1.1 PAN-AFRICANISM
1.1.2 The Pan-African 2atherin2s 1900-1994
1.1.2.7 The Fifth Pan-African Conl:ress of 1945
1.1.2.7.1 Backl:round to Conl:ress and delel:ates
The fifth Pan-African Congress took place in the Charlton Town Hall, Manchester, from 15-19 October 1945. There were some two hundred delegates including many trade unionists and students.
Two of the most prominent were K warne Nkrumah, an organising secretary, and J omo Kenyatta as chairman (Woronoff,1970:23). For the first time a large number of Africans from the African continent were in attendance, among them leading personalities like Wallace Johnson (Sierra Leone), Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigeria), Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya), Hastings Banda (Malawi), Peter Abrahams (South Africa), Ako Adjei (Ghana), Jaja Wachukwu (Nigeria), and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (Abdul-Raheem,1996:4; Agyeman,1993:152-3). Key figures who participated in that Congress were to later playa prominent role in the decolonisation process in Africa. They included Kwame Nkrumah who became Ghana's first president; president Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya 1963-78; the prominent political leader Obafemi Awolowo in Nigeria's first and second republics; Jaja Wachukwu, Nigeria's first African Foreign Minister; Hastings Kamuzu Banda, Malawi's first president, and others (Abdul-Raheem,1996:5).
This Congress became, for Africans on the continent, the most important Congress ever, considering the manner in which it addressed the question of colonialism and set the independence movement in first gear (Abdul-Raheem,1996:4). At this Manchester Congress, in October 1945, Africans finally took the lead (Woronoff,1970:23).
1.1.2.7.2 Resolutions of the Conl:ress
The Congress resolutions put emphasis on the need for speedy decolonisation on the African continent. The Congress document entitled "The Challenge to the Colonial Powers" stated that,
The delegates to the Fifth Pan African Congress believe in peace ... nevertheless, if the western world continues determined to rule humanity by force, then the Africans, as their last resort, may have to resort to force, in the effort to achieve liberty, even if that force destroys them, themselves and the world (Abdul-Raheem,1996:4).
As this is obvious from the above, the fifth Pan-African Congress was a radical departure from the petitions of the past that appealed to the reasonableness of the colonialists instead of proffering a direct political challenge. The result is that a little over a decade after the Manchester Congress, Africa was on the way to regaining its independence (Abdul-Raheem,1996:4).
The Congress unanimously approved and adopted the "Declaration to Colonial Peoples" of the World written by Kwame Nkrumah, which stated that,
We believe in the rights of all peoples to govern themselves. We affirm the right of all colonials peoples to control their own destiny. All colonies must be free from foreign imperialist control, whether political or economic. The peoples ofthe colonies must have a right to elect their own government without restrictions from a foreign power. We say to the peoples of the colonies that they must strive for these ends by all means at their disposal.
The object of imperialist powers is to exploit. By granting the right to the colonial peoples to govern themselves, they are defeating that objective. Therefore the struggle for political power by colonial peoples is a first attempt towards, and the necessary pre-requisite to complete social, economic and political emancipation. The fifth Pan African Congress, therefore, calls on the workers and farmers ofthe colonies to organise effectively. Colonial workers must be in the front lines of the battle against imperialism. The fifth Pan African Congress calls on the intellectual and professional classes of the colonies to awaken to their responsibilities. The long, long night is over. By fight-operatives, freedom to print and read literature which is necessary for education of the masses, you will be using the only means by which your liberties will be won and maintained. Today there is only one road to effective action-the organisation of the masses (Abdul-Raheem, 1996:4-5).
In addition, the delegates laid down certain demands. The main goals were expressed simply and compellingly,
We are determiJ1ed to be free. We want education. We want the right to earn a decent living;
the right to express our thoughts and emotions, to adopt and create forms of beauty. We demand for Black Africa autonomy and independence, so far and no further than it is possible in this One World for groups and peoples to rule themselves subject to inevitable world unity and federation (Woronoff,1970:23).
The Congress delegates also made broader economic demands: "We condemn the monopoly of capital and the rule of private wealth and industry for private profit alone. We welcome economic democracy as the only real democracy" (Woronoff,1970:23-24).
Furthermore, Afari-Gyan (Afari-Gyan, 1993: 162) lists four ofthe conclusions that emerged from this
congress. Firstly, colonialism could be eradicated only through the concerted action of the colonial peoples themselves; secondly, the job of ending colonialism could not be done by a few intellectuals alone, but through a mass movement and the creation of institutions responsive to the needs of the people; thirdly, Pan-Africanism should be seen as an independent ideological system, a counterpoint to capitalism and communism (Afari-Gyan, 1993: 162); and lastly, peaceful civil disobedience in the form of strikes and boycotts should be used in the struggle against colonialism. Violence was not to be resorted to unless circumstances made it the only viable option (Afari-Gyan,1993:162-3).
The resolutions of the Congress included a list of grievances against the colonial powers and an indictment of their policy. Even the supposed reforms were condemned as "half-hearted or ineffectual". Both the political and economic situations were labelled "systematic exploitation" and the conditions regarded as worsening rather than improving. For this reason the colonial powers were summoned to practice their own principles, those of the Atlantic Charter and democracy (one person, one vote) and to redress the situation for the benefit of the peoples (Woronoff,1970:23).
1.1.2.7.3 Analysis of the Con2ress
Though the Manchester meeting was partially a continuation of the preceding Congresses it nevertheless struck a new note doctrinally. The demands of preceding congresses were replaced by an analysis and condemnation of colonialism. This first awkward attempt at drawing up a
"scientific" program was often ambiguous or contradictory, but there was no mistaking its general import (Woronoff,1970:23).
But the means to these ends (goals set at the Congress) were rather confused, for although the resolutions were bold, the conclusions were a strange mixture of patience and despair. This confusion is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the final decision of the Congress was to use
"positive action," based on Ghandi's non-violent teachings, while the declaration concluded: "We shall complain, appeal and arraign. We will make the world listen to the facts of our condition"
(Woronoff,1970:24). But, as a last resort, "we will fight in every way we can for freedom, democracy and social betterment" (Woronoff,1970:24).
Although this Congress had gone furthest along the path opened half a century earlier by Sylvester- Williams and DuBois, the solidarity ofthe Pan-Negro movement was fundamentally altered by the Africans. DuBois' vision of African had been clearly Pan-Negro (Woronoff, 1970:24). All this was changed at this Congress. By analysing their condition and problems solely as a result of colonialism and by launching a struggle against colonial exploitation, the Africans set aside the Negroes in the world and turned to the other colonial peoples (Woronoff,1970:24).
The fifth Pan-African Congress led to the All African Peoples's conferences which gave birth to the Organisation of African Unity. In the next subsection we analyse the emergence of the Organisation of African Unity.