Nkrumah and the Ghana Revolution PDF
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NKRUMAH AND THE GHANA REVOLUTION | | | | | The C. L. R. James Archives recovers and reproduces for a contemporary audience the work of one of the great intel- lectual figures of the twentieth century, in all their rich texture, and will present, over and above historical works, new and current scholarly explorations of James’s oeuvre. Robert A. Hill, Series Editor ii | Introduction NKRUMAH AND THE GHANA REVOLUTION | | | | | C. L. R. JAMES Introduction by Leslie James Duke University Press Durham and London 2022 © 2022 Estate of C. L. R. James All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ∞ Project editor: Lisa Lawley Typeset in Arno Pro and Gills Sans Std by Copperline Book Services Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: James, C. L. R. (Cyril Lionel Robert), 1901–1989, author. | James, Leslie, [date] editor. Title: Nkrumah and the Ghana revolution / C. L. R. James, Leslie James. Other titles: C.L.R. James Archives (Series) Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2022. | Series: The C. L. R. James Archives | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2021034984 (print) lccn 2021034985 (ebook) isbn 9781478005452 (hardcover) isbn 9781478006220 (paperback) isbn 9781478007128 (ebook) Subjects: lcsh: Nkrumah, Kwame, 1909–1972. | Nationalism— Africa. | Ghana—Politics and government—To 1957. | bisac: history / Africa / West | political science / Colonialism & Post-Colonialism Classification: lcc dt512 .j35 2022 (print) | lcc dt512 (ebook) | ddc 966.705/1—dc23/eng/20211027 lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021034984 lc ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021034985 Cover photograph: Government officials carry Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah following Ghana’s independence from Great Britain, April 14, 1957. Courtesy of Bettmann/ Getty Images. CONTENTS Editor’s Note vii Acknowledgments ix INTRODUCTION | Ghana and the Worlds of C. L. R. James Leslie James xi Nkrumah and the Ghana Revolution INTRODUCTION | 1977 Edition 5 Part I 1 The Myth 23 2 The Masses Set the Stage 33 3 The People in 1947 41 4 The Revolution in Theory 50 5 The Men on the Spot 65 6 The People and the Leader 76 7 Positive Action 104 8 The Party under Fire 113 9 The Tip of the Iceberg 124 Part II 1 Government and Party 135 2 1962: Twenty Years After 149 3 Slippery Descent 152 4 Lenin and the Problem 158 5 “ . . . Always out of Africa” 179 APPENDIX 1 | Correspondence, 1957 189 Notes on Appendix 1 Leslie James 189 Extract of letter from C. L. R. James to the Correspondence Publishing Committee, Addressed to Martin Glaberman 190 Letters from C. L. R. James to the Correspondence Publishing Committee 191 APPENDIX 2 | “Africa: The Threatening Catastrophe — A Necessary Introduction,” 1964 199 Notes on Appendix 2 Leslie James 199 Excerpt from “Nkrumah Then and Now” 200 Notes 221 Index 229 EDITOR’S NOTE The 1977 edition of Nkrumah and the Ghana Revolution is reprinted here in its original form with only minor insertions or deletions to clarify typos or supply dropped words. All spellings and capitalization, along with most punctuation, remain as they appeared in the first edition despite any changes in common usage since 1977. For example, “Marxism” has been retained as “marxism.” Readers may also note the spelling of “Nkrumaism.” The second com- monly used spelling retains the “h” in Nkrumah’s name. Although both spell- ings have existed since the 1960s, the spelling “Nkrumaism,” used by C. L. R. James, was most common at the time (including in the Ghanaian press) while “Nkrumahism” has become more common in recent years. This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The introduction to this volume would not have been possible without the consistent wisdom and support of Robert Hill. His careful eye on drafts was always firm and strong. Most of all, I thank him for inviting me in as a collab- orator, and for his warmth and hospitality in our meetings in Jamaica. The two anonymous reviewers also significantly improved the first draft of the introduction. I want to thank Margaret Busby for meeting with me and sharing her ex- perience of working with C. L. R. James on the original publication. And I want to thank Christian Høgsbjerg and John Williams for their insights into the appendices. Finally, I want to thank the wonderful archivists at The University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, as well as at Howard Uni- versity’s Moorland Spingarn Research Center. My multiple trips to both ar- chives over the past decade proves the invaluable and brilliant support they consistently provide.
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