Kwame Nkrumah (GoldCoast):

- late 1940s, 1950s: argued for independent West African Federation, first step towards a United States of Africa

- became main spokesperson for ‘African’ Pan-Africanism

- following Ghana’s independence (1957), organized Conference of Independent States (“All Africa” Conference) 1958 [more on Nkrumah, legacy of Pan-Africanism in Case Study]


Independence of India: profound effect on Britain

- unclear to what degree reflected ‘mood’ or shaped it but …

- had impact on how Britain saw its other colonies


Independence of India: profound effect on Africa

- if Britain’s ‘Jewel in the Crown’ was to be independent, surely there could be no reason for denying the same to Africans!!


Creation of United Nations:

- reflected US interest in colonial world, new powerful international position

- Atlantic Charter was also way to open up continent for its own interests [see Resources]

- post-war: stronger economically, politically than Britain or France

- well-positioned to ‘push’ for Decolonization


Also Became Issue of ‘Cold War’:

- not only US but Soviet Union saw Africa as ‘opening up’ to ideological, financial influence/investment


Soviet Competition:

- successfully linked ‘capitalism with colonialism, imperialism’ in political rhetoric (resonated with Pan-African discourse)

– offered Socialist Alternative’: attractive to

those seeking freedom, advantages so far denied by colonial masters


Many post-WWII leaders engaged with

ideas of socialism, communism (not distinguished)

Nkrumah: “In order to be able to carry out this resistance to neo-colonialism at every point, Positive action requires to be armed with an ideology, an ideology which, vitalizing it, and operating through a mass party with a regenerative concept of the world and life…


… In order that this ideology should be comprehensive, in order that it should light up every aspect of the life of our people, in order that it should affect the total interest of our society, establishing a continuity with our past, it must be socialist in form and in content and be embraced by a mass party.“

[Nkrumah, “Turning away from the West?”, Resources]


Amical Cabral (Portuguese Guinea): openly questioned ‘real’ aims of imperialist countries (European and American)

– in agreeing to African independence in context of emerging Cold War, were they not trying to prevent …


“…the enlargement of the socialist camp, [to]

liberate the reactionary forces in our

countries stifled by colonialism, and enable

these forces to ally themselves with the

international bourgeoisie [middle class].”

[from B Davidson, Modern Africa, p.104]


Socialist and Pan-Africanist goal:

- help ALL colonies transcend colonial boundaries, work to unite continent

- Nkrumah: no country truly free until ALL colonies had freedom


Concluding Summary:

To understand decolonization as the consequence of one factor – or indeed as the same process across the continent – would be to oversimplify a critical moment in the creation of contemporary Africa


Concluding Summary [cont.]:

- to underestimate the role of domestic (European) politics, in turn influenced BOTH by what was happening in Africa AND by what was happening elsewhere on the international scene, would be a mistake…



- yet to see what was happening on the local Africa scene ONLY as ‘irritations’ or ‘momentary provocations’ would also be to misunderstand the complexity of decolonization dynamics



- we need to look more closely at the nature of those ‘issues’, both in the West African context focused AND in the Central, Eastern and Southern contexts that draw the ‘white settler’ factor into the mix

- this will extend the analysis to Portugal, Belgium and South Africa, providing yet additional views of the decolonization process

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