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On the eve of World War II, a small, impoverished group of Africans and West Indians in London dared to imagine the unimaginable: the end of British rule in Africa. In books, pamphlets, and periodicals, they launched an anti-colonial campaign that used publishing as a pathway to liberation. West Indians George Padmore, C. L. R. James, and Ras Makonnen; Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta and Sierra Leone’s I. T. A. Wallace Johnson –made their point: that colonial rule was oppressive and inconsistent with the democratic ideals Britain claimed at home.
Ending British Rule in Africa draws on previously unexplored manuscript and archival collections to trace the development of this publishing community from its origins in George Padmore’s American and Comintern years through the independence of Ghana in the 1957.
This original study will be of interest to scholars and general readers interested in social movements, diaspora studies, empire and African history, publishing history, literary history, and cultural studies.
Introduction: George Padmore, the man at the centre
1. ‘Misery laid bare’
2. ‘Generals without an army’
3. Writing while the bombs fall
4. ‘A constant stream’
5. Strategist, publicist
6. Acts of betrayal
7. Their own histories
Sources
Index