Were African Nationalist Movements the Work of a Handful of Elite Men?

Ahmed Sékou Touré, First President of Guinea.

First, the term nationalism will be discussed within the scope of African history, followed by the notion of ‘elite men’. This essay will then present evidence to suggest that nationalist movements were the work of elite men, seen specifically within the early nationalist historiography. Recent interpretations will follow and present an argument that shows other groups contributed greatly to African nationalism. This will be shown within two case studies: the first being on youth within the Gold Coast and the second on women in Guinea. This paper will conclude that it was a mixture of both elite men in the form of charismatic leaders and the support from the masses that led to successful nationalist movements within Africa.

Conceptualisation

Within the context of this essay, nationalism will be defined as the anti-colonial ideology that imagines a nation to be a political community that by right should be politically sovereign and independent from rule by others.[1] From an African perspective, this would be seen within ‘the end to the exploitation of man by man, more freedom, more wellbeing’ and shaking off the ‘imperial yolk’.[2] This allows for a longer-term approach to nationalism within Africa, that enables a focus on political imagination before the mass movements toward national independence became popularised.

The term ‘elite men’ will be used in the form of two different notions. The first notion is the traditional elites within Africa, noted as ‘traditional leaders that operated within the traditional milieu’.[3] The second notion will be referred to more significantly within this essay. This is noted as the political elites’ post World War II, who were ‘outstanding leaders, from the ranks of intellectuals and nationalists who led the independence movements’.[4] These can be seen as anyone who held political power such as ‘intellectuals, school teachers, military men and bureaucrats’.[5]

The Role of Elite Men

Elizabeth Schmidt places the role of elite men at the forefront of nationalist movement successes. According to Schmidt, the masses were merely recipients of the nationalist message, mobilized by the elites, rather than being a mobilizing force.[6] In Nationalism in Tropical Africa, James Coleman discusses that through Urbanization and Western Education, nationalism was sparked and led by the ‘so-called detribalized, Western-educated, middle-class intellectuals, defined earlier as political elites.[7] He further rejects the notion of African nationalism being a peasant revolt, thus this piece presents the clearest case of nationalist movements being exclusively the work of a handful of elite men. However, Coleman later adds that these ‘political aspects of African nationalism, however, are but the surface symptoms of a great ferment about which we know very little’.[8] Written in 1954, before most countries’ independence, this shows the early lack of understanding regarding the African World as this piece is placed within the unfolding drama of African nationalism and before the independence of many African states.

Robert Rotberg presents a stronger argument for the role of elite men in The Rise of African Nationalism. Rotberg first introduces the idea of ‘Associations’, which were the key link in the causal chain from the beginning of colonialism to the triumph of African nationalist parties.[9] These were led by younger men who had relocated to cities and had learned to deal with the white man, gaining valuable experience in negotiation and manipulation of protest.[10] Although he notes these associations sought improvements rather than change, they started the heritage of protest within Africa from below. However, Rotberg states over and above all factors it was the charismatic leadership of a few men that caused nationalism to flourish after World War II.[11] Elites such as Jomo Kenyatta, Harry Nkrumbula, and Julius Nyerere all transformed these associations into modern mass parties as African grievances became evident; they were able to harness the rural and tribal elements to become a truly national entity. Rotberg concludes persuasively by stating that no mass parties would have been possible without the rise of new political elites, and nationalism would remain unbought. What must be significantly noted however is that even in this early piece, Rotberg recognises the impact of other factors in the rise of nationalism in Africa, such as ‘labour protest’ and young men in early grassroots ‘associations’.[12]

The Gold Coast Case Study

The case of the Gold Coast rejects the statement that places the rise of nationalism in Africa on a handful of elite men’s shoulders. Recent studies have rejected the top-down nature of African nationalist movements, paying more attention to popular nationalist thought. These studies have been aided by the improved accessibility of archives which allow for greater in-depth studies of African history.

First, the significance of the political elite, specifically Kwame Nkrumah, must be highlighted. Imbued with nationalist ideas from his time in England, Kwame Nkrumah became secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention in 1947, popularising the party by travelling extensively and mobilising the youth behind the nationalist cause.[13] From this point, nationalist activities intensified and opened the radical phase of Gold Coast nationalism, first seen in the Cross Road Incident in 1948. Nkrumah broke away and formed the Convention People’s Party (CPP) in 1949 in which Nkrumah was shown to be ‘popular and dynamic’ and led the Gold Coast to independence in 1957.[14]

Whilst the impact of Nkrumah should not be understated, his Independence Day Speech in 1957 places the importance of other groups of people in the ‘battle’ for independence, specifically thanking ‘the youth and the women’.[15] In Verandah Boys versus Reactionary Lawyers, George M. Bob-Milliar writes that the CPP was dominated by commoners, mainly young men who called themselves Verandah Boys, that emerged to mobilize votes for their party.[16] Bob-Milliar states that these ‘polls were won at a grassroots level by those activists who were effective organizers’.[17] Thus, the CPP managed to organize the rural-urban linkages throughout the country. In the words of Kofi Baako, ‘leaders and members of the CPP, … will continue to associate themselves with the man on the lowest rung of the social ladder’, showing that the CPP was able to organize grassroots from above, leading to significant support from the common man below’.[18] As a result, it was a combination of forces from above and below that led to the success of nationalism and popular mobilisation. To present that elites exclusively would not have had this success, Bob-Milliar notes that an elitist type of activism in the Gold Coast led to a ‘disconnection between the leadership and rank and file of the party’, seen within UGCC electoral failures.[19]

Guinea Case Study

The independence of Guinea in September 1958 by the Democratic Party of Guinea - African Democratic Rally (PDG-RDA) under the leadership of Se’kou Toure - further rejects the idea that nationalist movements were the work of a handful of elite men. In a similar vein to the Gold Coast, the movement’s leadership was composed of Western-educated elites, yet its strength lay in its solid support amongst peasants, workers, veterans and women, whose grievances built the nationalist agenda.[20] In Top Down or Bottom Up?, Elizabeth Schmidt presents nationalist mobilization as neither top-down or bottom-up, rather it was unequivocally both.[21] Schmidt notes that methods of mobilization, like the contents of the nationalist message, were influenced by the grassroots. Mass spectacle was a critical feature of Guinean nationalism; local activists in Guinea inspired the party colour and produced the uniforms and songs. From above, party elites constructed a vision of national unity through enormous rallies and intensive campaigning in the rural areas.[22] Masses, as well as elites, had an impact on the ideas, objectives, strategies, and methods of the nationalist leader. Thus, this shows that conceptualizing the nation was a two-way street rather than elite exclusive.

Schmidt also presents the impact of women in the success of nationalism in Guinea. Nonliterate women composed many nationalist songs, who sang their messages at marketplaces and other public places. Within these songs, women praised the PDG-RDA, ridiculed the opposition, and commented on recent political events.[23] Police reports described PDG-RDA women, in groups of a hundred or more, parading through the capital city, carrying banners, singing political songs, and casting aspersions on Se´kou Toure´’s chief rival, Barry Diawadou. Diawadou frequently was derided as being cowardly and uncircumcised, depicted as ‘a mere boy rather than a real man’.[24] In what is the strongest contrast to an elite man, illiterate women were able to bring ideas to the table that were rooted in indigenous histories and beliefs.

Whilst this essay only describes two specific cases in-depth, it must be noted that this was happening across all of Africa – the colonial educational system exposed young people to new ideas, resulting in the rise and spread of national pride and self-determination that led to a new political elite. In this sense, nationalism was the unintended consequence of colonial education across Africa.[25] This was combined with a heritage of protest from below, as Western African colonies, where access to education was low, still led a path towards nationalist thought and independence.[26]

Conclusion

Overall, the overwhelming consensus is that elite men did play a key role in the rise of nationalist movements, yet these movements would not have been possible without ‘ordinary’ Africans.[27] The majority of writers in the African nationalist historiography note the importance of the new political elite that were exposed to nationalist ideas by either colonial education or Western nations. They had a key role in mobilizing the masses with successes coming from those who focussed on the marginalized members of society, such as the youth and women. However, the significance of these people must not be understated. As depicted in the case studies, lower classes in society brought their own ideas and experiences to the anticolonial struggle and especially in Guinea, nationalism was first and foremost a movement of the masses. Thus, nationalist mobilization should be considered from the differing perspectives, from above and below to present a clearer image of African nationalist movements and African independence.

Bibliography

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Ajayi, J.F. Ade, Expectations of Independence, Daedalus 111, no. 2 (1982), http://www.jstor.org/stable/20024782 - accessed 05/05/22

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Bob-Milliar, George M, Verandah Boys versus Reactionary Lawyers: Nationalist Activism in Ghana, 1946–1956, The International Journal of African Historical Studies 47, no. 2 (2014), http://www.jstor.org/stable/24393408. – accessed 05/05/22

Coleman, James S, Nationalism in Tropical Africa, The American Political Science Review 48, no. 2 (1954), https://doi.org/10.2307/1951203. – accessed 06/05/22

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Nkrumah, Kwame, Speech on Independence Day, (6th March 1957), (2) Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Speech on 6th march 1957 at the independence square - YouTube – accessed 08/05/22

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Schmidt, Elizabeth, Top Down or Bottom Up? Nationalist Mobilization Reconsidered, with Special Reference to Guinea (French West Africa), The American Historical Review 110, no. 4 (2005), https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr.110.4.975. – accessed 06/05/22

Yankah, Kwesi, Education, Literacy and Governance: A Linguistic Inquiry into Ghana's Burgeoning Democracy (Accra: Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2006)

[1] Miles Larmer and Baz Lecocq, Historicising nationalism in Africa, Nations and nationalism, vol. 24, (2018), 9 [2] Dr. Alexandre Adande, Africa: The Dynamics of Change, edited by H. Passin and J.A.B Jones-Quartey, (Ibadan:I.U.P, 1963), 73-74 [3] J. F. Ade Ajayi, Expectations of Independence, Daedalus 111, no. 2 (1982), 6, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20024782 - accessed 05/05/22 [4] Ibid [5]Larmer and Lecocq, Historicising nationalism in Africa, 9 [6] Elizabeth Schmidt, Top Down or Bottom Up? Nationalist Mobilization Reconsidered, with Special Reference to Guinea (French West Africa), The American Historical Review 110, no. 4 (2005), 7 https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr.110.4.975. – accessed 06/05/22 [7] James S Coleman, Nationalism in Tropical Africa, The American Political Science Review 48, no. 2 (1954), pp.414, https://doi.org/10.2307/1951203. – accessed 06/05/22 [8] Coleman, Nationalism in Tropical Africa [9] Robert I Rotberg, The Rise of African Nationalism: The Case of East and Central Africa. World Politics 15, no. 1 (1962) 1-15 https://doi.org/10.2307/2009568 – accessed 08/05/22 [10]Ibid, 6 [11] Ibid, 12 [12] Ibid, 13 [13] Kofi Darkwah, NATIONALISM AND INDEPENDENCE, Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, no. 15 (2013) 1-19, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43855012. – accessed 03/05/22 [14] Darkwah, NATIONALISM AND INDEPENDENCE, 15 [15] Kwame Nkrumah, Speech on Independence Day, (6th March 1957), (2) Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Speech on 6th march 1957 at the independence square - YouTube – accessed 08/05/22 [16] George M Bob-Milliar, Verandah Boys versus Reactionary Lawyers: Nationalist Activism in Ghana, 1946–1956, The International Journal of African Historical Studies 47, no. 2 (2014) 2. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24393408. – accessed 05/05/22 [17] Ibid, 31 [18] Kwesi Yankah, Education, Literacy and Governance: A Linguistic Inquiry into Ghana's Burgeoning Democracy (Accra: Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2006), 60 [19] Bob Milliar, Verandah Boys versus Reactionary Lawyers, 31 [20] Schmidt, Top Down or Bottom Up?, 12 [21] Ibid, 40 [22] Ibid, 36 [23] Ibid, 39 [24] Ibid [25] Kofi Takyi Asante, National Movements in Colonial Africa, In Ewout Frankema, Ellen Hillbom, Ushehwedu Kufakurinani and Felix Meier zu Selhausen, The History of African Development: An Online Textbook for a New Generation of African Students and Teachers. African Economic History Network, (2020), 1-17 [26]Rotberg, The Rise of African Nationalism, 7 [27] Schmidt, Top Down or Bottom Up?, 40