nkrumah, kwame - class struggle in africa
TRANSCRIPT
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ALSO BY KWAME NKRUMAH
BOOKS
Ghana: an Autobiography
Towrds Co1onial FreedomI Speak of Freedom
frica Must Unite
Neo-Colonialsm
Chalenge of the CongoAxioms
Dark Das in Ghana
Voice from Conakr
Handbook of Revolutionar Warfare
Consciencism
PAMPHLETS
What Mean b Positive Action
The Spectre of Black Power
Ghana: The Wa Q{
The Struggle Continues
Two Mths
e Big Lie
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KWAME NKRUMAH
Class Struggle1n
Arica
INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK
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by KWAME NRUMH, 1970
Published by Panaf Books Ltd. London and
y Inernaonal Pblshers Co nc New Yor
L IGTS SVD
Fit Edton, 1970
Second Prntng 171
Ths P 2
Lbrary of Congress Caalog Card Number: 72-40207
SBN (cloth) 7178-0313-9; (paperbak} 71780317
Pted n te Unted State of Amea
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This bk s decate tothe wrkers an peasants f Aca.
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Caperde Is,
Porto
Prai
Asceion I.
St. H1na I
Aldabra I.
Cmor
@. "':Reunio:l.
AREA OF AFRICA AND ITS ISLANDS:c. 12,000000 sq. miles
POPULAION:c. 500 millon
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CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 9
1 Origins of Class in Aica 13
2 Class Concept 7
3 Class Characteristics and Ideologies 23
4 Class and Race 27
5 Elitism 30
6 Intelligentsia and Intellectuals 36
7 Reationay liques among Armed Forces andPolice 4
8 Coups d'tat 47
9 Bourgeoisie 55
10 Proletariat 6
11 Peasanty 75
12 Socialist Revolution 80
Conclusion 84
Index 89
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INTRODUCTION
In Africa where so many derent kinds of political, sialand economic conditions exist it is not an easy task to generalise on political and socio-economic pattes. Remnants ocommunalism and feudalism still remain and in parts of thecontinent ways of life have changed very little from traditional
times n other areas a high level of industrialisation and urbanisation has been achieved Yet in spite of Africa's socioeconomic and political diversity it is possible to disce ceraincommon political social and economic condiions and problems These derive from traditional past common aspirations,and from shared experience under imrialism colonialismand neocolonialism There is no part of the continent whichhas not known oppression and exploitation and no part which
remains outside the processes of the African RevolutionEverywhere the underlying unity o purpose of the peoples oAfrica is becoming increasingly evident and no African leadercan survive who ds not pay at least lip service to the Africanrevolutionary objecives of tota liberation unication andsocialism.
In this situation the ground is well prepared for the nextcrucial phase of the Revolution when the armed strugglewhich has now emerged must be intensied, expanded andeectively coordinated at sttegic and tactical levels; and atthe same time a determined atack must be made on the entrenched position of the minority reactionary elements amongst our own peoples For the dramatic exposure in recentyears of the nature and extent of the class struggle in Africathrough the succession o reactionary military coups and the
outbreak of civil wars, particularly in West and Central Africahas demonstrated the unity beeen he interests o neocolonialism and the indigenous bourgeoisie
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At the core of the problem is the class struggl. For too long,sial and political commentators have talked and written asthough Africa lies outside the main stream of world historicaldevelopment-a separate entity to which the social, economicand political patterns of the world do not apply Myths such as"African socialism and praatic socialism, implyng thexstence of a brand or brands of socalism applicable to Afrcaalone have been propagated; and much of our hstoy has been
written n terms of socioanthropological and historical theores as though Africa had no history prior to the colonalperiod One of these distortions has been the suestion thatthe class structures which exist n other pats of the world do
not exist in AfricaNothing is further from the truth A erce class struggle hasbeen raging n Africa The evidence is all around us In essenceit is, as n the rest of the world, a stugg between the oppressors and the oppressed
The African Revolution is an ntegral part of the worldsocialist revolution and just as the class struggle is basic to
world revolutionary processes so also is it fundamental to the
struggle of the workers and peasants of AfricaClass divisions n modern African socity bam urr tosome ett during the preindependnce period, when itseemed there was national unity and all classes joned forces toeject the colonia power This led some to proclaim that there
were no class divisions in Africa and that the communalismand egalitarianism of traditional African society made anynotion of a class struggle out of the queston. But the exposure
of this fallacy followed quickly after ndependence when classcleavages which had been teporary submerg n thestruggle to win political freedom reappeared often with ncread ntensity, particularly n those stas where the newlyndependent govement embarked on sialist policies
For the African bourgeoisie the class whch thrived undecolonialism is the same class whch is eneting under thepostindependence neolonial period. Its basic nterest lies npresrving capitalst social and economic structures It is thereore n allance with nteatonal monopoly nance capital
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THE PRIVLEGD AND OPESSED UD
CM M
CLASSES
Burecti ogesi
tat
fi C
Penl
Sm F1 d
T
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and neocolonialism, and in direct conict with the Africanmasses whose aspirations can only fullled throughscientic socialism.
Although he African bourgeoisie is smal numerically and
lacks the nancial and political strength of its counterparts inthe highly industrialised countries it gives the llusion of ngeconomically strong because of its close tie-up with foreignnance capital and business nterests Many members of theAfrican bourgeose are employed by foregn rms and havetherefore a direct nancial stae in the contnuance of theforeign economic exploitation of Africa Others notably in thecivil service trading and minng rms the armed forces
he police and n the professions are committed to capitalismbecause of their background their western education andther shared experience and enjoyment of positions of privilege Ty are mesmerised by capitalist institutions a organisationhey ape the way of life of their old colonial mastersand are determined to preserve the status and power inheritedfrom them
Africa has in fact n its midst a hard core of bourgeoisie who
are analogus to colonists and settlers a tey live n postons of privegea small selsh moneymnded reactionarymnority among vast masses of exploited and opresedpeople Although apparently strong because of their suppotfrom neocolonialists and imperialists they are extremely vulnerable heir survival depends on foreign support Once hisvital lnk is broken they become poweress to mantan theipositions and privileges hey and the "hidden hand of neocolonialism and mperialism which supports and abets reacionand exploitation now tremble before the risng tide of workerand peasant awareness of the class struggle n Africa
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1
ORIGINS OF CLASS IN AFRICA
Africa and its islands, with a land area of some twelvemillion square mles and a population estmated at about 50
million, could easly conan withn it, and with room to sparethe whole of India Europe, Japan, the British Isles Scandinavia and New Zealand. The United States of America coudeasily be tted into the Sahara Desert Africa is geographicallycompact and in terms of natura resources potenially therichest continent in the world
In Africa where economic development is uneven a widevariety of highly sophisticated poitcal systems were in existence
over many centuries before the colonia period began It ishere in the so-called developing world of Africa and in Asiaand Latin America where he class struggle and the progresstowards ending the exploiation of man by man have alradyentered into the tage of decisive revolutionary change.
The political maturity of the African masses may to someextent be traced to economic and social paes of traditionaltimes Under communalism, or example, all land and meansof production belonged to the comunity There was people'sownership. Labour was the need and habit of al When a certan piece of land was allocated to an ndividual for his personal use, he was not free to do as he lked with it since it stillbelonged to he community hefs were strctly controlled bycounsellors and were removable
There have been ve major types of production relationships
known to mancommunalism, slavery, feudalism capitalismand socialsm Wth the esabishment of the socialist sate manhas embarked on the road to communism. It was when private
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propety relationships emerged, and as communalism gave wayto slavey and feudalsm, that the class struggle began.
In general, at the openng of the colonal period the peoplesof Africa were passng through the higher stage of communalism characterised by the disintegration of tribal democracy andthe emergence of feudal relationships hereditary tribal chieftaincies and monarchical systems. With the mact of mperialism and colonialism comunalist socio-econmic pattesbegan to collapse as a result of the ntoduction of xport cropssuch as cocoa and e. The economies of the coloniesbecame interconnected with world capitalist markets. Capitalism individualism and tendencies to private ownership grew
Gradually primitive communalism disintegrated and the colltive sprit declned There was an xpansion of private farmng and the method of small commodity production
It was a relatively easy matter for white settlers toappropriate land which was not individually owned Forexample n Malawi by 1892 more than sixteen per cent of theland had been alienated and three quarters of it was under thedirection of eleven big companies When the land was seizedby
settlers the African "owners became in some cases tenants orleaseholders but only on land considered not fertile enoughor white farmers. The latter were usually issued withcerticates of ownershp of land by the British consul actigon behalf of the British government; and any land not underany specic private ownership was declared "British crown
land Simlar arrangements were made in other parts of colonal Africa.
Under colonialism communal ownership of land was allyabolished and ownershp of land imposed by law Furthermore, through the system of "Indirect Rule, chiefs becametools and n many cases paid agents, of the colonal administation
With the seizure of the land with all its natural resourcesthat is the means of production two sectors of theeconomy emergedthe European and the African the formerexploitng the latter. Subsistence agriculture was gradually destroyed and Africans were compelled to sell ther labour power
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o e coloalsts who tun hei pots to cpit. It ws th cicumstce that te acecass suge a emergas r of the css stule.
Wt he owt of commodity puction, mny o ex-
se cop oomi deelod ompletely dendet e pa Te cooy bme a sphee fo estmetnd exploitaon Captalsm develope with coosm Ate me tme the spread o piate etepse together wthe ns of the coloal amnsaie apparatus, eulted he emergece o st a tty ugeois clss ad then auan bougeos cass o buaucats ctioary tellecualsaders and others who cae icreasgy pat and pacel of
te ona oomic and sial strucueTo facitte eploto olonism amd ia d
cultual poge in te cooies Oboete fors of social e-latios wee restod and peser Captlist mets of po-duco, ad captalist soci reatonsps wee ioducFction twee is was in some cases delberately eud wen it ed to ste ngte te hads of coloadmsttos
But et eoomc deeopments, such as a of the e-trctve dusty pantations and pilist famng, the buld-ng of rs oads and raws was udertake he testsof cplism As a result, soal chag ocurd euda ndmieuda eatioships wer udermed with the emegenceof an dustl and agutral proletat. At the me tethre developd a toa bugeose and a ineligensa.
n ths olonalst situaio Arn woers regrded thecoloalists oreign ms ad orei pates s te ex-ploter Thus the class strle me he st ceamperialst ad ot direct agast te digenouugosie t s ts whc has ee esponsble n somee r te eatvely sow awakeng of the rnworke ad nt to the exstece of tei tue cla enye digenous bourgeosie
At the d of the colonial i hee ws most Aristts a highly deelop stte macine ad a ve of P-limenty demoracy coclg a crce stae ru y a
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elite of bureaucats wi practically unlimited power. Therewas an ntellgentsia, completely indoctrinated wit westevlues; a virtually non-existent labour movement; a profesonal army and a police force with an ocer corps largelytraned n weste mlitary academi and a ceftancy udto admnsterng at local level on bealf of te colonal govement
But on te credt side, a new grass roos polical leaderspemerged durng te ndependence struggle Ths was based on
worker and peasant support, and committed not only to ewnnng of political freedom but to a complete transformationof society Ts revolutionary leadersip, altoug of necessity
asociated wit te natonal bourgeoisi n te ndependencestrule was quite separate from it, a proced to breakaway after ndependence to pursue its class socialist objectivesTs strule still continues
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2
CLASS CONCEPT
lass strugge is a fundamenta theme of recorded history. Inevery non-sociaist society there are two main categories of
cass, the ruing cass or casses, and the subject cass or casses.he ruing cass possesses the major instruments of economicproduction and distribution, and the means of estabishing itspoitica dominance, whie the subject cass serves the nterestsof the rung cass, and is poiticay economicay and sociaydomnated by it here is conict between the ruing cass andthe expoited cass he nature and cause of the conict isinuenced by the deveopment of productive forces hat is, in
any given cass formation, whether it be feudasm, capitaism,or any other type of society, the institutions and ideas associated with it arise from the eve of productive forces and the
mode of production he moment private ownership of themeans of production appears, and capitaists sart expoitngworkers the capiaists become a bourgeois cass the expoitedworkers a working cass For in the na anaysis, a cass isnothing more than the sum tota of individuas bound together
by certain interests which as a cass they try to preserve andprotect
very form of poitica power whether pariamentary,muti-party, oneparty or open miitary dictatorship, reectsthe interest of a certain cass or casses in society In sociaiststates the govement reprents workers and peasants Incapiaist states, the government represents the expoitng cass,he state then, is the expression of the domination of one cassover other casses
imiary, poitica parties rpresent the existence of dierent
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classes.
t
might be assumed from this that a single party state
denotes classlessness. But this is not
necessarily
the case. t
only applies
if
the state represents political power held by the
people.
In
many states where two or more political parties
exist and where there
are
sharp class cleavages there
is
to all
intents and purposes government by a single party. In the case
of the United States of America. for example Republican
and
Democratic Parties may be said to be in fact a single party
in
0
CL SSES
CL SS
STRUGGLE
DETERMINED
BY
CH NGES IN
PRODU TIVE FOR ES
EXPLOITED
CL SS
that they represent a single class the propertied class. In
Britain there
is
in practice little difference between the Con-
servative Party and the Labour Party. The Labour Party foun-
ded to promote the interests of the working class has in fact
developed into a bourgeois oriented party. Both the Con-
servative Party and the Labour Party are therefore expressions
of the bourgeoisie and reflect its ideology.
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Inequality can only be ended by the abolition of classes. Thedivsion between those who plan, organise and manage, andthose who actually perform the manual labour, contnually recreats e class system The individual usually nds it verydicult, f n mpossible, to bak out of the sphere of lfe ntowhich he is bo; and even where there is "equality of opportunity, the underlyng assumption of nequality remaswhere the purpose of opportunity is to aspre to a higherlevel n a stratied society
A rulng class is cohesive and conscious of itself as a classIt has objective nterests, i aware of its position and the threat
posd to its contued domance by the risg tde of working
class revolt In Afri, the rulng classes account for approximately only one per cent of the population Some 80-90 percent of the population consists of peasants and agriculturallabourers Urban and idustrial workers represent about ve
per cent. Yet because of the presence of foreigners and foreigninterests, class struggle n African society has been blurredConict between the African peoples and the nterests of neocolonialism, colonialism imperialism and settler regmes has
concealed all other contradictory forces Ths explans to someextent why class or vanguard parties have been so long emergng Africa
Broadly, the exstng class patte of Afcan society may beshown as follows:
Classes
PEASANTS
PROLEARIA
(wageing)
Divisions Wthin Classes Elites
- rural, labourers, etc. indstria mainy
empoyed in majorindustries miningtransport, etc
continued overlaf
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lasses
Divisions Within lasses Elites
Pl TTY BOUROEOJSJE
a)
Farmers rural petty
- social status
bourgeoisie, owning determined by
size
of
land and
employing
land-holding, and
labour)
amount of labour
employed
b) Urban petty
- status according to
bourgeoisie small
size of business and
traders, merchants
craftsmen, etc.)
property
BOUROEOISIB
including national
- upper
- intellec-
bourgeoisie,
and
tuals
representing capitalism.)
- middle t op
- traders, tradesmen,
bureau-
- top civil servants
er ts
- compradors
- officer
managers
or
senior
"class"
in
employees
armed
of foreign enterprises)
forces
- entrepreneurs
- profession-
- professional and
als
managerial "class",
(top law-
etc.
yers,
doctors,
etc)
- techno-
era s.
TRADmONAL RULERS
authority based mainly
- clan he ds
on
tradition, custom,
- chiefs
etc., and not
land
- paramount chiefs
ownership)
- emirs, etc.
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The uneven economic development of Africa has made for aariety of class pattes with wide dierences existng betweenthe areas of whte settler mnority governments, the few re
mang colonial enclaves, and ndependent Africa.
For example, in Rhodesia, for mlion Africansare
crowded nto less than half the land acreage of the contry. Inother words, more than half the land is in the hands of some50, whte settlers Ths state of aairs has reslted in anenormous social and political gulf between the rich, whiteestate owners and the impoverished politically-impotent African peasants and workers. Here, as in all setter areas, class is arace isse rst and foremostthe "haves are whte, the "have
nots are blackand all the usual argumentsthe myth ofcial inferiority, the need for govement by the most able,and so onare sed to jstfy perpetation of the enforced,racialist, settler arrangement
Again, in francophone Africa, social patterns have resltedin the emergence of class divisions peculiar to this partclarcolonised area There were the "citoyens, the French"colons or citizens. There were the "assmils, the coloured
mlattoes and the black intelligentsia, or those Africans whoworked their way to this class through the Army or theburucracy Then came the "sujets, te workers andpeasants. An "assm could become a "citoyen, bt a"sujet could not, unless he rst worked his way into the "assim class This type of social system operated all theFrench colonies. Analogos arrangements stl exist in the fewremainng Spanish and Portuguese territories in Africa
The assimilation policy meant that any colonial "subjectcould be naturalised as a full French citizen. In practice, however, even those who reached a hgh enough level of educationusally did not attempt to aval themselves of ths socalledprivilege, largely becase, except in the For Communes,French citizenship was incompatible with the retention of one'spersonal statusthat is, the right to live by African customarylaw as opposed to the French code civil. There was a certainogic in this from a strictly assimilationist point of view: if onewas gong to be a Frencman in the political sense, then one
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should behave lke one socially, and accept such institutions asmonogay and French inheritance laws. But its eect underlned the flure of asslation, for on these ters, assilation was not a saleable coodity; and so, outside the Four
Counes, "citizen reaned virtually synonyous with"whte FrenchanWhile the nature of the econc relatonshp between the
colony and ts etropolitan aster deterned the nature ofthe class conct n a particular area, other factors included theideas and custos of the invadng power, although these wereattributable ultately to changes n the structure of productve relations
In areas colonsed by the Brtsh, a certan aount of urbansation ade for the eergence of bourgeos and pettybourgeois eltes which developed their own class charactersticattitudes and organisations To obtan a "whte collar jobbecae the abton of every African aspirng to prove hsprospects and social satus Manual work, particularly agrcultural work, was considered beneath the dignity of anyone whohad acqured even the ost rudentary degree of edu
cationIn pre-colnal Afrca, under condtons of counals,
slavery and feudals there were ebryonic class cleavages.But it was not untl the era of colonial conquest that a Europeansd class structure began to develop wth clearly dentableclasses of proletariat and bourgeosie Ths developent hasalways been played down by reactnary observers, ost ofwho have antaned that African soceties are hoogeneous and wthout class divisons They have even endeavoured to retan this vew in the face of glarng evidence of classstruggle shown in the postndependence period, when bourgeois eleents have joned openly with neocolonialsts, colonialsts and iperalsts n vain attepts to keep the Africanasses n peranent subjection
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3
CLASS CHARACTERISTICS ANDIDEOLOGIES
There s a close connecton between soco-poltcal develop
ment, the struggle between socal classes and the hstory ofideologes In general, ntellectual movements closely reectthe trends of economc developments. In communal socety,where there are vrtually no class dvsons, man's productveactvtes exert a drect nuence on hs outlook and aesthetctastes. But n a class socety, the drect nuence f productveactvtes on outlook and culture s less dsceble Accountmust be taken of the psychology of conctng classes
Certan socal habts, dress, nsttutons and organsatonsare assocated wth derent classes t s possble to place aperson n a partcular class smply by observng hs generalappearance, hs dress and the way he behaves Smlarly, eachclass has ts own characterstc nsttutons and organsatons.For example, cooperatves and trade unons are organsatonsof the workng class. Professonal assocatons, chambers of
commerce, stock exchanges, rotary clubs, masonc socetes,and so on, are mddle class, borgeos nsttutons.Ideologes reect class nterests and class conscousness
Lberalsm, ndvdualsm, eltsm, and bourges "democracy whch s an llusonare examples of bourgs deology Fascsm, mperalsm, colonalsm, and neocolonalsmare also expressons of bourgeos thnkng and of bourgeospoltcal and economc aspratons On he other hand, socal
sm and communsm are deologes of the workng class, andreect ts aspratons and poltcoeconomc nsttutons andorgansatons
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The ugeos onpion of rdom as th ance o restrt o aissz-aie, e ener and o "evey mn hisl is a pia expeo o ugeois ioogy. hebs hess s a he pu o goemen is to pt
piate po and the pte ownesp o he ans opoduton and distibuon Fdom is on o the_ sphee and has no lean o enoc mattes Capitsm which kows o aw nd it ow itees is quad
ELITSM
BRA
NELOISM
F
RGS
CPTS
ANO
NDVDUS
AA
RS
BRS RY
wh onomc do Ispaable om is onpin oo s the ew ta he nce o absn o wthdenos the pene o absnc o ab
Coupl with the bgeos ncepo o eedom is heouis wosp o law and ode gaess o who ade
he aw o o whethe i e the ess o he people as o o a naow eie.In en as i e ace o gowng eoluonar oen
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throughout the word, new misleading bourgis terminologyhas emerg which expresses he reactionry back-ash. Typica examples are he myhs of he "silent majority or the"average or "ordinay citizen, both of which are said to
antirevolutionary and in favour of maintaining he status quoIn fact, in any capitast society, the working class forms themajority and this class is far from silent, and is vocal in itsdemand for a radical transformaion of society
In Africa, the African bourgisie, anxious to emulatEuropean midde class atttudes and ideologies, have in manycases confused class with race. They nd it dicult todierentiate between Euroan casses since they are not fam
iiarwith the subtle dierences in speech, manners, dress and soonerenceswhich woud insany betray their class originto their own felow countrymen Memrs of the Europeanworking class live as bourgeoisie in the colones. They owncars, have sevants, their women do not enter the kitchen, andtheir class oigin is only apparent to their own people. Afterindepdence, the indigenous bourgeoisie, in aspring to rulingclass satus, copy the way of life of the exruling cssheEuropeans They are, in reality, imiating a race and not aclass.
The Afican bourgisie, thereore, tends to ive the kind oflife lived by the old colonial ruing class, which is not necessarily the way of life of the European bourgeoisie It is ratherthe way of life of a racial group in a colonial situaion. In thissense, he African bourgeoisie perpetuates the masterservant
relationships of the colonal periodAlthough the African bourgeoisie for the most part slavishyaccepts the ideologies of its counterpats in the capialist wod,there are cetan ideologies which have developed specicay
within the African context and which have become characteristic expressions of African bourgeois menlity Perhapsthe most typical is the bogus conception of "negritude Thispseudointellectual thry sees as a bridge between the Afri
can foreigndomnated middle class and the French culturalesablishment It is irrational, racist and non-revolutionary Itreects the confused sate of mind of some of he colonised
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French Afican intellectuals, and is totally divorcd from thereality of the African Personality.
The tem "Arican socialism is smilaly meaningless andirrelevant It plies the existene of a orm f socialismpeculiar to Afria and derived rom comunal and egalitaianascts of taditional African societ The myth of Aricansocialism is use to deny the class struggle, and to obscuregenune socialist commitment. It is employed by tho Aricanleaders who are compeed-n the clmate of the Arcan Revolutionto prolaim socialist policies but who are at the sametie dply committed to inteational capitalism and who donot ntend to promote genuine socialist economic development
Whie there is no hard and ast dogma r socialist revolution and specic circumstances at a denite historical peiodwil detrine the precise form it will take there can be nocompromise over socialist goals The principles o scienticsocialism are universal and abiding and involve the genuinesocialisation of productive and distributive processes hosewho for poltcal reasons pay lip servce to socialism whieaiding and abetting imperialism and neocolonialism servebourgeois cass nterests Workers and peasants may be misledor a time but as class consciousness dvelos the bogus socialists ar exposed, and genuine socialist revolution i mad possible
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4
CLASS AND RACE
Each historical situation develops its own dynamics. Thelose lnks between class and race developed in Africa along
side capitalist exploitation Slavery, the master-servant relationship, and cheap labour were basic to it The classicexample is South Africa, where Africans experience a doubleexploiationboth on the ground of colour and of class. Similar conditions exst in the US.A, the Caribean, in tin America, and in other parts of the wod where the nature of thedevelopment of productive forces has resulted n a racist classstructure. In these areas, even shades of colour countthe
degree of blackness beng a yardstick by which social status ismeasured
While a racist social structure is not inherent in the colonialsituation, it is inseparable from capitalist economic development For race is inextricably lnked with class exploitation; ina racistcapitalist power structure, capialist exploitation andace oppression are complementary the remova of oneensures the removal of the other
In the mode world, the race struggle has become part ofthe class struggle In other words, wherever there is a raceprobem it has become linked with the class strue
The eects of industrialisation in Africa as elsewhere, hasen to foster the growth of the bourgeoisie, and at the sametime the growth of a poliicallyconscious proletariat The acquisition of property and political power on the part of the
ourgisie, and the growing socialist and African nationalistaspirations of the working class oth srike at the root ohe racist class structure though each s aiming at derent
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objecives. The bourgeoisie suppors capialist developmenwhle he prolearia-he oppress classis srving owardssociaism
n Souh Africa, where he basis of ehic relaionships is
class and colour e bourgeoisie comprises abou onefh ofhe popuaion he Briish and he Boers havg joned forces
.>
Caas
Class
Reaosh
Raciasm
Double
Expotaon
o mata heir posiions of privilege have spi up he remang fourfhs of he popuaion io "Blacks "Coloureds and "ndians he oloureds and ndans are mnoriy
groups which ac as buers o proec he moriy Whesagains he creasingly man and revoluionay Black maoriy In e oher seler areas of frica a simar classrace
sruggle s beg wagedA nonracial sociey can ony aceved by socialis revol
uionary acion of he masses I wl never come as a gf from
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he miority rulng class. For it is impossible o separate rarelations from the capitalist class relationships in which theyhave their roots
South Africa again provides a typical example. In the early
years of Dutch settlement, the distiction was made not beween Black and White but beween Christian and Heathen Itwas only with capialist economic penetration that the masterservant relationship emerged, and wih it, racism, colour prejudice and apartheid. The latter is the most tolerable and iquitous of policies and race-class "systems ever to emergefrom Wite, capitalist, bourgeois society Eighty per cent of thepopulation of South Africa is nonwite ad has no vote or
political rights.Slavery and the masterservant relationship were thereforethe cause rather than the result of, racism The position wascrysallized and reinforced wih the discovery of gold and diamonds in South Africa, and the employment of cheap Aficalabour in the mines As time passed, and it was thought necessary to justify the exploitation and oppression of Africanworkers, the myth of racial inferiority was developed ad
spreadIn the era of neocolonialism, underdevelopment is stil
atibuted not to exploitation but to inferiority, and racialundertones emai closely interwoven with the classstruggle
It s only the endng of capitalism, colonialism, mperialismand neocolonialism and the attanment of world cmmunismhat can proide the conditions under which the race questionan ally be abolished ad elimiated
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ELITISM
Elitism is an ideology of the bourgeoisie. It arose durng thesecnd half of the nieteenth century largely as a result of thework of wo Italian sociologists, Vfredo Pareto (1848-923)
and Gaetano Mosca (1858194 They wrote at a tie whenthe middle class, wch had recently gaed political powerfro the aristocracy, felt i is turn threatened from below by arapidly grwg woig class ibued with rxst ideologyPareto and Mosca aed to refute Marx and to deny he possibilty of socialist revolution leading to a casslesssociety. Uke Marx, they aintained that political sll deter
ied who ruled, ad at society would always be goveedby soe kind of elite, or a cobination of elites
In essence, elitists asse that practice the mority alwaysexrcises eective power and that the doinant mnority cannever be controlled by the ajority, no matter what socalleddemocratic institutions are employed The cohesiveness ofelites constitute their a strength. They are small i relationt e nation as a whole, but they are strong out of proporion
to ther szeElitism is an ideology ailorade to t capilism andbourgeois de facto domination he capitalist societyFurthermore, it intenses racism sc it can be used to subscribe to the myh of racial superiority and nferiority
In recent times, there has been a grat revival of nterest nthe study of elites and any new elitist' theories ave beendisseiated It is signicant that this development coicides
storcally with a tremendous upsurge of socalist revoluionary activity in the world Bourgeois theorists, seekng to usfy
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the continuance of capitalism, have found it necessary to fallback on elitis. They cannot by any rational argument justifythe harsh irrationality of capitalism So they try to show thatthere wil always be a ruling elite, and that govement isalways in the hands of those most tted to govern. In aintaining this, they evade the reality of the economic class structure and class struggle n capitaist society
Among the basic tenets of elitis is the theory that powerbreeds power, and that apathy, submissiveness and deferenceare qualities of the masses in politics. Democracy has beendened as competition between oligarchies It has becomefashionable to talk of top decision-makers, and to discuss
which group or groups really wield power in a state Is there aconcentration or a diusion of power? How are poiticaldecisions made? Are they made by a ruling elite? Do themasses exercise any easure of indirect power? Or are decisions made by diverse elite groupings? Is it true that: "Gove
ments do not gove, but merely control the machinery ofgovernment, being themselves controlled by the hiddenhand?
Pluralists assert that power is not held by a single elite, butby a mixture of many ower is regarded as cuulativewealth, social status, and political power being interwoven. Connected with this view is the idea of eliteconsensusthat is, the involvement in policy formation ofonly the ost important elite groupings
It was one of the declared aims of the early elitsts to demoish the myths of "democracy They set out to show that in so
called democracies, the people, or a aority of the people donot in fact rule, but that government is carried out by a narrowelite hey went even further and asserted that participation ingovernment was not a necessary feature of democracy, and notn itself an important ideal
here can be no class within a class, but there are eliteswithin a class Elites arise from the developent and oationof a class In Europe, the broad ass patte is as follows
aditional arstocracy based on land ad titles
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Middle class
Wokng class
- based on money, and dividedinto upper, middle and lower
- based on agriculture andindusy and ivided intouppe and lowe.
Among the mddle classthe new aristocracyare plutocrats manages ntellectuals bureaucts technocats andso on each of whch may be sad to constitute an elite. With theapid development of technology and nceasng specialsation the stata of technoatsan elt within the ddle
classis becomng inceasngly inuental n decisonmakngSome elitsts asset that a metocacygovement by theexpert"is now a realty.
Euopeanstyle elites may be disceed among the Aficanbougeose Under colonalsm the Afican eltes were chefsn the colonal legislative cuncls and in the colonal admnistrative sevices; lawyers and doctos judges and magistates;top civl servants senor army and lce oces After nde
pendence the old elites emaned vtually ntact and acquedgeate strength The postion of members of Palament andNational Assemblies cabnet mnistes top civ servantssenio army and plce ocers and so on were ehanced.They wee no longer subordnate to colonal authoty.Membes of th pofessions for example teachers lawyes anddoctos bneted by the Afrcansation polcis of the newlyndependent goverent
It was n the postndependence period that there emergedwhat may be termed the paty nouveaux riches", an eltwhch developed fom among the ranks of the Party whichsuccessfully won poltical freedom from the colonal power.After ndependence conict develops within the Party betweenRght and Left wing elements The Rghtists become the Patynoueaux rches. They proceed to make ther fortunes once
ndependence has bn acheved and the Party has becom thegoveng Party They exploit their new positions of power andndulge n nepotsm and corrption thereby discediting th
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Party and helping to pave the way for rctionary coupsd'tat
Simaly, after ndependence, and with the implementationof economic Development lans, and the encouragement in
some cases of ndigenous busness enterprise, local buddngcapitaists to some extent acquired new opportunities to extendtheir interests. But in general, African capitalists are still hejunior patners of imperialism They receive the crumbs of invesent pots, commercial agencies, commissions, and directorships of foreign-owned rms In these, and in many otherways, they are drawn into the web of neocolonialism
As a result of colonialism and neocolonialism, there has
been comparatively little development of an African businesselite. In addition, the fact that many newlyndependentgovernments tend to concentrate on the public rather than onthe private sector of the economy, has le to the relativelysmall size of the African apitalist class The African busnessman is, in general, not so much interested n developing ndustry as n seeking to enrich himself by speculation, black marketeerng, coruption and the receipt of commissions from
contracts, and by various nancial manipulations connectedwith the receipt of socalled "aid The African capitalist thusbecomes the class ally of the bourgeisie of the capialist woldHe is a pawn in the mmense network of international monopoly nance apital
In this way, he is closely connected with, for example, thegiant corporations of monopoy capitalism It has been asserted that in the US.A the npols that is, the nancialpoliticians, exercise decisive power and are responsible formaor decisionmakng This is done through npolitieshuge corpoations such as the Ford Motor Company,Du ont and General Motorsto mention only a few In 1953there were more than 27,000 millionaires in the U.S.A, and theconcentration of wealth in a few hands s intensifying It isestimated that .6 per cent of the population owns at least 32
per cent of all assets, and nearly all investment assets; and50
r cent of the population owns practially nothing. It cannotbe said that power n the US.A is n the hands of the most
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quaed, snce most of the wealth is inherited, and its pos-session, therefore, does not necessarly denote merit
Yet it has been held by some elitists that development ofindrial societies can be shown as a movement from a classsystem to a system of elites based on merit and achievement.Such a theory falls to the ground n the light of clear evidenceof the sharpening of class strggle troughout the capitalistworld.
Among elitists, opnions der as to how far elites can besaid to be cohesive, conscios, and conspiratorial. Obviously itis mpossible to measre precisely the nence and decisionmakng power, and the degree of cohesiveness of any particlar
elite or grop of elitesAmong the political elite in the developng contries arenationalist leaders, breacrats and intelligentsia Of themembers of the Ghana Hose of Assembly after the 1954 election, 29 per cent were school teachers and 17 per cent weremembers of the liberal professions Among the Legislative Assembly members of the eight territories of the former FrenchWest Africa, after the 1957 elections, 22 per cent were teachers,
27 r cent were government ocials, and 20 per cent weremembers of the professionsThe mddle class in developing contries was in the an
created by the edcational and administrative systems introdc nder colonialism The predominance of the intelligentsia the middle class is de in the main to the deliratepolicy of the colonial power in fostering the growth of anntelligentsia gear to western ideologies which it need for
the successfl functioning of the colonial administration. Atthe same time the colonial power curbed opportunities for theformation of an indigenous business class.
Elite associations, such as bar assocations medical societies, oddfellows, freemasonry, roary clubs, etc, emergewith the development of elites These associations assist classformation by instittionalisng socal derences The existenceof class feeling is shown in the desre to join associations andclubs whch are thought to enhance social satus
Elitism is basic to he tnkng of those who accept cas
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stratication. It is an ingredient of capitaism, and is furherinensied by racism which in its un is a resu of the gowhof capiaism and imprialism The inheent eitism of theruing casses makes them conempuous of the masses Eiismis an enemy of sociaism and of the working cass
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6
INTELLGENTSA AND NTELLECTUALS
Under colonalsm, an ntelgentsa educated n westedeology emerged and provded a ink between the coona
power ad the masses. t was drawn for the most part from thefamles of chefs and from the "moneyed sectons of the popuaton The growth of the ntellgentsa was limted to the mnmum needed for the functonng of the coonal admnstratont becme socaly alenated, an elte susceptble both to Leftand Rght opportunsm
n Afrca, as n Europe and elsewhere, educaton argely determnes cass As teracy ncreases, trba and ethnc a
egances weaken, and class dvsons sharpen There s hatmay be descrbed as an esprit de corp, partcularly amongthose who have traveled abroad for ther educaton Theybecome alenated from trba and vlage roots, and n generather ams are potcal power, soca poston, and professonastatus Even tay, when many ndependent states have butexcellent schools, colleges and unverstes, thousands of Afrcans prefer to study abroad There are at present, some 10,000Afrcan students n France, 10,000 n Brtain, and 2,000 n theUSA.
n areas of Afrca whch were once rul by the BrtshEnglsh type publc schools were ntroduced durng the coona perod n Ghana, Adsade, Mfantspm and Achmotaare typical exaples n these schools, and n smlar schoolsbult throughout Brtsh colones n Afrca, currculum, ds
cplne and sports were as cose mtatons as possble ofthose operatng n Englsh pubc schoos The object was totran up a weste-orented poltca ete commtted to the
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atttudes and idlogies of capitaism and bourgeois society.n Britain, the English class system is largely based on edu
cation The three per cent products of nglish public schoolsare stl considered by many to be the country's "natural
ulers-that is those best qualed to rule both both by birthand education. For in Britain the educational structure is inseparable from the potical and social framework Whle onysix per cent of the population attends public schools and onlyve per cent go to university the public schools provide 60 percent of the nations company directors 70 per cent of Conserative members of Parlament and 50 per cent of those appoint to Royal Commissions and public inquiries In other
words the small minority of products of eclusive educationalestablisents occupy the large majority of top positions inthe economic and politcal life of the country Ths irrationaland outdated "system still continues to operate in spte ofapparent eorts to widen and popularise educational opportunitis It has not yet been seriously challenged by the growing importance of the experts or technocrats most of themeducat in grammar and comprehensive shools Nor has it
shown any signcant eakenng n the face of growng litical pressure from below. In fact f they could aord it themajority of orkingclass parents would send ther children topublic schools because of the unique oprtunities they providefor entry into top positions in society
The products of English public schools have their counterparts in he British excolonial territories These are the bourgeois establishment gures who try to be more British than theBritish and who imitate the dress manners and even the voicesof the British public school and Oxbridge elte
The colonialists aim in fostering the owth of an Africanntelligentsia is to form local cadres called upon to becomeour assstants in all elds and to ensure the development of acarefully selected elite This to them is a political and economc necessity And how do they do it? "We pck our pups
prmary from among the chdren of chefs and aristocrats The prestige due to origin should be backed up by respecthch possession of knowledge evokes.
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In 1953, before Ghana's independence, out of a toal of 208students at the University coege 12 per cent of the famies ofstudents had an ncome of over 600 a year; 38 per cent between 250 and 600 and 50 per cent about 250. Thesignicance of these gures is seen when it is reaised that it wasonly n 1962 after vigorous eorts in the econoic eld that itwas possible to get the average annual ncoe per head of hepopulation up to approxately 94
Unike the Britsh and the French the lgans were againstaowng the growth of an nteigentsia. "No eite no troubleappeared to be their motto The resuts of such a policy wereceary seen in the Congo for exampe, in 1960 when there was
scarcely a quaied Congolese in the country to run the newlyndependent state to ocer the army and poice or to ll hemany administrative and technical posts left by the deparngcooniaists
The nteligentsia always leads the nationalst movement nits early stages It aspires to replace the coonial power, but notto brng about a radical transformation of society The objectis to control the "syste rather than to change it, snce the
nteligentsia tends as a whole to be bourgeois-mnded andagainst revolutionary sociaist transformation.
The cohesiveness of the nteligentsia before ndependencedisappears once independence is achieved It divides oughlyinto three main groups First, there are those who support henew privieged ndigenous cassthe bureaucratic poiticaland business bourgeoisie who are the open allies of peraism and neocooniaism These members of the inteligentsia
produce the ideoogists of anti-socialism and an-comunisand of capitalist politica and econoic vaues and concept
Secondy there are those who advocate a "non-capitalisroad of economic deveopment a "mixed econoy for theless ndustriaised areas of the word, as a phase n the progresstowards sociaism This concept, if misunderstood and misappied can probably be ore dangerous to the socialist revolutionary cause n Africa than the former open pro-capitalismsne it may see to proote socialism whereas n fact it mayrerd the process History has proved, and s stll provng, tha
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a non-pitaist road, uness it is treated as a very temporaryphase in the progress towards sociaism, positively hinders its
growth. By allowing capitalism and private enterprise o existn a state commtted to sociaism, the seeds of a rctionary
seizure of power may be sown The private sector of the economy continuay tries to expand beyond the imits within whichit is conn, and works ceaseessy to crb and undermine thesociaist poicies of the siaistorient government Eventuay, more often than not, if a else fails, it succeeds, with thehep of neocoloniaists, in organising a reactionary coup d'tatto oust the socialistorient govement
The third section of the intelligentsia to emerge after inde
pendence consists o the revoutionary intellectualsthosewho provide the impetus and leadership of the workerpeasantstruggle for alout socialism It is from among this section thatthe genuine intellectuas of the African Revolution are to befound Very often they are minority products of coonia educationa establishments who reacted strongly against its brainwashing processes and who became genuine sociaist and African nationaist revolutionaries. t is the task of this third
section of the inteligentsia to enunciate and promulgateAfrican revolutionary sociaist objectives, and to expose andrefute the deluge of capitaist prpaganda and bog_ptsand theories poured out by the imperiaist neocoonialist andindigenous, reactionary mass communications media
Under conditions of capitalism and neocoonialism, themajority of students, teachers, university sta and otherscoming under the broad category of "intellectuals, are an eite
within the bourgeoisie, and can becom a revolutionary or acounterrevolutionary force for politica action Before independence, many of them become eaders of the nationalist revoution After indepndenceey tend to split up Those whohelped in the nationalist revolutionary struggle take part i hegoverment, and are oriented either to the Party nouveauxriches, or to the socialist revoutionaries The others join the
poltical opposition, or become apoitica, or advocate middeof the road policies Some become dishonest intelectuas Forthey see the irraonaity of caitalism but enjoy its benets and
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way of life; and for their own selsh reasons are prepared oprostute themselves and become agents and supporers ofprivilege and reaction.
In general, ntellectuals with working-clas origins tend to b
more radical than those from the privileged sectors of society.But ntellectuals are probably the least cohesive or homogeneous of elites. Most of the intellectuals in the USA., Britain and in Western Europe belong to the Right. Similarly,the aspirations of the majority of Africa's ntellectuals arecharacteristic of the middle class. They sk power, prestigewealth and social position for themselves and their familiesMany of those from workingclass milies aspir to middle
class status, shrinking from manual work and becoming completely alienated from their class and social origins.Where socialist revolutionary intellectuals have become par
of genuinely progressive administrations in Africa, it hasusually been through the adoption of Marxism as a politicalcreed and the formation of Communist parties or similar organisations which bring them nto constant close contact wthworkers and peants.
Intelligentsia and intellectuals if they are to play a part inthe African Revolution must become conscious of the classstrugle in Africa, and align themselves with the oppressedmasses. his involves the dicult but not mpossible task ofcutting themselves free fom bourgeois attitudes and ideologiesimbibed as a result of colonialist education and propaganda.
he ideology of the African Revolution links the classstruggle of African workers and peasants with world socialistrevolutionary movements and with nteational socialism Iemerged during the national liberation struggle, and it contnues to mature n the ght to complete the liberation of thecontinent to achieve political unication, and to eect a socalist transformation of African sociey It is unique It has developed within the concrete situation of the AfricanRevolution is a product of the African Personality and at the
same time is based on the prnciples of scienc socialism
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7
REACTIONARY CLIQUES AMONG ARMEDFORCES AND POLICE
The majority of Africa's armed forces and lice came into
existence as part of the colonial coercive apparatus. Few oftheir members joined national liberation struggles For themost part, they were employed to perfo police operationsagainst it In the colonial period, most of the ocers wereEuropean At independence, when Africanisation policies wereput into operation, many Africans who were not reallyqualied to become ocers received commissions because ofthe lack of suiable candidates A large number were men who
had held educational positions in the army, and were drawnfrom among the educated petty bourgeoisie These and otherolder ocers at present serving in Africas aies were trainedby colonialists or in military colleges of the West, and aretherefore oriented towards Weste norms and ideals Theymay be said to form because of their rank, part of the bureau-cratic bourgeoisie, with a stake in the capitalist path of de-velopment
Some of the younger ocers probably in their schooldaystook part in the liberation struggle and are therefore accessibleto socialist revolutionary ideology But although some of themhave become supporers of the African Revolution, the ma-jority of higher ocers have succumbed to the same bourgeoisindoctriation as their older fellow ocers They are closelylinked socially, and in background and aspirations with the
bureaucratic bourgeoisie and with the reactionary ocr elitesin other countriesn many cases, the ocer class and t cil rvants hav
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shared smiar educationa exrience n eite schoos and coeges in Africa and overseas. They have developed simiar outooks and nterests They tend to distrust change, and toworship the organisations and institutions of capitaist bour
geos society Even the younger generation of ocers andbureaucrats who share power in many African states as a resultof miitary coups, are steeped attitudes and concepts whichreect the socio-poitica climate of the colonia period
When neocooniaist coups take pace, members of thearmed forces the police and the bureaucracy work togetherThis is not to say that they necessariy sit do together andpot coups, though this has sometimes been the case But they
have coon interests and each nes the other Bureaucratsaone cannot overthrow a government; and the military andpoice have not the epertise to administer a country Therefore they combin, and bring about a state of aairs strikngysimiar to that which opeated in coonial times, when the coonia govement depended on the civi service, on the armyand police, and on the support of traditiona ruers.
In aost evey case where a coup has taken place there has
been no mass participation Workers and peasants are betayedand coerced, and the clock put back to the conditions of coonaism The wer of reactionary traditiona ruers is renstated The heavy reiance on the police n neocolonialiststates is another reminder of the colonia period Policeocers, unlike amy ocers, are by the vey nature of theirwork n coser touch with the peope At the time of a coupthey are in a position to know eactly which elemens to arrest,and where they should be conned They know how to organise and to control riots and demonstrations In many casespoice ocers have themselves been involved in corruptionThey are famiiar with al aspects of crime and do not shrinkfrom any methods to obtain their ends Like their counteatsin the amed forces, they have cose nks with the bureaucraticbourgeoisie, and shae common interests
The rank and e of army and poice are from the peasantryA arge number are iiterate They have en taught to obeyorders without question and have become toos of bourgeoi
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pitalst nterests They are thus alienated from the peasantworker struggle to which through their class origns they realybelong. Whle to obey orders without question is a fundamental requirement o 'the ordnary soldier n most pro
fessional armies, it be9nes extremely dangerous when thosen a postion to give orders serve the nterests of only a small,privleged section of society It means that the rank and lesoldier or policeman can be used to bring about, and to mantain, reactionary regimes In this, the ordinary soldier who isafter all only a worker or peasant in uniform, is actng aganstthe nterests of his own class
The solution to the problem lies n the politicising of army
and police Both must be rmly under he control of the socialist revolutonary Party, and commissions entrusted only tothose who are fuly committed to revolutonary socialist principles At the same time, the discipline of the ordary soldierand policeman must be based on undersandng, and not onsubmissiveness and blind obedience The mercenary aspect ofmiliary and police service should be ended, and a citizensarmy and peoples mlitia creat Workers, peasants, soldiers
and policemen must work together They belong to the sameclass and aspire to the same socialist revolution
Compared with other class organisations, the army andpolce are more disciplned, mobile and thncally uppedMost mportant, they are armed, and provide therefore, aready strikng force The use made of them dends on theascendancy of this or that political trend wihn society, and thepressures, boh inteal and eteal, brought to bear on thosen positions of command
When the ay intervenes in politics it does s as part of theclass forces in society Coups dat are expressions of the classstruggle and he struggle between mperialism and socialist revolution The army, after it has seized power, gives its weight toone or other side In this respect, the army is not merely annstrument n the srggle, but becomes itself part of the class
struggle, thus tearing down the artcial wall separatg itfrom the socio-economic and political transformations insociety The thry of the "neutraity of the armed forc
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consistently propagated by the exploiting casses. is therebyproved to be false
The amy when it intervenes in the political life of a countyrepresents the dominant class interest of the small minority of
tho who organise and actually carry out the interventionPresented with a fait accompli, the large majority of ocersand men acquiesce In Africa, although there have been a fewcoups which may be said to have paved the way for less reactionary regimes, by far the maority of them have been engineered by bourgeois-oented ocers who have had close lnkswith the bureaucratc bourgeoisie, and with neocolonialstsTheir joint am is to protect capitlism and to frustrate the
purposes of the African Socialist RevolutionIn some areas of Africa where amy ntevention has beenproclaimed as revolutionary socialist it has in fact been merelynationalist he poclaimed aim is to end foreign exploitationand to impove the conditions of the people Foreign ms arein some cses "nationalised, and foreign bases are closeddown But the conditions of the ordnay people remain pactically the same as before the interention In place of foreign
exploitation there is exploitation by the indigenous bourgeoisie In no time, puppet regimes are nstalled he coutry is inthe gip of neocolonialism, and the bourgeoisie, either represent by stooge polticians or by bourgeois-mied ryand police ocers is further entrenched It is only when poweris seized by workers and peasants that genuine socialist revolution can be achieved
Immense sums of money have been spent on the upkeep ofAfrica's amies he Congolese amy, for example, receivedonesixth of the state's revue during the st four and a hlfyears after independence; that is, it received some 25 billionout of 150 billion Congolese fancs In provisions of revenuebudgets for 96768 in francophone Africa, eight out of fteensttes had provided the amy with between 15 and 25 per centof their resources Mali, Guinea Chad and Cameoun were
pepared to devote up to onequrter of their budgets formilitary puposesIn general, ocers salaries are ept near to expatriate
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l ad ror vast drcs pn sats adpower e twe ors d m. Th gap mh wdra betw oes ad Europ, USA, adswre. I Africa h drnial bw h pay of
lutna colo and a rcr en o tn tme grth urop ad Amic h aricaly hi soia stausof he Ara oc ca e e of gng talrady ovrbearg arrogat ud wch o many o thmposss To om n, rn ad l of amy adpol cosder hemselv o a kd of lite. Tey ualye mo h le d o(er imlar whe oll worke. deopig prat of poitng ay oce o hg
dpoma pots whn hy r o lor rird i heay s also an dco of e aed potion ty upy Aria sy
The s ltle jutiaon th nomou sum of moynt o h ami of ri Afrca s o atd ter-rolly by ay oside po. he bodr sput whicxis w rin Afria ates most of em from loal ar l cabl of aeful soluto.Th sggle o ed th remnts of colonalism and ldominaon a ot g ogt by profo ars b by
gulla ors H only a ract of h amout by motes on heir posol fo was diveed to up d
_ M o 6 th sl would trm"ou qc of he pc f A Rvoluion. Thoy vald rason whc cod ustfy e crao of larg co
ventonal ared ors he a nesty to cheve the objtvs of t Afria Rlion ta i liluno of Afri for w a un Afin HgComma an esna perquse.
Wh ad wt a poltc cris ay td o spalog m lis as lital mmunity I othrwods t tds o divide alo lis of s ad mim The or tr ds o wol cosrvati
ot donig tonay t wl usually id with e oldsabsh ordr Hstoialy profssioa ae of p-l wod v rtio f ppo o cias d
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revolutionary movements They are the instruments of theruling class or classes for maintaining bourgeois power.
Compared with the armies of Europe, Asia and North andSouth America, the armies of Africa are relatively small in szeOny three countries south of the Sahara-Sudan, Ethiopia andCongo Kinshasahave aies exceeding 10,000 men FourteenAfrican states have armies of less than 2,000 men Yet becauseof the small population of many of the independent states, andtheir nonviable economies, the mantaning of these armiesplaces an intolerable burden on the state Furthermore because the armies of Africa are for the most part under thecontrol of ocers who have nterests in common with the
bureaucratic bourgeoisie and with neocolonialism, they havebeen able to exert an nuence on the political life of the coninent out of all proportion to their size
They are dependent to a large extent for supplies, equipmentand training on foreign helpmost of it from the capitalistworld In 1964, there were 3,000 French and 600 British military experts n Africa; 1,500 Africans were sent to France formilitary training, and 700 to Britain Some fourteen African
states have agreements with Israel for the training of armiesand for the supply of arms Recenty, the Federal Republic ofGermany has concluded agreements for the provision ofexperts and other forms of military "aid with seven Africanstates in the major strategic areas of Africa Meantime, theUSA, as its business interests develop in Africa, s steppngup its military and ntelligence network, thereby exerting heavypressures in the political sphere
As long as African states continue to be dependent n anydegree for trainng, and for arms and supplies on capitalistsources, the African Revolution is in jeopardy It is not without signicance that there have been no coups n ountrieswhere expatriate ocers stil exist n the armed forces Although relatively small in numbers they are able to prevent anychange in the status quo by virtue of the fact that they represent the military strength of the foreign power on whom thendigenous government depends or its security
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8
COUPS D'ETAT
Coups detat ar forms of struggl, th objctiv bing thsizur of political powr. Though carrid out by a spcialorgan of th stat apparatus smingly isolatd from socity,thy rct class intrsts and ar part of th class struggl and
th struggl btwn captalism and socialist rvolution. Thydo not chang th natur or th contnt of th struggl; thyonly chang its form Th politico-conomic and social situation is in ssnc unchangd, snc rvolutionary ndsrman unsatisd. Ractionary coups actually acclrat thimptus towards socialist rvolution, bcaus objctiv conditions which gnt rvolution contiu and gain momntum
Ractionary, pro-imprialist coups signify that mprialismand its intal allis bing unabl to thwart th advanc of thmasss and to dfat th socialist rvolution by traditionamthods, hav rsortd to th us of arms Thy rval thdspation and waknss of th ractionary orcs, not thirstrngth. Thy ar th last ditch stand by ndignous xploitingclasss and nocolonialists to prsrv th bourgois rac
tionary status quoAl mannr of asons hav bn givn by bourgis obsrvrs to xplain th causs of th succssion of coups whichhav takn plac n Africa i rcnt yars In som cass, coupshav bn attributd to tribalism and rgionalism Othrs arsaid to hav occurrd bcaus of th disgust of lmnts amongth armd forcs and polic with th iptitud and corruption
of politicians and th "conomic chaos thy hav caus Notn of ths xplanations accords with th tru facts Thos
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who put rward these and simar explanations, hve made supercial and disorted analysis of the acual siuaon. Theyare seemingly blind to the class sruggle and the pa played bybourgeis class inerests and neocolonialst pressures Evenmore mporant they practically ignore he repressive natureof he coup and the virually toal non-participaion of the vasmajoriy of the population Ye one he coup has aken placethe masses ae always said o have welcomed i with "greaenthusiasm Carefuly arranged demonsraions take plaewhch are said o psiive proof hat he coupmakes represen he will of he ppuation as a whole At he same timehe reactionary cliques who ave seized power and who represent only narrow bourgeois class ineress, proceed to set upso-called revolutionary or "libeaion uncils By e useof such es the people are expected o believe hat the newregme is liberating hem and fullling heir revolutionary aspiions
In the case of revoluionary nationalis oups those whoseize pwer asse tha hey do so n order to banish foreignpliticecnomc domnance In is tey may be said to be
actng n he nerests of he people as a whole u the revoluion is no socialis It springs fromand represens actionbythe naonalis bourgeoisie The position of orks andpeasans afer revolutionay naonalist coups s srcelyaected They connue o be exploied and oppressed tstime by the indigenous bourgeoisie wh reign businessineress more cncealed an ever behind a faade of nationaisaton plicies
A presen ere is in Africa an intensicaion f srugglesand cncs beween imperiasm and is class allies on the onehand and the vast mass of he African peoples on the otherImperialis aggression has expressed iself not only cupsd'a bu in he assassnaon of revoluionary leaders andhe seng up f new intelligence orgisaions In addion,there has been an intensication of already-exsng weseapitalist intelligene neorks whch work n close o-oper
ation wih neocolonialist govemens to block socalis advan Mos promnent and active in Afri are tho of th
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S.A Britain, West Genany, France, Israel, Portugal Rhodesa and South Afrca
Most of these intelligence organisations work n clos cllaboration with one another n spheres where their vitalnterests are conceed And in many cases they are behndcoups d'tat This can be seen by the fact that coups dtat donot occur in regimes where army police and integence net
works are administered by European ocers of the excolonialpower hese ex-colonial bureaucrats see to it that coups dtatdo not take place because they know that the neocolonialistpuppet govement is n fact the nstrument of the neocolonialist power whose interests they are there to serve and
guardurther, there has been a stepping up of military and politicoeconomic coordination between the members of theWhite riangle in AfriPorugal Rhodesia and SouthAfrica On the other hand, recent years have shown a tremendous upsurge in African socialist revolutionary activity his ievident in the gowing resistance of workers and peasants toreactionary regimes and in the mounting gerlla movements
all over the African contnentWithin six years between Jauary 1963 and December 1969twenty-ve coups dat have taken place in Africa:
Date Place
13th Janua 1963 ogo
12th15th Augst 1963 Congo Brazavie19th28th October Dahomey
18th ebruary 1964 Gabon
1st Janary 1965 Central Aican Republi
4th January 1965 Upper Volta
18th June 1965 Algeria25th November 1965 Congo Kinhasa
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Tie Place
22nd Dcmber 1965 Dahomy
1th Januay 1966 Nigi
24h Fbuay 1966 Ghana
29h July 1966 Nigia
29h Novmb 1966 Buuni
13h Januay 1967 Togo
2h Mach 1967 Sia Lon
17h Dcmb 1967 Dahomy
18h Apil 196 Sia Lon
3d Augus 196 Cono, Bazav
h Spmb 196 Congo Baavll
19h Novmb 196 Mal
2h May 1969 Suan
1s Spmb 1969 Libya
1h-19h Ocob 1969 Soma
10h Dcmb 1969 Dahomy
30h Janua 1970 Lsoho
Apat fom hs h hav bn innumabl ampdcoups and assassnaons. In Januay 196 muns occudamong h as o Tanzana Ugana and Knya Ths wsuppssd wih h aid of Bsh oops In oh ndpndntsas plos and ampd coups hav bn xs andfold
Th vy nau o h lcoconomc laonsp bwn nocolonalsm and pupp gms in a BalkansdAfica mans ha coups 'a will coninu o ak plac n
so
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Africa uti the poitical unication of the Afrin contenthas been achieved
Underying every coup or attempted coup there is a smiarbasic situation. On the one hand, there are the neocooniaistpowers teeguiding and supporting the neocooniaist state andpower strugges within the reactionay bourgeois power eites;and on the other hand there are the awakening African massesreveaing the growing strength of the African sociaist revoution The African masses, when poitica independence wasachieved did not for a time disce the hidden hand of neocooniaism cevery concaed behind the newy-independentgovement. But their awareness is gowing and is seen as a
threat to the entrenched position of the ndigenous bourgeoisieand their neocoonia masters These have become aarmed bythe increasing momentum of gueria activity. Guera basesexst throughout Africa
There is not one country in Arica today where the poiticaconsciousness of the worker-peasant cass has resuted in theestabishment of a sociaist state In each of the independentstates are to be found the govement and its ruing party the
bourgeois nationaist cass and the worker-peasant cass. Inmany cases the bourgeois nationaist cass is invoved perceptiby or imperceptiby with the ruing paty and thereforethe govement. Where the bourgeois nationaist party does
not form pt of the govement and the paty it pans subversion and organises coups
The workerpeasant cass even though it has assisted in thewinning of independence has not yet assum eadershp in
Africa as a conscious cass. In amost every African state nonindendent and independent gueria strugge is being prepar or has been estabished as the ony means to overthrowcooniaist neocooniaist or seter regimes. Some of the gueria iberation strues are ed by genuine sociaist revoutionaries Others are uder the dirtion of members of thenationa bourgeoisie who aim to ree their territories from theforeigner but who do not seek to estabish a sociaist stateThey constitute a potentia threat to the Arican Revoutionsince the tota iberation and the poitica unication of Africa
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can only be naly accompished through the adoption ofscentic socialism.
Gr owing PocalAweess Led t
/ Ius ue (Skes e.) Avy
I ' Re'Burgeois ._L
adtCups
The folowing liberation moveents are the most notable atpresent engaged in guerila operations:
South Africa:
PAC: Pan Africanist CongressANC: African National CongressAPDUSA: African People's Democratic Unon of Southern
Arica
Zimbabwe (Rhodesia).
ZANU: Zibabwe African National UnonZAPU: Zimbabwe African Peoples Union
South West Africa
SWAPO: South West African Peopes OrganisationSWANU: South West African National Union
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Angola:
MPLA: Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola.GAE: Revolutionary Government of Angola in ExleNT A: National Union for the Total ndependence of
Angoa
Mozmbique
FELMO: Front or the Liberation of MozambiqueCOEMO: Revolutionary Committee of Mozambique
Portuguse Gunea
PAIGC: African Party or the Independence of Guinea andCape Verde Islands
CHAD:
FROLINA: Front for National Liberation
CONGO, KINSHASA:
CL: Congolese Nationa Liberation Movement
ERITREA
ELF: Eritrean Liberation Front
Guerilla activities will also continue in many of the indepen-dent African states, so long as there is no attempt being madeto have the means of production owned by the masses of heAfrican people. Unless he leaders of the independent Africanstates stop paying lip service to sociaism and go all out orscientic socialism they are only deferring the guerilla onsetAt present guerilla activities are procding in Gabon, Ethi
opia, Malawi, Sudan Erirea, Kenya Cameroun, Niger IvoryCoast, etc. The wind of guerila sruggle is blowing all ovrAfrica and will not stop until rica is united under sociaism
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In he face of he growing political awareness of he masses,reacionary governments either atemp o contan i by inroducing bogus socialist policies o suppress i by force or ocarry ou a miiary coup. Whichever method is adopted they
procaim ha hey are serving the ineress of he peope bygeting rid of corrup and inecient poiticians and ha theyare pung he economy n order They are in fact safeguarding capiaism and protectng their own bourgeois interests andhe interests of foreign monopoly nance capita
The rash of miiary coups n Africa reveas the ack ofsociais revouionary organisation the need for he foundingof an a-African vanguard workingcass party and for the
creation of an aAfrican peopes' army and miiia Sociaisrevouionary strugge whether in the form of poitica economic or miiary action can only be utimatey eective if i isorganised and if it has its roots n he class strugge of workersand peasans
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OURGEOISIE
Colonialism, imperialism and neocolonialism are expres
sions of capitalism and of bourgeois economic and political
aspirations. In Africa, under colonialism, capitalist develop
ment led to the decline of feudalism and to the emergence of
new class structures.
Before the colonial period, the power of the chiefs-which
was generally not based on land ownership-was strictly lim
ited and controlled. The stool and not the chief was sacred.
Control was exercised by a council of elders. Colonialism re
inforced the power of chiefs through the system of Indirect
Rule . They were given new powers, were sometimes paid, and
became for the most part the local agents
of
colonialism. n
some colonised areas new chiefs were appointed by the co
lonial power. These became known as warrant chiefs .
Imperialists utilised the feudal and tribal nobility to support
their exploitation; and this resulted in a blunting of social con
tradictions, since the feudal and semi-feudal strata maintained
a strong hold over the peasant masses and inhibited the growth
of revolutionary organisations.
Relics of feudalism still exist in many parts of Africa. For
example, in Northern Nigeria and in North and West Cam
eroun, tribal chiefs live on the exploitation of peasants who not
only have to pay them tributes and taxes, but who often have to
do forced labour.
But although feudal relics remain, the colonial period
ushered in capitalist social structures. The period was charac
terised by the rise of the petty bourgeoisie, and of a small but
influential national bourgeoisie consisting in the main of
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intelltuals, vi servants members of the professions and ofocers in the aed forces and police There was a markedabsence of capitalists among he bourgeoisie, snc localbusiness enterprise was on the whole discouraged by the o
lonia power. Anyone wishng to achieve wealth and statusunder colonialis was therefore likely to choose a career n theprofessions, the civil service or the armed forces, because therewere so few busness opportunities Foreigners controlledmining, industrial enterprises, banks, wholesale trade andlarge-scale farmng In most of Africa, the bourgeoisie was, nfct, for the most part pey bourgeoisie
It was partly the restrictions placed on the business outlets of
he Africn bourgeoisie which led it to oppose imperialist ruleAfter the end of the Second World War when the pressure fornational liberation was ncreased, imperialiss were compelledto admit part of the African bourgeoisie to spheres from whichit had previously been excluded More Africans were allowednto the state machinery and into foreign companies Thus, anew African elite, closely linked with foreign capial, was created At the same tme, repressive measures were taken agans
progressive parties and trade unions Several colonalist warswere fought, as for example, the wars aganst the peoples ofMadagascar Cameroun and Algeria It was durng ths periodthat the oundations of neocolonialism were laid
During the national liberation struggle, the petty bourgeoisietends to divide into thr main categories Frstly, there arethose who are heavily coitted to colonialism and to capialist economic and social development These are n the main the"ocials an professional men, and agents of foreign rmsand companies Secondly, there are the "revolutionry pettybourgeoisiethe nationalistswho want to end colonial rulebut who do not wish to see a transformation of society Theyform par of the national bourgeoisie. Thirdly, there are thoswho "sit on the fence and are prepared to be passive onlookers
In general, few members of the African bourgeoisie amassedsucient capita t become signicant in the business sectorThe African bourgisie remains therefore largely a com
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prador cass, sharing some of the pro which mralismrains from Africa. Under condions of coloniaism and neocolonialism it wil never be encouraged suciently o becomestrong i the economic sphere since this would mean creatngbusess competitors. The local bourgeoisie must always subordiate paners to foreign capialism For this reson, tcannot achieve power as a cass or govern without the closesuppot of reactionary feudal elements within the country orwithout te poltical economic and miliary suppot of ternational cpitalism.
Imperialism may foster liration movements in colonialareas when capialist exploiation has reached the stage of
givg rise to a labour movement which seriously treatens theinterests of international capilism By he granting of poiticl dependence to bourgeois Parties, reactionay digenousforces can thereby be put ito positions of power wich enablethem to cement teir aiance with the nteational bour
geoisie In practicay every national liberation struggle thereemerge two liberation Paies One of them is the genuinepeoples' Party committed not ony to naional liberation but
to socialism. The other aims at politicl idependence, but itends to preserve capitalist structures, and is supported bymperlism
In the majority of the independent Aican sate there existembryoic elements of a rual bourgeoisie I Ghana largfamers and cocoa brokers come to ths categoy Accordgto e 1960 census the rura bourgeoisie number 14 miion,whie the urban middle class was estimaed at 3,0 hiswas a populaion 2 per cent of whih was deed as urbanI most cses, both urban and ural bourgeoisie are not conscious of themselves as a class though they are vey muchaware of their strengh and mporance and conscious of tthreat to their privileged positions n society by the ncreasngpressure of worker-peasant resisance
I the stuggle or politicl dependence, rbn worer
peasants and the national bourgeoisie, ally together to eect eclonial power Class cleavage are mporary blurred Btoncendependence is achieved, cass conicts come to the fore
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over the social and economic licies of the new govement.
It is possible for casses to combine in the post-coonia situation, and the nature of the govement is assessed by which
particuar cass interests are dominant Theorists arguing thatproletariat and petty bourgeoisie shoud join together to winthe peasantr in order to attack the bourgeoisie ignore thefact that the petty bourgisie wi aways, when it comes tothe pinch side with the bourgeoisie to preserve capitalism It isony peasantry and proletariat working together who arewholy able to subscribe to poicies of alout sociaism. Whereconict invoves both politica and economic interests, the
economic always prevailsThe African bourgeoisie in common with their countrpartin other parts of the word hod the view that governmentsexist to protect private property and that success is measuredby wealth the acquisition of property and socia status. Theyset up bourgeois organisations such as cubs and professionalassociations on the mode of those existing in the bourgeoissocieties of Europe and the Americas They want poitics to be
conned to the strugges between various propertied groups tis common in Africa, and in other coup areas of theworldnotaby Asia and Latin Americafor there to be a succession of bourgeois coups d'tat in a singe state The propertied ght the properti for political supremacy For theindependent states of Africa Asia and atin America have asimilar historica past in that they have suered from imperialism and cooniaism; and after poitical independence havein almost every case been swept into the orbt of neocoonialism In this situation the majority are goveed bybourgeois eements who compete among themseves for poitca domination For whichever group succeeds in dominatingthe political scene is in a position to enhance its property andstatus Other factors such as regionalism and tribalism obviously enter into the strugge for power among the indigenous
bourgeoisie but the essential point remains that thestruggles take place among the propertied cass, and are nostrggles between casses
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The tribal formula is frequently ud to obscure the classforces created in African society by colonialism. In manyareas, unven conomic development under colonial rule led toa dierentiation of economic functions along ethnic nes. Thistendency is exploited in the interests of international capitalism
A distinction must be made between tribes and tribalismThe clan is the extended family, and the tribe is the extendedclan with the same ethnic language within a territory Therewere tribes in Africa before imperialist penetration, but notribaism" in the modern sense Tribalism arose from colonialsim, which exploited feudal and tribal survivals to com
bat the growth of national lberation movementsThe formation of nationalities was retarded as a result ofcolonial conquest, when the imperialists carved up Africa among themselves, disregarding geographical, linguisic and ethnic realities. The normal growth of the economy and of theclass structure of African society was hndered and distortedPatriarchal and feudal structures were articially preservedand all possible obstacles erected to prevent the emergence of a
class-conscious proletariat.Capitalist methods of exploitation nevitably gave birth to a
proletariat, particularly in areas where mnes and plantationswere highly developed, as n South and East Africa, and nCongo Kinshasa. Here, wrkers were kept in tribal or tradi