In the years that followed, however, this principled position was subject to several mutations, caused by contradictions internal to the socialist movement. Indeed it was written by Black delegates who were strongly influenced by the movement led by Marcus Garvey. The Communist Movement’s statement on African liberation, adopted in 1922, was markedly pan-Africanist in inspiration. Brief passages in the Communist International archives take note of the struggles carried out by Blacks not only in the diaspora, but also in countries subjected to colonial domination in Africa. It thus took note of the conditions of Black peoples and solidarized with their struggles, not only in the African continent but also in countries like the United States where racial segregation was at its peak from 1920 to 1924. The International Communist Movement, from its foundation in 1919, was committed to the struggle on behalf of the oppressed and exploited worldwide. This servitude made possible the industrial revolution and the acceleration of capitalism’s development as a global system, spreading out from its initial strongholds in Europe and North America. It should be noted that millions of Blacks worked for hundreds of years without any form of payment – that is, for nothing. These uprisings in turn gave rise to Pan-Africanism as an ideological tool for the liberation of oppressed Black peoples. The dire conditions faced by Black peoples during several centuries of slavery provided a fertile ground for emergent revolts. Let us note first of all that Pan-Africanism emerged within the African diaspora, that is, outside the continent. Most of oppressed peoples live in countries at the periphery of the world capitalist system, but they also are present as layers of common people in the metropolitan countries.Ĭommunism and Pan-Africanism: a Zigzag Relationship This inquiry will reveal a perspective for a transition toward a world with increased justice and greater capacity to assure the survival of the human species and of our planet – in a word, a better world, free from the system of domination that victimises Black peoples around the world. In what follows, we will attempt to illustrate how these two currents, which evolved almost simultaneously over the course of almost a century, became interrelated. This is not to deny that there were occasional conflicts, resulting from the exigencies of episodic struggles and underlying strategy. The Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917.ĭuring this process two historic currents, the International Communist Movement and Pan-Africanism, established strong ties, forged through suffering and resistance. Dubois, Edward Blyden, and many others, this movement was linked to the struggles of workers and oppressed peoples across Europe and beyond, which culminated in two historic revolutions: Brought to the fore by figures such as the great Marcus Mosiah Garvey, W.E.B. That is how Blacks laid the foundations for Pan-Africanism throughout the African diaspora. Indeed, these events demonstrated that freedom comes only through struggle. This dramatic breakthrough later contributed to achievement of a collective consciousness among Blacks. Even today, Haiti continues to pay the price for its audacity and steadfastness, for which it has never been forgiven by proponents of the slave system. The establishment of the first Black republic in the Northern hemisphere emerged from an extended process of resistance to oppression, marked by massive slave revolts on the plantations of Jamaica, Brazil, and elsewhere. That event was the first massive and successful revolt of Black slaves, and an important step toward the long-overdue abolition of slavery worldwide. For Black peoples, this revolution arrived just over a century after the victory in Haiti in 1804.
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