kwame nkrumah, george padmore and w.e.b. du bois • by kwadwo afari-gyan

7/29/2019 Kwame Nkrumah, George Padmore and W.E.B. Du Bois by Kwadwo Afari-Gyan

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RESEARCH REVIEW NS VOL.7 NO S 1 & 2,199 1

KWA ME NKR UM AH, GEORGE PADMOREAN D W .E.B. DU BOISKwadwo Afari-Gyan

From 1945 Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) developed close relations first withGeorge Padmore (1902-1959), a Trinidadian, and then with Dr. W.E .B. Du B ois (18 68-1963), an African-American wh o became a Ghan aian citizen soon before he died. As M enof thought and action, they exerted great influence on the affairs of their day; and, thro ughtheir writings, they continue to exert considerable influence on co ntempo rary thinking in theblack world. They all lie buried in Ghana. This essay seeks to explore the basis of theirrelationship.Kw ame Nkrum ah spent ten years in America (1935-1945) furthering his education.Du ring the period he developed a pan-Africanist orientation.1 In this he was perhap s m ostdeeply inspired by the pan-Africanist ideas of M arcus G arvey, a Jam aican who h ad goneto Am erica in 1916 and had subsequently founded and led the largest black movement ofhis time . Interestingly, Garve y's ideas and modus operandi were highly objectionable toboth Padmore and Du Bois.2In 1943 Nkrum ah became friends with C.L.R. Jam es, a Wes t Indian. James had goneto A merica in 1938 from London, where he had worked closely with Padmore, a long timespokesman for the rights of colonial peoples, who had settled in London since 1935 and haddeclared himselfto be neutral in nothing affecting African people. Nk rum ah h ad been highlyimpressed by Padm ore's w ritings on the colonial situation, but he did not know him inperson. So , before leaving America for Britain in 1945, he got James to w rite to Padm oreimploring him t o meet Nkrum ah on his arrival in London because he knew nobody there andhad now here to lodge. In the letter, James told Padm ore that N krumah wa s determined tothrow the Europeans out of Africa3 Padmore met him and took him to lodge at the hostelof the W est African Stude nts' U nion. According to Jame s, for over two years Nkrumahworked and lived in the very closest association with Padmore4 In feet, from that meetingin London began a long and intimate friendship between the tw o men, which grew strongerwith the passage of time and was ended only by Pad mo re's death.

N krum ah's original intention in going to Britain w as to study law or continue w orktow ard a d octorate degree in philosophy. B ut neither was to b e. H e got so involved in theactivities of workers and students from the colonies that he hard ly had time for m uch else.Along with Padmore, he also associated closely with intellectuals of socialist and anti-colonial orientation in and aro und L ondon.

Nkrum ah viewed these activities as par t of a general search for solutions to Africa 'sproblems. And it was in pu rsuit of the same aim that he got actively involved in the P an-African C onference held in Manchester in 1945 , a meeting which would finally consolidatethe pan-African idea for him. The conference wa s considered to b e the continuation of aseries which had become closely associated w ith die name and activities o f D u Bois. As farback as 1897, Du Bois had written that S&owWthe Negro beco me a actor in world history,this will be through aPan-Negro movemen t.5 And since 1919 he had been the driving force1


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behind the pan-African congresses antecedent to the Manchester meeting. Thus, inacknowledgement o f his enormous contributions to the pan-African cause, Du Bois, thenaged seventy-seven, was invited to preside over the Manchester meeting. And Nkrumahsays that although he had known Du Bois in America and even spoken on the same platformwith him, it was, however, at the conference in M anchester that I was drawn closely tohim.6 James saw the com ing together o f the three men at the conference as an ausp iciousevent in pan-Africanism. According to him, The merging of the two cu rrents representedbyPadmore andDu Bois and the entry ofNkrumah signalled theending of one period andthe beginning of another?The merger wa s truly significant; for even though they had been pursuing similarcauses, Pad mo reandD uBo isdidnotseeey etoeyeforalon gtime. The reason for this wouldseem to be ideological. After joining the Communist Party of the US in 1927, Padmorewould reprove Du Bois as a 'petty bourgeois Negro intellectual'for his reflexive anti-communism.8In tact, while Du Bois would not become a communist for a long time, from1929 - when Padmore took part in the congress o f the League Against Imperialism held inFrankfurt - to 1934 he was perhaps the most important black man in official communistcircles. For most o f that period he served as the representative o f the black world on theCommunist Trade Union International (Pronfintern), and in that capacity he lived andworked in the Soviet Union and Europe.Padmore broke with the communists after 1934 . He had come increasingly to feel thatthe communists were not really interested in the problems o f black people. And the crunchcame when the Soviet Unionjoined the Western European-dominated League o f Nations in1934. The League's collective security doctrine implied that thenceforth the Soviet Unionwould collaborate closely with Western Europe to the detriment of the anti-colonialstruggle. For Padmore this was demonstrated the following year when the Soviet Unionproved unwilling to assist Ethiopia when she was invaded by Italy. Padmore was formallyexpelled from the Communist Party, ironically accused of petty bourgeois nationalistdeviation and an incorrect understanding of the colonial problem.9

It was after his disaffection with the communist that Padmore began to seekcollaboration with Du Bois on the problems o f black people. In 1934 he wrote to D u Bois,probab ly for the first time, asking: Will you help us in trying to create a basis for unityamong Negroes of Africa, America, the West Indies, and other lands? We think it can bedone if men like you were to lend a helping han d}0 From that time on, Padmore wouldinform Du B ois about im portant events concerning black people in Africa and Eur ope. Andwhatever he m ay have thought of Du B ois previously, it now became increasingly evidentthat h e held him in the greatest esteem. On Du Bo is' eightieth birthday, Padm ore sent hima letter in which he spoke of his sincerity and tenacity of purpo se, and described him a s afighter for freedom and democra tic justice, who had earned a plac e in the hearts o f blackpeople the world over. l!After the break with the communists, Padmore's outlook on the colonial problemchanged. Before 1934 he had worked with dedication in communist circles because hebelieved that capitalism in metropolis and colony alike would be liquidated through thesolidarity and collaboration of the world 's working classes. But gradually, as a result of hisexperiences, he came to the conclusion tha t colonial problems could be settled only bycolonial peoples.12 Consequently, he was now looking for w ays to centralize the activitiesof the various organ izations of whatever description dealing with Africans and peoples o fAfrican descent as a means of promoting greater awareness and co -operative action. He alsonow believed tha t colonial intellectuals had a crucial role to p lay in giving leadership to th e

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decolonization effort. In view of what James had said about Nkrum ah in his letterintroducing him to Padmore, one can understand the instant attraction between the two menupon their meeting in London. Nkrumah later wrote, perhaps not without a tinge ofexaggeration:When I first met George Padmore in London ... we both realized from the verybeginning that we thought along the same lines and talked the same language. T hereexisted between us that rare affinity for which one searches for so long but seldomfinds in another human b eing. W e became riends at the mom ent of our meeting andour friendship deve loped into that indescribable relationsh ip that exists betweentwo brothers.13After the Second W orld Wa r, Padmore became more and more concerned with WestAfrican Affairs ...to the exclusion of an active interest in events transp iring elsewhere onthe con tinent.'4 This w as because events were picking up so fast in W est Africa as to m akehim believe that the righ t conditions were being created for a successful anti-colonialrevolution, particularly in Ghan a. By 1954, based on events in Ghana, Padm ore would w riteoptimistically to Du Bois: Believe me, dear Doctor, no force on earth can now hold b ackthe forward march of Africa.15Padm ore's changed outlook on the colonial problem forms an important bac kdrop tothe proceedings of theManchester conference. A s joint-secretaries, Padmore and Nkrum ahdevoted much time and energy to organizing the conference. W ith Du Bois they also playeda significant role in the writing of the declarations of the conference. Padmore now saw pan -Africanism as an ideology in its own right, neither comm unist nor cap italist; an ideologywhich would enable Africa to steer clear of any entanglements in the cold war then fastshaping up . From the M anchester conference on, Nkrum ah too cam e to see pan-Africanismas a political force which had the potential of uniting Africa against colonialism andimperialism.After a detailed exam ination of the colonial situation, the following major conclusionsemerged from the deliberations of the conference:1. colonial governm ents should be replaced with institutions responsive to the needsand asp irations of the colonized peoples;2 . racial discrimination in all its forms should be abolished;3 . the principle of self-determination should be applied to all peoples withoutexception;4. in the struggle for independence, unless prevailing circum stances m ade violencethe only viable option, Positive Action (defined as the constitutional applicationof strikes, boycotts and non-coope ration based on the principle of absolute n on-violence) should be us ed ;165. finally, the only way to defeat colonialism was for the participants to return to

their respective countries and organize the masses of people in support of thestruggle for independence.The positions adopted by the conference and the association Nkrumah had formedwith Padmore and Du Bois were to have considerable influence on his subsequent po liticalcareer:(1) In line with the recommendation of the conference, and with Padmore's activeprodding, Nkrum ah returned to Ghan a in December 1947 to become the Secretary of theUnited Gold Coast C onvention (UG CC ), a political movement formed earlier that year inthe quest for self-rule. But by the middle of 1949 Nkrumah had parted ways with themovement. Ideological and organizational differences mainly accounted for the breach. On


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the one hand w as Nkrumah, the avowed socialist and grassro ots organizer (trade un ions,youth movements, wo m en's organ isations, etc.) given to confrontational agitation. On theother hand were the majority of the UGCC leadership, wh o preferred a more conservative,constitutional form of political agitation and collaboration with the chiefs to m ass politicalorganization. The breach might have served to draw Nkrumah even more closely toPadmore.(2) Having broken with the UGCC, Nkrumah formed his own political party, theConvention Peoples P arty (C PP ), in 1949 to mobilize the broad m asses of people in thestruggle for independence.(3) In 1950 Nkrum ah used Positive Action against the colonial government when h efelt tha t it was dragging its feet on the issue of self-government.(4) Just as Padmore had repudiated both communism and capitalism, for some timeNkrum ah entertained the idea of a socialism peculiarly suited to Africa and formulated theidea of philosophical consciencism as its basis.17(5) Beginning from their London day s, Padmore became a close adviser to N krum ah,and from D ecember 1957 till his death served as his Special Adviser on African Affairs.As Special Adviser Padmore's role was described by A.L. Adu, then PermanentSecretary in Gh an a's Foreign Affairs Ministry, as to carry through (Nkrumah's)policy forthe emancipation of thoseparts of Africa still under foreign rule and therefore to workwith nationalist m ovemen ts and political parties, an area o f activity w hich it would beinappropriate for civil servants to engage in at the time}9 Be that as it may, another reasonfor setting up the new office w as Nkr um ah's dissatisfaction w ith the general performanceof the Foreign Affairs M inistry. He felt that the Ministry did not have an adequate senseof urgency; that it could not anticipate eve nts.19 And, according to Dei-Anang, a top civilservant at the time, Nkrum ah w as worried in particular about the M inistry's capacity tointerpret his African policies with his ow n vigour and vision. There can be little doubt,too, that bo th Nk rum ah and P adm ore saw the new office a s at least a partia l fulfilment ofa desire expressed at the Man chester conference to have a central place to keep in touch withthe whole of the African world and know what is going on.21 But, of course, the SpecialAd viser's work would entail much m ore than keeping track of happenings in Africa; itwould seek to change and direct affairs in accordance with Nkrumah's vision of pan-Africanism.

Padm ore cam e to the office with very impressive credentials indeed. H is com mitmentto A frican emancipation was unquestionable. He had a firm theoretical understanding o f theworking of colonialism. H e w as widely known an d respected by African nationalists. He hadpractical experience of organizing groups (students, workers, etc.) for anti-colonial causes .H e had had long contact with Africa's liberation movements. And he w as a trusted b rotherwho had run errands for Nkrum ah since the early 1950s.W hile Nkrum ah naturally saw P admore as the logical choice for the new office, therewa s considerable opposition to his presence. Some people objected on the ground that therewere already several West Indians in senior positions in the adm inistration and th e judic iary.Others erroneously thought that he was still a communist. Some top civil servants,especially in the Foreign M inistry, resented the fact tha t Pad m ore's office w as a parallelorganization in the coun try's foreign service, mostly insulated from control by the M inistry.Finally, some members of the CP P resented his role in the National A ssociation o f SocialistStudents Organization (NASSO), where, in weekly discussion sessions, sometimes at-tended by Nkrum ah, he tried to instil proper socialist ideals and attitudes a s opposed to whathe considered to be phoney socialism o f some of the C PP memb ers.22


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As joint architect and the implementer o f Nkrumah's pan-Africanist vision , Padmoreorganized conferences, accompanied the Prime Minister on visits to African countries, andran errands for him. Unfortunately, he was not long in the office; he died in London in August1959. As could be expected, Nkrumah was highly distressed at Padm ore's death. In a fittingtribute, Nkrumah called him a personal friend whose loss was irreplaceable. H e said he hadworked with him for nearly fifteen years toward the independence and unity o f Africa, andhad all along been impressed by his indomitable spirit and his profound dislike forcolonialism and every kind of oppression and subjugation.23 On another occasion Nkrumahsaid: One day the whole of Africa will surely be free and united,and when thefinal taleis told the significance of Padm ore's work will be revealed.24 On 10th October, 1959Padmore's ashes were brought down from London and buried at the Castle, amid protestsby the parliamentary opposition. After Padmore's death the special adviser's office wasconverted into the Bureau of African Affairs to carry on similar work.

It is most doubtful if any man of his day knew more about Africa than GeorgePadmore. So it was mostfittingthat in 1961 Nkrumah established a library in Accra devotedto research on Africa and named it after him. But in the general panic to undo practicallyeverything that had any connection with Nkrumah after his overthrow, h is opponents, in anact tantamount to collective amnesia, renamed the Padmore Library the Research Libraryon African Affairs.Until Padmore's death, it was hardly possible to speak about Nkrumah's relationshipwith Du Bois without talking about the intermediation of Padmore. As the officialrepresentative o f Nkrumah's party in London till he took office in Accra, Padmore wasalways abreast with major happenings and sometimes sought his advice, which he thenpassed on to Nkrumah. ' vOn March 1, 1954 Nkrumah made an important economic policy ^tement in anaddress to the Legislative Assembly.25 He said that, with the exception of r>ubfc utilities,Ghana would welcom e foreign capital and participation in all her industries. He added thathe did not envisage any restrictions on the free transfer of profits, and promised a tax holidayand import duty relief.Nkrumah expressed similar sentiments at a press conference on June17,19 54 when he said that his government would be socialist in the British sense and statedcategorically that there would be no nationalization of industry.26 In reaction to thisdevelopment, Du B ois told Padmore that Nkrumah's economic policy w as a source o f greatconcern to him, because he did not seem sufficiently to appreciate the power and danger ofWestern capital. Padmore replied that Ghana had opted for a policy of neutrality and wouldtake a middle road by adopting the good features of both capitalism and communism. DuBois countered by saying that it was dangerous for Ghana to think that she could developthrough reformed capitalism. He advisecf Nkrumah instead to seek aid from the socialistcountries to build a viable public sector of the economy.27

On the eve o f Ghana's independence in 1957, Du B ois sent a message to Nfcrumah inwhich he offered afew words of advicefor the future of Ghan a and Africa.28 Fifsj^he toldhim to initiate a new series o f pan-African congresses. This conformed w ith Nkrumah's ownposition that only united African action could eventually defeat imperialism. Thus in April1958, barely a year after gaining independence, fce called the first Conference of Independ-ent African States. He followed this up in December with the All-African Peoples'Conference, which brought together for the first time anti-colonial forces and freedomfightersfrom various parts of the continent. It is not surprising that Du Bo is w as the onlyperson fromoutside the continent invited to address the meeting. He could not do so in personbecause o f ill-health, but his address w as read on his behalf by his wife.29 Quite apart from


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these conferences, one of the most outstanding features o f N kru ma h's political career w aswhat Marais has described as his intense drive towards African unity.30 In 1956, a yearbefore G ha na 's independence, he declared that: We have a duty not only to the people ofthis country, but to the peoples everyw here in Africa w ho are striving towards independ-ence.31 On the eve of Ghana's independence he made the famous statement that: Ourindependence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the Africancontinent.32 And Nkru ma h's efforts tow ards the formation of the Organization of AfricanUnity (OAU ) are too well known to require recounting.Secondly, Du Bo is asked Nkrum ah to w ork hard to achieve peace on the continent andin the world as a whole. This advice also conformed with Nkru m ah's belief that the newnations of Africa could achieve development only in an atmosphere of general peace. At theconference o f independent African states, he said one of their major tas ks was to examinethe problem which dominates the world today, namely, the problem of how to securepeace.33 On a visit to Am erica in 1958 he expressed his profound concern about the peacesituation in the M iddle East to President Eisenhauer. Nkrum ah's concern for peace led himto stand firmly against African countries joining military alliances, and against sitingmilitary bases and testing nuclear weapons on African soil. His prescription of a policy ofnon-alignment and positive neutrality m ust also be seen in the context of his general concernfor peace. He believed that by not taking a predetermined stand on the E ast-West conflict,the non-aligned nations would constitute a force with the potential to hold the balancebetween the supe rpow ers in favour ofpeace. During his visit to Am erica in 1958 he declaredthat the m ajor task facing the non-aligned nations in the United Nations was to use ourstrength wisely and objec tively on the side ofpeace .34Finally, Du Bois advised Nkrum ah to build socialism as the only way to beat back theforces of neocolonialism. He believed that capitalism, white or black, could never bringabout true development in Africa. In fact, by the end of 1959 Du B ois would come to thefirm conviction that communism offered the only prospect for mankind to realize itself.This conviction w as borne of long study and experience. It is somewhat ironical tha tabout the time Padmore parted ways with communism and began to collaborate with DuBois, the latter wa s about to em bark on a rather long journey to formal acceptance of th atideology. Du Bois did not fall for communism on his first visit to the Soviet Union in 192 6.About that visit he later wrote: I did not believe that the comm unism of theRussians wasthe program for America.35 But on subsequent visits, beginning from 1936, he began tochange his view. He says that whereas affluence and stark poverty existed side by side inthe West, he noticed, particularly in the Soviet Union, such systematic and economicprogress as threatened to abolish poverty altogether.In addition to his observations about the general progress of mankind in the com munistworld, certain specific incidents helped push Du Bois toward communism. He says thatwhile no American university, excepting the black institutions , ever recognized his claim to

scholarship, he received honours from several Eastern European universities and institu-tions.3 6. He was p articularly impressed by an honorary degree from Charles U niversity inPrague, Czechoslovakia, a University which he says was founded 100 years b eforeColumbus discovered America. He later wrote that: This gesture of a commu nist nationdoubtless prejudiced me infavour of socialism. But I do not think it alone w as decisive.31In 1959 he was highly impressed w ith, and most grateful for, medical care he received whenhe fell ill on a visit to the Soviet Union. In the same year he writes that while he was on anextended visit to China, beyond his expectation, his birthday was given national notice...and celebrated as never before.39


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Against the foregoing background, toward the end of 1959 Du Bois had come to theend of the road. He wrote:I have studied socialism a nd commun ism long and carefully in lands where they arepractised and in conversation with their adherents, and with wide reading. I nowstate my conclusion frankly and clearly: I believe in communism.59H e added that he once believed that capitalism could attain the same ends as socialism,namely, the welfare and happ iness of mankind. But that: After e arnest observation I nowbelieve that private ownersh ip of capital and free enterprise are leading the world todisaster.40In the light of the foregoing, one could understand Du B ois ' insistence that N krum ahshould build socialism. Bu t on this Nkrumah wavered. He began to move m ore to the leftin economic m atters after Padm ore's death, which might suggest that Padmore influencedhis mixed economy approac h in the early period o f independence. It would be true to saythat Padmore eventually envisaged a socialist Ghana, but he was prepared to welcomeforeign cap ital for some time. In any case, while at the ideological level Nkrumah alwayssaw himself as a socialist, at the level of practice he began to show signs of some movementtoward socialism only after 1960, in the form o f a rapid expansion o f the state sector of theeconomy at the expense of the private sector, as had been suggested earlier on by Du Bois.And having entertained the idea of a socialism specifically suited to Africa 's cond itions, itwas not until after his overthrow that he finally came fully to embrace scientific socialismas the only valid solution to A frica's problems.

Upon Nk rum ah's invitation, Du B ois came to Ghan a in October 196 1, after havingformally joined the Com munist Party of the United States in that year. He took G hanaiancitizenship on February 17, 1963 .One thing which attracted D u B ois to come and live in G hana w as the E ncyclopaediaAfricana project. Conceived as a twenty-volume inter-African project, the Encyclopaediawou ld offer Africa the oppo rtunity to reveal the genius of he r people, their history, cultureand institutions; their achievemen ts as well as shortcomings.41 According to Nk rumah,I asked Dr. Du Bois to come to Ghana to pass the evening of his life with us and also tospend his remaining years in comp iling an Encyclopa edia Africana, a project which ispart of his whole intellectual life.42 Du Bois had conceived the idea of such anencyclopaedia as far back as 1909, but he had to drop it for lack of financial support. Herevived the idea in 1934 with assistance from Phelps Stokes, but dropped it ten years later,again for financial reasons. So the encyclopaedia w as indeed a project Du Bois had wantedto undertake all his life, and this explains why he accepted the job of directing it at the ripeage of ninety-three. He knew too well that at that age he could not devote as much energyto the project as he would have wished; nonetheless, he felt h appy that h e was doing whathe could toward b ringing it to fruition.In addition to the attraction the encyclopaedia held for Du Bois, there appears to havebeen another, if sentimental, reason for his coming to live in Ghana. On the occasion of hisbecoming a Ghanaian citizen, he said:My great grandfather was carried away from the Gulf of Guinea. I have returnedthat my dust shall mingle with dust of my forefathers. There is not mu ch time leftfor me. But now my life will flow on in the vigorous young stream o f Ghan aian life,which lifts the African personality to its proper place a mon g men . And I shall n othave lived in vain.43W hen Du Bois came to Ghana the Government gave him a house. In presenting thehouse to him Nkrumah said: / want my father to have easy, comfortable a nd beautiful


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days44 The Du Bo is' were given two ca rs, and the household help consisted of a steward,cook, driver, and night watchman . Nkrum ah used to visit often, sometimes with Ms wifeand children,Du Bois died at his home in the night of Tuesday, A ugust 2 7, 1963 . Tw o days laterhis coffin, dressed in the Ghanaian Flag, was carried along a three-mile route to the bu rialplace at Osu, the seat of Government, where the remains of Padmore already lay. In theevening of that day, Nkrumah paid glowing tribute to his real friend and father in abroadca st to the nation. After recounting Du Bo is' role in the pan-African movement,Nkrum ah called him a great son of Africa, w ho in addition to achieving great distinction asa poet, historian and sociologist, stood steadfastly against all forms of racial inequality,discrimination and injustice; and fought undauntedly for the emancipation of colonial andoppressed peoples. He spoke of his profound and searching scholarship, brilliant literarytalent, and deep and penetrating m ind. He saw the essential quality of Du B ois' life andachievement to consist in his intellectual honesty and integrity. He concluded by callingupon Ghanaians to let Du Bois continue to live in their memory as a phenomenon, adistinguished scholar and a great African patriot.45Nkrumah's call has not gone unheeded. On June 22, 1985 Flt.-Lt. J.J. Rawlings,G ha na 's Head of State, officially dedicated the house in which D u B ois had lived his lastyears as the W .E.B . Du Bois Memorial C entre For Pan-African Culture. Later in the sameyear (November 2), the Government declared the house a National Monum ent. Then onAugust 27, 1986 the remains of Du Bois and the ashes of his wife were enshrined in amem orial tomb at the Cen tre. The Centre was charged w ith establishing a special researchlibrary, a display gallery for manuscripts and other Du Bois memorabilia, as well asfacilities for lectures, film and video shows, and other educational and cultural p rogram mes.It is envisaged that the Centre will eventually develop into a place where scholars andpractitioners of African culture would meet, share their experiences and exchange ideas tothe general enrichment of pan-African thought and culture.In this essay I have tried to show that Nkru m ah's relations with Padmore and D u Boiswere based on a high degree of ideological affinity and mutual respec t. Of cou rse, the threemen did not always speak quite the same language; but they were nonetheless solidly unitedin their singular dedication to African unity and the emancipation of black people in thediaspora.Nk rum ah's relations with Padmore and Du Bois proved to be salutary to all. Nkrumahlearned m uch from their wide store of theoretical and practical knowledge; and , in view oftheir immense popularity and prestige, the association no doubt added to his internationalprestige and acceptability. As a matter of feet, some of Padmore's writings placed theburden of G han a's revolution toward independence squarely on the shoulders of Nkrum ah,thus con tributing to his international visibility and stature as a revolutionary .46 But, on theother side of the coin, it must have been most gratifying for Padm ore and Du B ois to w itnessin the activities of Nkr um ah's Ghana, as the first independent black African country, theflowering of their common dream and vision of black emancipation.

Refe rences1) Imanuel Geiss, The Pan-African Movement (London:Methuen and Co. Ltd.,1974) p.3 75 .2) Padmore regarded Ga rvey 's movement as a 'pecu liar form of Zionism which8


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.. . toys w ith the aristocratic attributes of a non-ex is ten t "Negro Kingdom" . . . '(James R. Hoo ker, Black Revolutionary: George Padmo re's Path from Com mu -nism to Pan-Africanism, London, Pall Mall Press, 1967 , p. 12).While Du Bois saw Garvey as a great leader of men, he however "called hismethods bom bastic,wasteful, illogical and almost illegal."(He rbert Aptheker( ed) , The Autobiography of W E B . Du Bois, International Publishers Co.,Inc., First Edition, 1968, p. 273.)3) Basil Davidson, Black Star: A View of the Life and Times of Kwame Nkrumah

(London: Allen Lane, 1973) p. 39.4) C.L.R. Jam es, Nkrum ah and the Ghana Revolution (London: Allison andBusby, 1977) p. 77.5) Imanucl Geiss, op. cit., p. 173.6) Daily Graphic: Accra, August 30, 1963.7) C.L.R. James, op. cit., p. 768) James R. Hooker, op. cit., p. 249) For the virulent attacks on Padm ore's integrity prior to his expulsion, see Ibid.,pp . 3 3 - 3 4 .10) Ibid,-p. 4011) Ibid., pp 107-10812) Ibid, p. U13) Ibid, pp. 139-14014) Ibid., p. 10315) Ibid., p. 122.16) Kwame Nkrum ah, Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah (London:

Panaf, 1979) p. 92.17) See his book Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for Decolonization(Monthly Review Press, Revised E dition, 1970).18) Michael Dei-Anang, The Administration of G ha na 's Foreign Relations, 1957-1965: A Personal Memoir (London: Athlone Press, 1969) p. 13 .19) Ibid, p. 220) Ibid., p. 1221) James Hooker, op. cit., p. 96.22) For Padmo re's views on socialism in the African context, see W illiam H.Friedland and Carl G.Rosberg (eds.), African Socialism (Standford: StanfordUniversity Press, 1964), Appendix 1, pp. 223-237.23) Daily Graphic, Accra, August 17, 1959.24) James Hooker, op. cit., p. 14025) Legislative Assembly Debates, 1 March, 1954.26) Daily Graphic, Accra, June 18, 1954.27) Gerald Ho me, Black and Red: W .E.B . Du Bois and the Afro-AmericanResponse to the Cold Wa r, 1944-1963 (Albany: State University of New YorkPress, 1986) p. 3 41 .28) Herbert Aptheker (ed.), op. cit., p. 400.29) The speech is sreproduced in ibid., pp . 402 -404.30) Genoveva Ma rais, Kwam e Nkrum ah: As I know Him (Chichester: JanayPublishing Com pany, 1972) p. 129. .31 ) Kwam e Nkrum ah, I Speak of Freedom: A Statement of African Ideology(London: Mercury Books, 1962) p. 71


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32 ) Ibid., p. 102.33 ) Kwame Nkrumah, Revolutionary Path (London: Panaf, 1973) p. 128.34 ) For an account of how G han a's mission at the UN in the early years ofindependence tried to realise this, see W .S . Thom pson, G ha na 's Foreign Policy,1957-1966: Diplomacy, Ideology and the New State (Princeton: PrincetonUniversity Press, 1969)pp.52-53.35) Herbert Aptheker (ed.) op. ci t, p. 29036) He received honorary degrees from East Germ any, Czechoslovakia, B ulgaria,and the Soviet Union.37 ) Herbert Aptheker (ed.), op. cit., p. 2538) Ibid., p. 4939) Ibid., p. SI40) Ibidem.41) Kenneth Kaunda , President of Zam bia, in a Prefatory No te to Vol.1 of theEnyclopaedia, p. 11. Entitled Dictionary of African Biography, it consists ofbiographical entries on Ghana and Ethiopia.42) Daily Graphic, Accra, 30 Akugust, 196343) Ibid, 29 August, 1963

44) Gerald Hom e, op. cit., p. 35045) Daily Graphic, Accra, 30 August, 196346) See in particular his The Gold Coast Revolution: The Struggle of an AfricanPeople from Slavery to Freedom (London: Dennis Dobson, 1953). Also hisarticles in the Socialist R egister, 1954 and the Crisis, Janua ry 1955 and April1957.

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kwame nkrumah, george padmore and w.e.b. du bois • by kwadwo afari-gyan

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