Towards Colonial Freedom; Africa in the Struggle Against World Imperialism

by Kwame Nkrumah

brand new

Genres: Africa, History, Nonfiction, Politics

Paperback

Published January 1, 1973

About the author

Kwame Nkrumah PC was a Ghanaian politician and revolutionary. He was the first prime minister and president of Ghana, having led it to independence from Britain in 1957. An influential advocate of Pan-Africanism, Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962.

Reviews

[Aurélien Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Father of Ghana's independence, Kwame Nkrumah here clarifies his ideas about colonialism. It's short and straightforward, a conciseness that makes it blunt and punchy enough.

First drafted in 1942, while he was still a student in the USA (where he discovered African-American activism) and completed in 1945 during his stay in London (marked by his discovery of socialism, communism, and pan-Africanism) he deals here with the colonial question from a simple economic perspective.

Nkrumah shows how hypocritical such system was, relying as much upon a exploitive control of wealth as that of labour. Not only indigenous people were working in appalling conditions for meagre salaries, with no recourse to improve their lot, but, the brut product of their work was also sent to the colonial powers to be manufactured, and, then, sent back again to the colonies where they were re-sold at a high price! Here was a perverse circle, then, benefiting only the oppressors, certainly not the people under their yokes. Africans were being dispossessed of their lands, their wealth, their resources, and left bereft of even the hope to create their own companies -the hypocrisies of the colonial powers (claiming then to be 'civilising', therefore 'helping', the people concerned) is here fully exposed.

This tiny little book should be a must-read; especially now, when we still hear, even in the public discourse, that colonialism, despite all its flaws and horrors, nevertheless contributed, by some of its aspects, to 'improve' the lot of the countries and people concerned. It didn't, and Kwame Nkrumah does a great debunking job.

[David]

It's interesting to read this book with Lenin and Fanon fresh in my mind. Nkrumah speaks entirely in the language of the former, with the ubiquitous references to finance capital, monopoly, and raw resources. It's a quick read and not an entirely exciting one, given how he more or less limits himself to drawing out the political implications of Lenin's economic theory of imperialism. However, it's somewhat interesting for how it presents one possible model of pan-African imperial critique, one that is far, far removed from the more philosophical approach of Fanon and the poets of the Négritude movement.

[Isaiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly concise, informative read. Kwame Nkrumah does a great job of breaking down various topics and then finishes it off with the necessary steps in order to achieve colonial freedom.

[Rocio Flan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“PEOPLES OF THE COLONIES UNITE, the men of all countries are behind you.”

Everyone should read, especially if they are from a current or former colony. It will articulate what you’ve seen and experienced while giving a blue print for action at the end.

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelent quick read. Will read again. Read Fanon and Nkrumah's other works too though.