george padmore. a critique. pan-africanism or marxism

8/9/2019 George Padmore. a Critique. Pan-Africanism or Marxism

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Searchlight South Africa, Vol.1,

No. l , September 1988

GEORGE PADMORE:

A CRITIQUE PAN AFRICANISM

OR MARXISM?

P a u l T r e w h e l a

Am ong m em be rs of the Pan A fr icanis t C on gress , Geo rge

Padmore has been rewarded as ' the leading theore t ic ian of Pan

Afr icanism ' and as ' the F a t he r of African Em anc ipa t io n ' .

1

Ro ber t M anga l i so Sob ukw e, the f ir s t P re s ide nt of the Pan

A f r ic a n i s t C o ng r e ss ( P A C ), in p a r t i c u l a r , s t r e s se d th e

impor tance in h is own po l i t ic s o f Padmore ' s thought . The

crit ique of Padmore 's pol i t ics is thus a cr i t ique of a principal

source of th e po litics of th e PAC.

P a d m o r e ' s m o s t i m p o r t a n t b o o k ,

Pan-Africanism or

Com munism? The Com ing Struggle for Africa, was first

published in 1956.

2

Three years later, in 1959, the PAC in South

Africa split away from the African National Congress (ANC).

In his book, Padmore makes cri t ic ism of the post-war pol i t ical

d i rec t ion of the ANC , pa r t icu la r l y i t s subo rd in a t io n to a

'S ta l in is t m an o eu vre ' in the Co ngress of the People in 1 955,

r e su l t ing in the F r e e dom C ha r te r .

{Pan-Africanism

p.362)

Pa dm o re ' s c r i t ic i sm in th is book of th e So uth Afr ican

C o m m u n i s t P a r t y ( S A C P ) c o i n c i d e d w i t h l o n g - s t a n d i n g

criticism by Africanists within the ANC of its political relation

to the SACP.

It is characterist ic of the mental poverty of exist ing pol i t ical

tend enc ies in So uth Africa th a t Pa dm ore is so l i t t le read, even

by his co- thinkers among the Pan Afr icanis ts . The Sta l inis t

tendency has of course i ts own interest in burying Padmore 's

criticism its w ay, no t only w ith th e ide as of critics such as

Padmore, but st i l l more with those of Marx.

P a dm or e ( M a l c o l m N ur se ) w a s bo r n in Tr in ida d in the

Caribbean in 1903 and went to university in the United States.

He joined the C om m unist P ar ty of the Un ited Sta tes in the l a te

1920s, beco m ing an official of th e Thir d In ter na tio na l. He was a

leading authority on the black question in the Soviet Union (and

a deputy to the Moscow Soviet) during the Stalinist ' third period'

which l aste d from 1929 to 1935. In 1933, following six m o nth s in

pr ison in naz i Germany, he broke wi th the Cominte rn in

opposit ion to i ts adaptation towards the Brit ish, French and US


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George Padmore

43

colonial ist powers a turn which Padmore regarded correctly

a s t r e a c h e r o us to b l a c k in te r e s t s e ve r yw he r e . F r om th i s

e x p e r i e n c e P a d m o r e d e v e l o p e d h i s c o n c e p t i o n o f P a n

Africanism, becoming in the words of the novel ist (a lso ex-

Stal inist) Richard Wright, ' the veritable father of many of the

nat ional is t movements in Black Afr ica . . . . '

3

In 1945 together

w i th W .E.B.Du Bo is he he lp ed org anize the F i f th Pa n-

Afr icanis t Conference in Manchester , working with Kwame

Nkrumah ( the future f irst prime minister and later president of

G ha na ) as jo int secretary . Pad m o re died in 1959 a t the age of 56,

six m o nth s af ter th e formation of the PAC un de r th e lead ership

of Sobukwe a pol i t ica l development tha t had his warmest

enc o urag em en t and s ix m o nth s before the m ass acre a t

S h a r p e v i l l e .

In th e wo rds of hi s boyho od f r iend an d la t er po l i t ica l

col labora tor . C.L.R.James, Padmore worked in the Comintern

as ' the best known and most t rusted of agi ta tors for Afr ican

independence ' . James descr ibes Padmore 's la ter break with the

Comintern as fol lows:

In 1 935, seeking al l iances, the Krem lin sep arate d B ritain an d

F r a nc e a s ' de m oc r a t i c im pe r ia l i sm s ' f r om G e r m a ny a nd

Japan , making the 'Fasc is t imper ia l i sms ' the main ta rge t o f

Russ ian and Communis t p ropaganda . This reduced ac t iv i ty

for African emancipation to a farce: Germany and Japan had

no colonies in Afr ica . Padmore broke instant ly with the

K r e m l i n .

4

In ex t reme pover ty , and a lmost s ing le -handedly , Padmore

then proceeded in London to se t up the Afr ican Bureau to

coordinate opposi t ion to imper ia l ism in Afr ica . 'Between the

w ars i t w as the only Afr ican o rga niz at io n of i ts k i nd in

e x i s t e n c e . '

5

P adm o re w as th u s one of th e few who broke with

Sta l in ism dur ing i t s tu rn to the r ight a f te r the unopposed

t r iu m ph of naz ism in Germ any. Th is was when the M arxis t

programme was openly abandoned by the Sovie t leadership , in

its vain hope of appeasing Brit ish, French and US imperial ism

in face of the danger f rom nazi Germany. But whereas for

Trotsky, the col lapse of 1933 demanded the s t rengthening and

renew al o f M arxis t in te rna t ion a l i sm , for Padmo re i t was the

signal for a pure ly nat ional is t perspect ive . There is no direc t

and explicit cr i tic ism of M arx's theo ry in Padm o re 's book. B ut


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th ere is no t th e s l igh test presence of M arx 's m etho d e i the r ,

despite the claim by James (and others) that Padmore was to the

end ' an undevia t ing Marxis t ' .

6

The sub seq uen t pol it ics of Padm ore an d Trotsky represe nted

different and opposed responses to the same world pol i t ical

process: the debacle in the Soviet Union in its effect upon the

Communist Internat ional . Their dif ferent responses arose out

of fund am enta l ly opposed in te rpre ta t io ns of the n a t ur e and

so ur c e s of S t a l in i sm . T r o t sk y l ooke d to w a r d s a w o r ld

revolutionary process that would, as part of the whole, pull down

the autocracy in the Soviet Union through a revival of Soviet

workers ' democracy. Padmore 's concept ion was more l imited,

em bra c ing the em anc ipa t io n of the co lonia l peo ples f rom

imperial ism outside of seizure of power by the proletariat and

thro ug h t he formation of a U nited S tat es of Africa based upo n

state control of the 'main sector of the national economy' (p.377).

Padmore looked genera l ly to a future socia l is t democracy in

Africa. But this conception for him in no way required the

revolu t ionary se l f -determinat ion of the pro le tar ia t , w herea s for

Tro tsky i t m ea nt th e the pol i tical auth o rity of w o rkers ' delegates

as in the Commune of Paris and the ear ly days of Soviet power

in Russia . For Trotsky, in the las t resor t , S ta l inism represented

the most profound break with Marxism, which required to be re

asse r ted and redeve loped , whi le for Padmore in prac t ice

M arxism repr ese nte d in the pre sen t period - un exam ined and

unexplained a nul l i ty, a complete dead end.

I n the m id- 1930s , how e ve r , P a dm or e ' s b r e a k w i th the

Comintern had the vir tue of s tanding in opposi t ion to a rea l

betrayal by Stal inism and to the f locks of social democrats who

delighted in this betrayal of revolution during the period of the

P opu l a r F r on t . P a dm or e took i s sue w i th S ta l in i sm w hi l e

i l lusions in i t were at their height. His opposit ion became sti l l

more sharply focussed in 1934 when the USSR undermined i ts

own creation, the League Against Imperial ism, at the same t ime

as i t entered the previously despised League of Nations for

Padmore , ' the beginning of the Sovie t

rapprochement

with

B ritain an d F ran ce in face of th e grow ing m enace of th e Axis

powers ' (p.330). Then came

.. . the revelation in the British press that Stalin had sold oil to

M usso l ini du rin g th e fascist invasion of A bys sinia in 1935.

This Sovie t s tab in the back made the League Aga ins t


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George Padmore

45

Imper ia l i sm exceedingly unpopula r among non-Communis t

B r i t i s h a n t i - i m p e r i a l i s t s w h o s e s y m p a t h i e s w e r e w i t h

Abyssinia . . . . About the same t ime, the Internat ional Trade

Un ion C om m it tee of Negro W o rkers , wi th which I was

associated as secretary, was l iquidated, in keeping with the

pro -Leag ue of N atio ns o rien tatio n in Soviet foreign policy.

Padmore concluded that in the ir s t ruggle for emancipat ion,

the colonial peoples could rely only on themselves. At the same

tim e the no tion of th e pro le tar iat as th e decisive class in th e

s t ruggle for emanc ipa t ion f rom imper ia l i sm was je t t i soned .

W i th th i s spe c i f i c a l l y no n- c l a s s c on c e p t ion o f b l a c k

emancipation, Padmore was set towards becoming ( in the words

of C.L.R.James) ' the originator of the movement to achieve the

pol i t ical independence of the African countr ies and people of

A f r i c a n de sc e n t ' .

7

P a dm or e ' s po l i t i c a l c o l l a bor a t ion w i th

Ja m es beg an in 1 935: a po in t of in te r sec t io n be tw een th e

Tr o t sky i s t po l i ti c s of Ja m e s a t th a t t im e ( Ja m e s ope ne d

discussion on the black question with Trotsky in Mexico in

1939) and the Pan Africanist perspective of Padmore, to which

James turned a l l the more s t rongly fo l lowing his break with

Trotskyism in the middle 1940s.

Spa in and Morrocco

Not many years af ter Padmore 's break from Moscow, George

Orwell a lso observed as a f ighter in the proletarian mil i t ia

from B arce lo na d ur in g th e c ivil w ar in Spain how th e

Stal inised Comintern betrayed the colonial revolution in order

to appease the colonial powers. Orwell real ized that this was

enough to sabotage the revolution in Spain, since the generals '

coup began in Morocco with i ts init ia l mass mil i tary force

compo sed mai nly of African colonial troo ps.

As Orwell noted in

Hom age to Catalonia,

besides butcher ing

their opponents and cri t ics within the revolutionary movement,

the Spanish Communist par ty and i ts numerous Russian secre t

pol ice control lers made no effort to develop a real popular

movement in Franco ' s rea r .

But what was most important of a l l , with a non-revolutionary

policy it was difficult, if not impossible, to strike at Franco's

rear . . . .What c l inches everything is the case of Morocco.


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Searchlight South Africa,

Vol.1, No. l , September 1988

Why was there no r ising in Morocco? Franco was trying to set

up an infamous dictatorship, and the Moors actual ly preferred

him to the Po pular Fro nt Go vernment The pa lpable t ru th is

tha t no a t tempt was made to foment a r is ing in Morocco,

because to do so would have meant put t ing a revolut ionary

construction on the war. The first necessity to convince the

Moors of the Government ' s good fa i th , would have been to

proclaim Morocco l iberated. And we can imagine how pleased

the French would have been by tha t . The bes t s t ra teg ic

opportunity of the war was f lung away in the vain hope of

placat ing French and Bri t ish capi ta l ism. The whole tendency

of the Communist pol icy was to reduce the war to an ordinary

non- revolu t ionary war . . . Pe rhaps the P .O.U.M. [Workers '

Pa r ty of M arxis t U nity] and A narch is t s logan: 'The war and

the revo lu t ion a re inseparab le ' was l e ss v is ionary than i t

s o u n d s .

8

Orwel l was no t a lone in unders tanding th is . With in two

w e e k s of t h e g e n e r a l s ' c o u n t e r - r e v o l u t i o n a r y c o u p , a n

in te r na t io na l conference of Tr o tsky is t s mee t ing sec re t ly in

Eu ro pe issued an ap pea l 'To th e W ork ers of Spain a nd th e

W ork ers of the E nt i re W orld ' which s ta ted : 'A people w hich

oppresses another cannot emanc ipa te

itself.

Free the Moroccan

peo ple You wil l m ak e of th em a form idable al ly . .. .'

9

The

confe rence s imul taneous ly i ssued a ca l l 'To the Ens laved

People of Morocco' , stressing that as in Ethiopia,

W h at w as neede d w as for the op pressed peop les of Africa to

rise and f l ing the imperial ists bandits into the sea; what was

needed was for the oppressed peoples to consummate a union

with the working class of Europe and the other continents.

The conference noted further that

If the go vern m ent of the P eople 's Fro nt in Spain had tak en

immedia te measures to he lp the Moroccan peoples to f ree

themselves, fascism would never have had a base from which

to a t tack the Spanish workers and peasants .

1 0

Within weeks of this a t tack on the pol i t ics of Sta l inism on

Africa, the first of St al in 's th re e m ain frame-up tri al s beg an in

Moscow. Trotsky and his son, Leon Sedov, were in ef fec t


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George Padmore

47

sentenced to death in their absence, and the former Bolsheviks

Zinoviev and Kamenev were quickly executed. In Spain, there

were very few T ro tsky is ts . B ut leading m em bers of thi s sole

international organization that cal led for freedom of Morocco

as essen t ia l to the vic tory of th e pro le t ar ia t in Europ e w ere

hunted down and murdered , a s were numerous anarchis t s and

members of the POUM.

In the same year that Orwell published

Hom age to Catalonia,

the US Trotskyist Fel ix Morrow published his book

Revolution

and Counter-Revolution in Spain,

in wh ich th e conjoined

dia lec t ic of the s t ran gl ed rev o lut io ns in Africa and Eu rop e

a ppe a r s :

Freedo m for Morocco? Delegation s of A rabs a nd Mo ors came

to the government [which included the Stal inists] pleading for

a decree . The government would not budge . The redoubtable

Abd-el-Krim, exiled by France, sent a plea to Cabal lero [ the

Spanish republ ican pr ime minis ter ] to intervene with Blum

[ prim e m in i s t e r of the s t a l in i s t - sup po r te d P o pu l a r F r o n t

government in France] so that he might be permitted to return

to Morocco to lead an insurrection against Franco. Cabal lero

would not ask, and Blum would not grant . To rouse Spanish

Morocco might endanger imper ia l i s t domina t ion throughout

A f r i c a .

1 1

Morrow concludes: Thus Cabal lero and his Sta l inis t a l l ies se t

the ir faces as f l in t against revolut ionary methods of s t ruggle

against fasc ism. . . .And this f i t ted in , a t bot tom, with Anglo-

French policy . . . . ' (Morrow, pp.48-49)

W i th in S pa in

itself

a very smal l Tro tskyis t g roup , the

Bolshevik-Leninis t Sect ion of Spain , led by Grandizo Munis ,

demanded 'absolute freedom of the people of Morocco, including

the r ight of separation, Morocco for the Moroccans. . . / With this

strategy, the Spanish Trotskyists aimed to ' foment insurrection

a m o n g t h e o p p r e s s e d m a s s e s of M o r o cc o a n d c a u s e

dis integra t ion in the mercenary fasc is t a rmy' .

1 2

A n a n t i - c o l on ia l i s t i n su r r e c t ion in no r th A f r i c a w a s a

necessity for the Spanish (and European) revolution. The Army

of Africa, co mpo sed of no rth African M uslim

regulares

unde r

Spanish officers together with the Spanish Foreign Legion, with

General Franco as i ts commander, was as Antony Beevor notes,

'Spain 's most effective and ruthless f ighting force ' , the 'most


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professional force ' in the whole Spanish theatre .

1 3

In 1921,

Moroccan t r ibesmen under Abd-e l -Krim had inf l ic ted on the

Spanish army a t Annual ' the most ignominious defeat in i ts

h i s to r y ' 10 , 000 k i l l e d , 4 , 000 w ounde d , the i r ge ne r a l

co m m itting suicide before succum bing five ye ars la ter to a

jo int of fensive of th e Frenc h an d Spa nis h a rm ies , only ten

ye ars before t he o utb reak of th e ge ne rals ' coup (Beevor, p.23). In

pre pa ra t i o n of th e i r coup , Sp anish m i l i ta r i s t s exhor ted th e

Musl im

regulares

in 1936 th a t ' the Repub lic w an ted to abolish

Allah' (Beevor, p.52). Thus the paradox of the bourgeois counter

revolut ion , a crusade of the Ro man Cathol ic Chu rch

militans,

compelled to f ind i ts shock troops in Islam. The nation whose

mil i tary aristocracy was formed through seven centuries of war

aimed at expelling the Muslims to Africa, now depended on the

re tu rn of th e Mu slim Arm y of Africa for th e pres erv atio n of

pr ivate proper ty , Church and Sta te in Europe . In i ts war of

counter-revolution, the Spanish army rested for support upon the

colonia l col lab ora to r s t r a tu m of Mo roccan t r iba l chiefs . Th e

Spanish proletariat , facing African colonial troops brought into

Spain by the ruling class conspirators, now suffered defeat at the

h an d s of i t s own po l i t ica l l eadersh ip which cemented th is

bizarre union of opposites instead of exploding i t . 'Aside from

the t roops in Morocco ' , the German ambassador repor ted to

Hit ler ' s Fore ign Minis try , Franco had 'only the wreck of an

army' . Raymond Carr concludes: ' the decisive factor was the

Moroccan army . . . . Without i t the National ists would have lost

the Civil War ' .

1 4

The most extensive , best a t tempt a t soc ia l is t

revolution in Europe after 1917 was thus part ly lost in Africa,

through the pro-imperial ist pol i t ics of Stal inism.

The disaster thus brought to Europe and to Afr ica by the

col lapse of th e revolu tion in Russia can be precisely m eas ure d.

Th e ques t ion of the re la t io n of b lack colonia l t roo ps to th e

struggle of the proletariat in Europe was not a new question. The

f ina l co nt r ib ut io n in T ro tsk y ' s co ll ect ion of speech es an d

ar t ic les ,

The First Five Years of the Comm unist International,

published in Moscow in 1924, dealt precisely with this question.

T his took the form of T ro tsk y's reply in a le tte r to a qu estion

from the black US poet and communist , Claude McKay, at the

F o ur th W or ld C ongr e ss of the C o m m unis t I n te r na t io na l in

1 9 2 3 . Tr o t sky ' s r e p l y w a s pub l i she d in Eng l i sh in the

International Press Correspondence

on 13 M arch 192 3. Th e

questio n from McKay concerned the u se of African troo ps at th a t


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George Padmore

49

t ime by French imper ia l ism to garr ison occupied regions of

western Germany, from which the French capital ists extracted

plunder in the form of war reparations.

Trotsky 's reply was emphat ic :

The Negroes themselves must of fer res is tance against be ing

so employed. Their eyes must be opened, so that they real ize

that when they help French imperial ism to subjugate Europe^

they are he lping to subjugate themselves , in tha t they are

sup po r t ing the dom ina t ion of F r e n c h c a p i t a l i sm in th e

African and other colonies.

In words that were to have direct and practical bearing on the

r e vo l u t io na r y s t r ugg l e s in S pa in 13 ye a r s l a t e r , T r o t sky

c on t inue d :

There is no doubt whatever that the use of colored troops for

imperial ist war, and at the present t ime for the occupation of

German territory, is a well thought out and carefully executed

at tem pt of Eu ro pea n cap ital ism, and especial ly of French and

English capitalism, to raise armed forces outside of Europe, so

that capi ta l ism may have mobi l ized, a rmed and disc ipl ined

A f r ic a n o r A s ia n tr o o ps a t i t s d i spo sa l , a g a i n s t t h e

revolu t ionary masses of Europe . In th is way the use o :

colonial reserves for imperial ist armies is c losely related to

the question of European revolution, that is , to the fate of the

European working c lass .

From this , Trotsky concluded that the 'educat ion of Negro

p r o p a g a n d i s t s is a n e x ce e d in g l y u r g e n t an d i m p o r t a n t

revo lu t ionary task a t the pre sen t jun c tu re ' .

1 5

The reversal of

Trotsky's pol i t ics at the head of the Comintern, on the issue of

Spain and Morocco in 1936, was the most serious betrayal ever

by Stal inism on the black question.

Effectively, Stal inism was the single most important e lement

upholding

colo nial ist do m ination in no rth Africa and thu s,

as M orrow say s , ' thr o ug ho ut Afr ica ' in th e 1930s. Th e

revolution in Spain created ideal conditions for overthrowing

European colonial ist rule . With i ts focus on the struggle against

imper ia l i sm in Afr ica , i t i s a ve ry se r ious weakness in

Pa dm o re ' s book and a concess ion to S ta l in is m , and to

im per ia l ism th a t i t co nta ins no ana lysis of the conjoined


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dialectic of th e revo lutio n in Eu ro pe an d Africa a t i t cen tral

nodal point this century, the strangled Spanish revolution of the

1930s.

Padmore says tha t Genera l Franco ' l ike a l l imper ia l i s t -

minded dictators, can only conceive of national "greatness" in

te rm s of dom inion over subjec t races ' , and th a t 'Spa nish

Morocco provided h im w ith the init ia l co nting ent of troo ps to

overthrow the Republic and make himself the "Sawdust Caesar"

of Spain ' (p .224) . This is to under-est imate and t r ivia l ise the

m atte r . The rea l ly revo lut ionary conclusion one th at re la te s

th e fate of African em an cipa tio n to th e overthro w of cap italism

in i ts g lobal centres is not draw n. Pad m ore understoo d th at

the Moroccan quest ion 'had a most far - reaching effec t ' on

European pol i t ics before the f i rs t imper ia l is t wor ld war ,

br inging France , Br i ta in , Germany and I ta ly to the very br ink

of war in 1912 (p.81), yet the far greater significance of the

Moroccan question before the second world war escapes him.

I t w a s th i s de e p l y in te r - c onne c te d w or l d c om pl e x o f

imper ia l i s t domina t ion tha t the Spanish revo lu t ion threa tened

to spring into the air . For the Spanish right to have had to rely so

decisively on an oppressed colonial people indicates that the

Spanish left was crucified by its own chauvinism. It perpetuated

the centur ies - lo ng oppress ive re la t ion of the Sp anish ru l in g

classes to the former Musl im inhabi tants of Spain , reaping a

te r r ib le revenge which bourgeois soc ie ty explo i ted to i t s

e xc l us ive a dva n ta ge . To a dva nc e the r e vo l u t ion in N or th

Africa, what was necessary was that the Stal inists ' gr ip on the

proletariat in Spain be broken.

Padmore 's b l indness to the basic requirements for revolut ion

in Africa may be measured from his silence concerning the one

occasion the only one when the prole tar ia t

in Europe

rebel led and shed i ts b lood against imper ia l ism

in Africa:

the

Semana Tragica,

or tragic week, of th e pro leta riat of Barcelon a

in July 1909, in opposition to its conscription into the colonialist

war in Morocco. By comparison, not long after the ' tragic week'

of Ju ly 1909, th e En gl ish cr i t ic of im pe r ia l is m H en ry W.

Nev inson described the 'refusal of the Ca talo nian re ser vis ts to

serve in the w ar ag ain st th e Riff m o un tai ne ers of Morocco' as

'one of the most signif icant ' events of modern t imes.

1 6

B a r ba r a

Tuchman s ta tes tha t the war in Morocco was regarded by the

Ba rcelo na w o rke rs in 1909 as 'a w ar in the in te re st s of th e Riff

mine-owners . A s t r ike in i t ia ted by the Labour Federa t ion of


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George Padmore

51

Barce lon a becam e ove rn igh t an ou tpo ur in g of the peo ple

t h e m s e l v e s , e s p e c i a l l y t h e w o m e n , a g a i n s t w a r , r u l e r s ,

reac t io n, the church an d a l l th e e lem en ts of an op pressive

r e g i m e ' .

1 7

About this proletariat , Padmore has nothing to say. Not to have

known about this episode in the relation of Europe to Africa, or to

have ignored i t , was a serious fai l ing. But i t must be said that

the Marxists have not been superior to Padmore, e i ther in study

of the history of the proletariat of Barcelona, or of its relation to

th e em anc ipatio n of Africa. Yet h ere in embryo w as the relatio n

of the revo lution ary p ro letaria t to the l iberation of the oppressed

peoples.

This same prole tar ia t of Barce lona , massacred in 1909, rose

up again and was again suppressed in blood in i ts revolutionary

gen era l s t r ik e and insurrec t io n of July -A ug ust 1917 (between

the February and October revo lu t ions in Russ ia ) and then

became the first in al l Spain to establish dual power against the

bo urgeoisie in Ju ly 1936, by successful m il i tary ass au l t ag ain st

the barracks in Barce lona . The prole tar ian insurrec t ion of the

Barcelona workers of 19/20 July 1936, under supremely heroic

an d self-sacrif icing lead ersh ip of th e ana rch ist trad e un io nists ,

was the greatest r ising of the proletariat in Europe fol lowing the

revolutions in Petrograd of February and October 1917. If the

October revolution of th e Petro grad w ork ers w as the finest res ul t

of M arx 's wing of the o ld Fir s t In ter na t io na l , the Barce lona

insu rrectio n of Ju ly 1936 w as the bes t work of B aku nin 's . Th is

o u t s t a n d i n g l y r e v o l u t i o n a r y p r o l e t a r i a t of B a r c e l o n a

comprising nearly half the industr ia l work force of Spain, with

i ts except ional workers ' democracy and i ts sweeping socia l

iza t ion of pro duct io n w as s t ruck down w ithin a yea r by

St ali ni sm be hin d th e front l ine of th e civil w ar, in conjunction

with the Moscow Trials in Russia . The bourgeois government of

the P opu l a r F r on t se r ve d the in te r e s t s o f A ng l o - F r e nc h

imper ia l i sm in the Medi te r ranean a rea , in advance of the

com ing im pe r ia l is t w ar for the re-par t i t io n of the e ar t h . By

enter ing this Kerensky- type government a longside the socia l -

dem ocrats and S ta l inis ts , the leadership of both the ana rch is ts

and the POUM betrayed the revolut ion. The Barce lona workers

had made the best a t tempt a t soc ia l is t revolut ion in western

Europe since the Commune. Against them, the Stal inist coup in

Barcelona of May 1937 prepared the triumph of fascism.


11/22

52



F a d m o r e and S t a l i n i s m

In

Pan Africanism or Com munism?

Pad m o re refers to th e

trea ch ero us effect of Sta linis m in Fran ce, especially thro ug h th e

Po pu lar Fro nt gov ern m en ts of the 1930s and 1940s, on the

stru gg les of th e o ppresse d peo ples above a l l of Alger ia an d

Vietnam: 'a two-faced role ' carr ied out by 'double crossers '

(pp.337,

334). Nevertheless, he has not a word to say concerning

the s la ug hte r of Tro tsky is t revo lut ion ar ies by the V ie tnam ese

Sta l inis ts , headed by Ho Chi Minh. This was a t the t ime when

Ho's com rade , M aurice Tho rez of the F rench Co mm unist pa r ty

the n in De Gaul le ' s post-war go vernm ent is repo r ted to

have said that he 'ardently hoped to see the French f lag f lying

over every terr i tory in the French Union' , and that he 'had not

th e slig hte st int en tio n of be ing held respo nsible for a sell-out of

France 's posi t ion in Indochina ' .

1 8

Towards the Sta l inis t par t ies

of east Asia , Padmore is remarkably se lec t ive and uncr i t ica l :

so also his co-thinkers in South Africa.

The historical process through which the revolution col lapsed

in te rn a l l y w i th in th e Sovie t Unio n was of no in te r es t to

Padmore . This i s a t remendous fa i l ing . He descr ibes the

effects, but cannot explain the cause. He is not even seriously

interested in the quest ion. Arr iving in Moscow in 1930, he

appears to have shown no in te res t in the subs tan t ia l i s sues

which ha d bro ug ht abo ut th e suppression of the Left Opposit ion

an d th e expulsion of Tro tsky from the Soviet Un ion, or th e b rea k

of th e Stal in faction from th e Rig ht Oppo sition of B u kh ar in ,

Rykov and Tomsky not l ong a f te rwards . Ca t t l e -herd ing of

peasants by force into col lec t ives , the death of mil l ions by

hu m an -en gin eer ed fam ine , con s t ruc t ion of the now use less

Balt ic-White Sea Canal through a system of working to death by

slave labour : a l l th is took place dur ing Padmore 's Moscow

y e a r s ,

and al l this he passes over in his best-known book more

than twenty years la ter . . . wi thout comment .

In

Pan Africanism or Com munism?

Padm ore m ake s a ve ry

sh arp cr i tic ism of the pro gram m atic reso lut io ns of the Sixth

Congress of the Comintern, held in 1928, in relation to the black

question both in the United States and South Africa. This put

forward for both countries the perspective of a 'Black Republic '

a 'fantastic ' uto pia , in Padm ore 's ph ras e, in i ts re lation to th e

U nited S ta tes , sugges ting a form of black terr i to r ia l ru le in t he

deep south 'no different from Dr Malan's Apartheid ... a so rt of


12/22

George Padmore

53

glorified Native Reserve' (p.307). In its relation to South Africa,

Pad m ore reg arded th e prog ram m e of the 'Black Republic ' as an

attempt to segregate blacks ' into some sort of Bantu state ' (p.352).

This is not the place to make a thorough-going cr i t ic ism of

Sta l in ' s and Bukhar in 's 'Black Republ ic ' s logan. But what is

left unclear in Pan-Africanism or Com munism? is ho w far, if

a t a l l , a s he ad of the C o m inte rn ' s 'Negro d ep ar tm en t of

p r o p a g a n d a a n d o r g a n i z a t i o n ' , in J a m e s ' d e s c r i p t i o n ,

1 9

Padmore actively and publicly opposed this pol icy: whether as

m em ber of th e Co m m unist Pa rty of the Un ited Sta tes while this

programme was be ing dec ided , o r a s l ec ture r on co lonia l

affairs at the University for the Toilers of the East in Moscow, or

as secre tary of th e Inte rn at i o na l Tr ade Union C om m ittee of

Negro Workers, or as member of the presidium of the Colonial

B urea u of the Co m m unis t In te rn a t io na l , o r a s deputy to th e

M osc ow C i ty S ov ie t r e p r e se n t ing the S ta l in B a l l - be a r ing

W ork s. Yet th e Co m intern du r in g the per iod of the 'Black

Republ ic ' s logan had no more impor tant b lack execut ive than

P a d m o r e .

His subsequent cr i t ique of Stal inism is restr icted to a very

na rro w co rner. He recognizes its be tra ya l of th e colonial peoples

of Africa a nd A sia in th e 1930s and 1940s, wh ile be ing to tally

un cr i t ica l of S ta l in ism in China and V ie tnam . He fur ther

actual ly endorses and upholds the chauvinist oppression of non-

R uss ia n pe op l e s w i th in the S ov ie t U n ion , a ga ins t e ve r y

principle of th e revolutio n. In this , he ad ds hi s auth o rity as a

critic of imperialism to a blatant l ie:

The coloured Sovie t c i t izens of Centra l Asia Uzbekians ,

T a j i k s , K a z a n s , T u r k m a n s , T a r t a r s , K i r g h i z a n s ,

C hu va sh ian s , K azan s , B ur ia ns , e tc . enjoy abso lute rac ia l

equal i ty with those of Slav descent. I f they are sometimes

persecuted, i t is not for their race as are the non-Europeans

Africans, In di an s and Co loureds in Sou th Africa, bu t for

political "deviations", and even this did not affect the few

Negroes working in Russia at the time of the first Five Year

Plan, for they had the common sense to keep out of Soviet

internal politics. So purges did not affect them, (pp.313-14)

His ea r l ie r work ,

How Russia Transformed Her Colonial

Empire

(not yet available to the prese nt writer) , wa s presum ably

impregnated with the same spir i t .


13/22

54



This passage i l luminates the crass , apologet ic character of

Padmore 's pol i t ics. He star ts from a national ist premise that the

in te rna l s t ruggles and purges in the Sovie t Union were an

' in te r n a l ' a f f ai r , o f no c onc e r n to b l a c k s . F r om th i s

undia lec t ica l and unrevolu t ionary s tandpoin t , Padmore c loses

his eyes to the oppression of minority peoples in the Soviet

Union, above a l l the wholesa le depor ta t ion cont inuing r ight

up the the modern day , more than 40 years l a te r of the

Cr imean Ta ta rs : a gross ly chauvin is t s tand for a supposed

f ighter for colonia l f reedom. The sheer b lock-headedness of

Padmore ' s po l i t ic s emerges in the same paragraph as th is

classic of vu lga r 'commo n sens e ' quo ted above. In thi s p assa ge,

w rit in g in 1955, he s ta te s: 'Because of th eir to leranc e on race

and colour , the Russians and the Chinese are going to get on

marvel lously ' (p .313) .

H e r e P a dm or e ' s l im i t s a s the l e a d ing the o r i s t o f P a n

Afr icanism a re b la tan t . He spur ious ly d iv ides the in te rna l

from the exte rnal pol i tics of the So viet regime, imag ining th a t a

cr t ique of i ts in ter na t io na l p rac t ice is possible in abs trac t io n

from i ts in te rn a l ro o ts . H is cover-up of na t io na l opp ression

within the Sovie t Union leads to an absurd endorsement of the

mutual state relations between the USSR and China, a facade of

harm o ny brok en w ithin ten yea rs of these wo rds being w ri t ten,

followed by war between China and Vietnam and the fl ight from

Vietnam of the ethnic Chinese 'boat people ' , victims of severe

c h a u v i n i s t o p p r e s s i o n . P a d m o r e d i s p l a y s h e r e t h e s a m e

na t iona l i sm as the S ta l in is t r eg ime itself. He has no cri t ic ism

to m a k e of S t a l in i sm ' s ba s ic ide o l og ica l f o r m ul a t io n o f

'social ism in one country ' . Rather , he shares this prejudice.

Pad m ore and at ional ism

Th e reac t io nary na tu re of Padm ore ' s proposed a l te r na t ive to

Sta l inism reveals i tse l f in a pamphle t publ ished with Nancy

Cunard in war - t ime London under the t i t l e

The White Man s

Duty,

w ith a preface da ted Decem ber 1942. In th is pa m ph let , in

which Cunard ques t ions and Padmore rep l ies , he g ives an

explicit account of the class foundation of Pan Africanism when

writ ing about West Africa:

Th e mo re well-to-do of th e farm ers h av e been ab le to send t he ir

chi ldren to bet ter schools or to provide them with higher


14/22

George Padmore

55

e duc a t ion e i the r l oc a l l y o r a b r oa d . The se e duc a te d o r

"Europeanised" Afr icans const i tute the inte l l igents ia of the

West Afr ican colonies . They represent the vanguard of the

na t iona l a nd p r ogr e ss ive m ove m e nts w hic h to da y a r e

voic ing increasingly the pol i t ica l and economic aspira t ions

of the African people . This is a natural development.

2 0

W i t h t h i s c o n c e p t i o n , P a d m o r e a r g u e s f o r B r i t i s h

imper ia l ism to emancipate the colonies pol i t ica l ly

in its own

self-interest:

'Br itain , by freeing he r Co lonies, can save bo th

he r se l f a nd the m a n d la y th e f o un da t io ns of a ne w

Com mo nweal th of N at ions , bound tog ether in equal p ar tn ersh ip '

(White Man s Duty.

p.48).

He s ta tes :

The advantages of such a po l icy a re inca lcu lab le . The

re la t ionship between the indigenous popula t ions and the army

in India , and the scattered forces in the colonies at present

occupied in pol icing those regions against revol t and civil

disturbance would undergo a complete change. These forces

would no longer be regarded as the ins t ruments of a l ien

operations, but rather as fr iends and al l ies . . . .

In th is changed a tmosphere the vas t man-power of India

could be drawn upon. Industr ia l and agr icul tura l resources

would be exploited in a new burst of energy having behind i t

th e ful l force of po l i t ica l mo ve m en ts which are to-d ay

ope r a t ing a ga ins t

EnglandXWhite Man s Duty,

p.47-48)

F ar from b eing th e 'F at h er of African Em anc ipatio n' , a s

C.L.R.James and the Pan Afr icanis ts c la im, Padmore reveals

h imse l f in th is pamphle t to have advoca ted the cont inued

indirect domination of the colonies by metropol i tan capital . In

this pro- imper ia l is t p lea to the Br i t ish rul ing c lass , Padmore

sets out more clear ly than in

Pan-Africanism or Com munism?

the future pol i t ica l programme by which the prole tar ia t would

continue to be imprisoned by the weak bourgeois strata of the

colonies, acting as branch agent for imperial ist capital . A deal

is proposed, by which the Vast man-power* of the colonies would

c o n t inue to be e xp l o i te d th r ou gh s l igh tl y a l t e r e d m e a ns .

Es sential l y, th e extremely weak colonial bourgeoisie thro ug h

Pad m ore ma ke s use of the w ar - t ime c r i s i s of imp er ia l i s t


15/22

56

Searchlight South Africa,

Vol.1, No. l , September 1988

Britain to demand not emancipation but a few crumbs from the

exploiters ' dinner, to be paid for by the black proletariat.

This wartime plea to the oppressor c lass was not an aberration

in his politics. His book

The Gold Coast Revolution,

p u b l i s h e d

ten years la ter , cal led on the Brit ish parl iament to ' restore faith '

among Afr icans by permi t t ing i t s co lonies Dominion s ta tus

wi th in the Commonwea l th , no t ing tha t Afr icans had a l ready

' lost fai th ' in their Brit ish masters. The appeal to imperial ism

for a modified form of rule by metropolitan capital was basic to

P a dm or e ' s po l i t i c s . H e c om pl a ins tha t ' B r i t a in i s t oda y

squ and er ing h er las t imp er ia l asse ts the t ru st and loyal ty of

her coloured c i t izens ' .

2 1

To write of ' revolution' in relation to

such thinking is absurd.

The Pan Afr icanis ts need only compare Padmore 's touching

fa i th in the Br i t ish s ta te with i ts handing over to the South

African Special Branch of long l ists of PAC militants, obtained

in a raid by British police on the PAC headquarters in Lesotho in

1963 ,

l eading to ma ss a r res ts , j a i l ings a nd to r tu re of the i r

members in South Africa.

Padmore 's ' fa i th ' in Brit ish imperial ism proved deadly f irst

of al l for the Pan Africanists themselves: a definite ideological

source of that heavy blow at the hands of the South African state

only four years after his death.

In th e Ind ian sub -co ntine nt, a change of form of im pe rial ist

rule s imilar to tha t proposed by Padmore in

The White Man s

Duty

brought about a holocaust , with consequences that l ive on

today. I t is instructive to examine again Padmore 's method of

pol i t ical diagnosis . What is revealed is the necessary connect

ion between nat ional is t pol i t ics , represented ideologica l ly by

Padmore , and i ts disguised c lass content re la t ing to re l igious ,

t r iba l , l inguis t ic or o ther sec t ional in terests negat ing any rea l

unif ication of peo ples. Pad m o re 's Pan A fricanism is show n to

be un ab le to un i te th e peoples of Africa , ju s t a s Ind ian

national ism, upheld by Padmore in 1942, proved i tself unable to

un ite the peop les of the In dian sub continent.

Padmore s ta tes :

In Ind ia m ach ine ry ex is t s to m ak e fu ll se l f -gov ernment

im m e dia te l y p r a c t i c a b l e . The r e i s no e v ide nc e tha t the

oppo sition of th e Mu slim L eague to th e Natio nal C on gress is

shared by the mass of the Moslems. . . . dur ing the t roubles


16/22

George Padmore

57

las t Ju ly and Augus t no t even the Tory press repor ted

communal r io ts .

(W hite Man s Duty

p.46)

Effectively, this was a pol i t ical argument on behalf of the

Hindu bourgeois ie , a s spec ious and ignorant as Padmore ' s

later prediction of a harmony of the spheres unit ing Russia and

China . Padmore ' s inna te ly pro-bourgeois po l i t ic s expresses

itself in a further te l l ing remark. He states that 'Gandhi was the

only person who could have kept the masses in leash; without

him there is danger of the people rushing ahead '

(White Man s

Duty,

p.47). T h at is the he ar t of the p rog ramm e: the people are to

be kept in leash.

This argument by Padmore in 1942 on behal f

%

of th e H ind u

bo urgeois ie of Ind ia who se sec t ion al se l f - interest grea t ly

prom oted th e rel igious m assa cres of 1947 pu ts an inte res ting

l ight on his la ter a t tack on the 'merchant-moneylending c lass '

among people of Indian origin in South Africa, in a book which

appeared be tween h is war t ime pamphle t

The W hite Man s Duty

and h is major work ,

Pan-Africanism or Com munism?.

Published in London in 1949, this book,

Africa: Britain s Third

Empire,

ap pe ars to have ha d a m ark ed influence on Pan

Africanist thought in South Africa through its identification of a

major c lass differentiation am o ng people of Ind ian o rigin in

So uth Africa, while scorn ing th e existence of c lass re lati o ns

am o ng people of indig eno us African origin.

2 2

By May Day 1948, when Padmore wrote the introduction to this

book, na t ional is t pol i t ics on India ( inc luding his own) had

reaped i ts ha rv es t in m ut ua l ma ssacre s of H indu and M usl im

and M usl im and S ikh . The no r th of the su b-co nt inent was

p a r t i t i o n e d b y r e l i g io u s s e c t a r i a n i s m , t h e a n t i t h e s i s to

Pa dm o re 's pro gra m m atic goal of a U nited St a te s of Africa .

Now, Padmore makes a s t r ident a t tack on 'prosperous Indian

se t t l e r s in A f ri ca ', t h e ' m e r c ha n t - m o ne y l e n d in g c l a s s ' of

Indian or igin in South Afr ica , these 'upper-c lass Indians ' ,

' I n d i a n b u s i n e s s m e n ' , ' I n d i a n c a p i t a l i s t s ' , t h e s e ' w e a l t h y

In di an s' th a t is, precisely the class th a t he ha d signally failed

to detect in his pamphlet of 1942

within India itself (Africa,

p.222).

One asks why Padmore in 1949 should be so eager to stress in

Africa what Padmore in 1942 had kept hidden in relation to

I nd ia . The a n sw e r is no t h a r d to f ind . Th e ' m e r c h a n t -

moneylending c lass ' of Indian or igin discovered by Padmore


17/22

58



in Africa appears in his book of 1949 as a scapegoat, against

whom the an ge r ag ain st im per ia l ism of th e African m ass es

m ay safely be div erted , to th e adv an tag e of th e even w eak er

bourgeo is e lem ents of pure ly Afr ican or igin . Th is s t r a t u m in

Africa of In di an o rigin plays for Pad m o re essen tially th e sam e

role played historical ly for the national ists in eastern Europe by

the Jews . Padmore appears he re in theory as the father of what

the regime of Idi Amin and other despotisms in east Africa later

carr ied out

in practice.

H is class critique of people of In di an

origin in South Africa is not accompanied by any class critique

of develo ping bo urge ois e lem en ts of pu re ly African or igin .

Rather , the reverse : in his 1942 pamphle t he descr ibes this

A f r ic a n s t r a tu m a s f o r m ing by a ' n a t u r a l ' p r oc e ss t he

V an gu ard ' o f th e an t i -co lon ia l i s t mo vem ent . Tru e , Pad m o re

does advoca te ' jo in t non-European s t ruggle ' , in which ' the

poorer Indians ' would l ink up 'with the Afr icans in jo int

s t ruggle for the i r common economic and soc ia l demands '

(Africa,

pp.222-23), a theme later taken up by Sobukwe. But it is

utterly one sided: only those of Indian origin are first required

to repudia te the i r ' own ' weak bourgeois ie . Padmore ' s book ,

writ ten short ly before the r iots in Durban in 1949, served to

vindicate this ant i - Indian pogrom

in theory.

In i ts fa i r ly extensive (but f requent ly inaccura te) invest

igation of conditions in South Africa, Africa: Britain s Third

Empire

a t t a c k s tw o c l e a r po l i t i c a l t a r g e t s : the ' I nd ia n

c a p i t a l i s t s ' a nd s im ul ta ne ous l y bo th ' S ta l in i s t C om m unis t s '

and 'Trotskyi te Communists ' , equal ly dismissed as represent

i n g w h i t e m a n i p u l a t o r s of b l a ck i n t e r e s t s . S u b s t a n t i a l

que st ion s concerning the fa te of the pro le t ar ia t as the wor ld

class over this century are dismissed as the product of 'sectarian

p r e s s u r e g r o u p s '

(Africa,

p.22 2, 224). At th e same t ime , th e

existing trade union and str ike movement e lsewhere in Africa

is extol led un cr i t i ca l ly as an exp ressio n of 'Tra de Un ion

N a t iona l i sm ' . P a dm or e now m a ke s a n a m e ndm e nt post hoc to

his former un cr i t ica l su pp o r t of the na t io na l is t bourgeois ie in

India . He introduces a t ransparent ly fa lse cr i ter ion to suggest

that the same al l -c lass programme he had advocated for India

in 1942 would not have similar consequences in Africa. He

achieves this by means of a fa l lacious dist inction between the

colonial bo urgeo isie of Ind ia a nd t h a t of Africa. In In dia , h e

a r g u e s ,


18/22

George Padmore

59

. . . the middle-c lass capi ta l is ts and landlords were numerous

and powerful eno ugh to seize lea de rsh ip of th e n ati o na l is t

movement and direc t the ant i - imper ia l is t s t ruggle in such a

way as not to c lash with their part icular c lass interests . In

Afr ica , the far weaker bourgeois ie wi l l not be able to

subordina te the t rade union movement in the same way.

Already they have been compel led to make common cause

with the m asse s of labo urers and pea sa nts , whose wo rking

class aspira t ions are not l ike ly to c lash with those of the

m idd le-c las s , s ince th e decis ive sec tors of th e na t io n al

e conom y a r e in a li e n ha nd s Eu r o pe a ns , I nd ia ns , a nd

S y r i a n s .

Padmore goes on to no te ' severa l l a rge-sca le s t r ikes in

N ige r ia , t he G o l d C oa s t ( G ha na ) , S ou the r n a nd N or the r n

Rhodes ia (Zimbabwe and Zambia) , Kenya , Uganda and the

Sudan. He invokes working c lass mil i tancy in the cause of

'na tio na l uni ty and th e so l idarity of th e comm on people ' . For

Padmore , th is a l leged nat ional uni ty and sol idar i ty in Afr ica

incorporates the Tar weaker bourgeoisie ' than existed in India

before independence. He adds:

I n th i s w a y , t r a de un ion i sm c a n r e in f o r c e po l i t i c a l

national ism and provide the key which wil l open the door to

Africa 's future progress, unity and amity and the real ization

of the United States of Africa.

(Africa,

pp.217-8)

Once again, i t is Padmore 's l imits as a pol i t ical analyst that

history confirms. In not one of the countries in Africa named by

Padmore, in which ' t rade union national ism' is c i ted as the key

to 'progress, unity and amity ' , is the proletariat today not ruled

by the gun. That gun is in the hands of the same weak African

bourgeoisie (or i ts mil i tary usurpers) , which i t was the task of

Padmore both to represent and misrepresent .

Padmore's politics in this book, which seems to have exerted a

powerful inf luence on the generation at Fort Hare to which

Sobukwe belonged, is not different in essence from that which

brought about the beheading of the Chinese proletariat in 1927. In

relation to the African proletariat, his politics in 1948 as in 1942

i s i n d i s t i n g u i s h a b l e f r o m t h e l e f t n a t i o n a l i s m o f t h e

K uo m intan g before i ts s la ug hter of the C hinese wo rkers . It is

s i g n i f i c a n t t h a t P a d m o r e m a k e s n o a n a l y s i s i n

Pan


19/22

60


N o . l , Septemb er 1988

Africanism or Com munism?

of w ha t he cal ls 'Stal in 's p a rt in

the f iasco ' in China in 1927 , despi te uncr i t ica l ly having

promoted such politics himself from 1927 to 1933. He makes no

attempt to explain why 'Stal in was then under heavy f ire by the

Trotsky Opposit ion' (p.296). To have taken issue properly on the

question of China, he would have had to cal l into question his

own former po l it ics as one of th e mo st im po r tan t intern at io na l

representatives of Stal inism in relation to the colonies. But this

was beyond him: there is not a word of serious cr i t ic ism of his

own previous politics in this book.

In 1 931 he h ad been a pp o inted by Lozovsky, th e g en era l

secre tary of the Red In terna t ion al of Tra de U nions (who shared

responsibil ity for the catastrophe in China), to serve on a special

commit tee in Moscow on the Chinese ques t ion . In Pan-

Africanism or Com munism?

he reca l l s in some deta i l h i s

col laboration with Lozovsky on the matter of China, as wel l as

the ir work toge ther on the Negro Bu reau of the Red Tra de Unio n

I n te r na t io na l ( p. 297). Y e t P a dm or e ne g l e c ts to r e por t th a t

Lozovsky. at the age of 74, was executed in the anti-semitic

pogrom of the last years of Stal in 's l ife: only three years before

Padmore wrote this book. Strange si lence over the murder of a

f o r m e r c o m r a d e B u t c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of P a d m o r e ' s s t r i c t

abs tentio n from critic ism of th e ' inter na l ' affairs of th e R uss ian

state ,

As se t ou t e l sewhere in th is journa l ,

Pan-Africanism or

Communism?

conceals an even s t ra ng er om ission re la t ing to

the revolut ionary movement in South Afr ica . I t concerns the

last years and mysterious death in the Soviet Union of the f irst

black gene ral sec retary of th e Co m m unist P art y of So uth Africa,

Albert Nzula, Padmore 's c lose fr iend and col league in Moscow.

The contradictions in Padmore 's pol i t ics are by now apparent.

His anti-Stal inism reveals i tself as a species of pro-Stal inism,

his form of advocacy of Pan African unity as in India promotes

the interests of a c lass dependent on fracture and f ission not

union among Afr ican peoples , whi le h is s t ruggle aga ins t

colonial ism during world war two expressed i tself as struggle

for colonia l ism by other means. Star t ing f rom the inte l lec tua l

premises of

Pan-Africanism or Com munism?

th a t i s , an t i -

Sta l in ism , nat io nal ism , Pan African un i ty the consequences

of P a d m o r e ' s p o l i t i c s p r o v e t h e i n a d e q u a c y a n d

self-

cont rad ic tory na ture of these premises , fo r Padmore and h is


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George Padmore

61

fol lowers. Such pol i t ics is proved bankrupt and dangerous for

the prole tar ia t .

Yet the qu estion of th e pro gram m e and pol i t ical o rganization

of the proletariat of South Africa asserts itself now with extreme

urgency more than in Padmore ' s t ime , g iven the enormous

growth of the black proletariat in numbers, concentration, trade

union organizat ion and capaci ty for s t ruggle . S imul taneously ,

a l l the main po l i t ica l tendenc ies wi th in the revo lu t ionary

movement in South Africa, above al l the ANC, the UDF and the

Communis t Par ty but a l so the PAC and Azapo , repea t the

suicidal pol i t ics of th e Po pu lar Fro nt in Sp ain and Fran ce, a s

wel l as th e lef t na t io na l ism of th e Ku o m int an g before i t s

s laug hter of the pro le tar ia t in China . The two main nat io nal is t

tendencies (roughly, ANC/SACP and PAC/Azapo) now stand at

the head of a great body of organized workers, the first in the

m uc h l a r g e r C o ng r e ss of S o u th A f r ic a n Tr a de U nio ns

(COSATU), the second in the smaller National Council of Trade

Unions (NACTU) . Given i t s ideo logica l de r iva t ion f rom

P a dm or e , the sm a l l e r a nd w e a ke r A f r i c a n i s t t e nde nc y i s

shown to be unable to cha l l enge na t iona l i s t and S ta l in is t

pol i t ics in the m ain body of th e pro letar iat . R ath er , i t serves to

complement and strengthen what i t purports to oppose.

Pan Afr icanism revea l s i t se l f a s ye t another school o f

in te rmedia t ion be tween capi ta l and l abour , obs t ruc t ing the

prole tar ia t f rom taking i ts dest iny, and the fa te of humanity ,

into i ts own hands.

NTOTES

1. Zo l ile K eke. draf t of a m sto ry of th e Pan A fr icanis t

C o ng ress of A zan ia , cha pte r 20 , 'Af r icanis t So c ia l i s t

Democracy*. C.L.R.James in a lecture in London in August

1967 sa id tha t Padmore was ' increasingly known as the

F a th er of African E m an cip atio n' . ('Black Po wer: i ts P as t ,

Today and the Way Ahead ' , in C.L.R. James,

Spheres of

Existence. Selected Writings, All ison an d Busby , Lo ndon.

1980p.227)

2 .

G e or ge P a d m or e ,

Pan-Africanism or Com munism? The

Com ing Struggle for Africa,

Dobson, London, 1956.

3. Rich ard W right , fo reword to Pad m o re , Pan-Africanism,

p . i i .


21/22

62



4 .

C.L.R.Jam es, T ro m To ussa int L 'Ou ver ture to Fide l Ca stro '

(19G2) , Appendix to

The Black Jacobins. Toussaint

L Ouverture and the San Dom ingo Revolution,Vintage

Books, New York. 1963, p.397.

5. C .L .R .James ,

ibid.

p.398.

6 . ' C . L . R . J a m e s T a l k i n g t o S t u a r t H a l l ' , C h a n n e l F o u r

television, Britain, 30 April 1988.

7.

C.L .R.Ja m es, 'Black Pow er ', p .227.

8. George Orw ell , Homage to Catalonia, Pel ican, 1975, pp.6 8-

69.

9. 'To the W ork ers of Spain an d the W ork ers of the E nt i re

W o r l d ', s t a t e m e n t i s s u e d b y t h e F i r s t I n t e r n a t i o n a l

Conference for the Fo urth Inte rna tio na l , 29-31 Ju ly 1936, in

Docum ents of the Fourth International. The Formative

Years (1933-40),

Pathfinder, New York, 1973,p .144.

10.

'To the Enslaved People of Morocco' , statement issued by the

Firs t Internat ional Conference for the Four th Internat ional ,

pp.

149-50.

11.

Fel ix Morrow,

Revolution and Coun ter-Revolution in Spain,

Pion eer P ub lish ers, New York, 1 938. p.48.

12.

' W ha t do the Tr o t sky i s t s w a n t? ' , p r ogr a m m e o f the

Bo lshevik-Leninis t Section of Spain (Fou r th Intern at io nal ) ,

Ba rce lo na , 19 Ju ly 1937 . R epr in ted in

Revolutionary

History,

London. Vol.1, No.2, Summer 1988, p.39.

1 3.

Antony Beevor ,

The Spanish Civil War,

Orbis , London ,

1982,pp.37,117.

14.

R a ym ond C a r r ,

Spain 1808-1975,

Oxford, second edition,

1986,

p .686 . Leon Tro tsky ,

The First Five Years of the

Communist International

(1924), New Pa rk , 1974. V olume

2, To Comrade McKay' , pp.354-356.

1 6.

H e n r y W . N e v i n s o n ,

Peace and War in the Balance,

Conw ay M emo ria l Le cture , London, 17 M arch 191 1, W atts ,

London, 1911, pp.47-49.

17.

B a r ba r a W . Tuc hm a n ,

The Proud Tower. A Portrait of the

World Before the War 1890 1914, Macmillan, 1980. p.450.

18.

Maurice Thorez . as quoted in Jean Lacouture ,

Ho Chi Minh,

Penguin, 1968.p.132.

19.

C.L.R.James, 'From Toussaint L 'Ouver ture to Fide l Castro ' ,

p.397.

20.

N a nc y C una r d a nd G e or ge P a dm or e ,

The White Man s

Duty, W.H.Al len, Londonn. n .d . p .43.


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George Padmore 63

21 .

George Padmore ,

The Gold Coast Revolution. The Struggle

of an African People from Slavery to Freedom,

Dobson ,

Londo n, 1953, p.9.

22.

George Padmore ,

Africa: Britain s Third Em pire,

Dobson,

Londo n, 1949. p.222.

george padmore. a critique. pan-africanism or marxism

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