Page 71 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1372 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

made while working on this project formed a “who’s thrown in a military coup d’etat. He lived in exile in
who” list of future nationalist and anti-imperialist leaders Guinea until his death in 1972. Controversy will con-
across Africa. His work on the conference attracted the tinue to surround Nkrumah’s legacy, but his understand-
attention of the United Gold Coast Convention ing of the interaction between Africa and the global econo-
(UGCC), whose leaders invited Nkrumah to return to my via colonialism offers fresh insight into world history
Ghana to become the secretary of the party in 1947. from an African perspective.
Nkrumah quickly fell out with the moderate UGCC
Eric L. Martin
and established the Convention People’s Party (CPP) in
1949. Demanding “self-government now,” the CPP See also Africa, Postcolonial
launched strikes, boycotts, and civil disobedience based
on Mohandas Gandhi’s satyagraha (nonviolent resist-
ance) methods. Jailed in 1950 for his political activities, Further Reading
Nkrumah was released after winning a seat in the leg- Arhin, K. (Ed.). (1993). The life and work of Kwame Nkrumah. Trenton,
NJ: Africa World Press.
islative assembly from prison in 1951.This event marked Davidson, B. (1973). Black star: A view of the life and times of Kwame
the beginning of the end of British rule in the Gold Nkrumah. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Nkrumah, K. (1957). Ghana: The autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah.
Coast, although formal independence—and the name
New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons.
Ghana—did not come until 1957. Nkrumah was elected Nkrumah, K. (1963). Africa must unite. New York: Fredrick A. Praeger.
prime minister of the Gold coast in 1952 and served Nkrumah, K. (1964). Consciencism: Philosophy and ideology for decolo-
nization. New York: Monthly Review Press.
until 1960, when he became president of Ghana.While Nkrumah, K. (1965). Neo-colonialism:The last stage of imperialism. Lon-
in power he promoted an African version of socialist don: Panaf.
Oppenheimer, B. F., & Oppenheimer, M. (1966). Ghana: End of an illu-
development and an anti-imperialist foreign policy. He
sion. New York: Monthly Review Press.
was active in the nonaligned movement, which estab- Rooney, D. (1988). Kwame Nkrumah:The political kingdom in the third
lished alliances amongst former colonies as alternatives world. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Smertin,Y. (1987). Kwame Nkrumah. New York: International Publishers.
to the bipolar Cold War visions promoted by the United
States and the Soviet Union. In 1963, coinciding with
the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU),
Nkrumah published Africa Must Unite, outlining his argu-
ment for unification. But the OAU rejected Nkrumah’s Nomadism
model, Ghana’s economic condition declined, and un-
rest spread. In 1964 Nkrumah forbade political opposi- See Pastoral Nomadic Societies; Steppe Confederations
tion, establishing the CPP as the only party in the first of
many African one-party states. He attributed some of
Ghana’s problems to interference by the CIA, but under-
stood that most of the nation’s problems were eco-
nomic. In 1965 he published an analysis of the role of Nonviolence
foreign investment in maintaining colonial relationships
in new forms in Africa; it was called Neo-Colonialism:The onviolence, the Indian nationalist leader Mohandas
Last Stage of Imperialism. Although astute in his analy- NGandhi said, “is as old as the hills.” As an idea and
sis of Africa’s economic relations with the rest of the an ideal, nonviolence is indeed old.Throughout history
world, Nkrumah had lost touch with Ghanaians suffer- people have yearned for harmony, peace, and stability—
ing from poor local economic conditions. Nkrumah’s conditions ultimately rooted in nonviolence. Not sur-
political enemies multiplied and in 1966 he was over- prisingly, nonviolence has had an important place in the