Brickbats Abounding

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30965, 22 January 1966, Page 4

Brickbats Abounding

Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism. By Kwame Nkrumah. Nelson. 259 pp. Bibliography and Index.

President Nkrumah of Ghana is the most outspoken leader in Africa in the cause of Pan-Africanism (or continental unity) and in the crusade against "neo-colonial-ism.” This he defines as the situation where “a state, in theory independent and with all the trappings of international sovereignty. in reality has its economic system, and thus its political policy, directed from outside.” Nkrumah wants to see a “United States of Africa” strong enough to resist outside economic interference. This book is his most recent and extensive statement of his case. It must have the dubious honour of being one of the most violent polemics ever to bear the imprint of a reputable British publishing house.

A detailed refutation of its allegations would be impossible. Neo-colonialism is a subjective phenomenon. To the extent men such as Nkrumah believe it exists, then for them it does exist. It has an important psychological role as a scapegoat in those parts of Africa where independence has not brought the promised Golden Age. Who better to blame than the former colonial powers, still seen lurking in the background, manipulating the new states?

Some of the tired old myths of the more ingenuous Communist propaganda of the last 30 years are here revived in all seriousness—the welfare states of the West are capitalism’s effort to bribe its workers into submission; the World Wars were entirely the results of a struggle for control of Europe’s markets and resources. To these are added a score of new myths—

I Marshall Aid was a plot by Wall Street to dominate I European financiers. the Congo crisis was the result of a secret war between giant > mining consortiums. Amen(can disarmament proposals i must be insincere because the - negotiators hold shares in uranium mines. , Nkrumah’s explanation of | world history is a variation I on earlier “conspiracy 'theories. Where these once blamed a giant Jewish (or i Masonic, or Catholic, or Communist) plot for the troubles of the world. Nkrumah has turned to what he calls the “invisible government,” which “arises from Wall Street s connexion with the Pentagon and various intelligence services.” , That favourite target, the Central Intelligence Agency, is not enough for President Nkrumah. With it he links the Peace Corps. Moral Rearmament, the Hollywood film industry, the United States Information Agency and Christian missions. Between them he finds the responsibility for just about every outbreak of violence anywhere since 1945.

But his main targets are the great financial and industrial complexes of the West. Most of this book is devoted to showing the interlocking ramifications of their operations. Here are chapters on “imperialist finance,” “monopoly capitalism,” “the Oppenheimer Empire,” “the diamond groups.” and “Union Miniere du Haute Katanga.” Page after page unfolds with lists of parent companies, holding companies subsidiary companies, overlapping directorships and enormous profits —from Canada to Malaya, and from Sweden to Rhodesia. There is no doubt of Nkrumah’s sincerity in his beliefs. For him the world is the toy of a handful of giant mining, finance, petrol and manufacturing consortiums. The tragedy is that at a much reduced level of vituperation some of his criticisms are sound. Some independent African states are unviable economic units and this can benefit Western capitalism. Some states do depend on the former colonial powers for their existence and there is certainly a case for more regional and continental planning and development in Africa. There is also a case for reducing the outflow of raw materials and profits from the underdeveloped

world. But the foreign aid and investment activities of the West are not a gigantic plot to keep the world divided into international economic classes. If Western aid sometimes brings with it attempts at political interference and the infusion of Western propaganda this is both unfortunate and inevitable. The Western powers have a right to expect something in return for their vast assistance programmes, if only a chance to see that moneys given or lent at least go to the worthwhile projects they were intended for Where administration of aid has been left to African governments this has not always happened.

Nkrumah’s savage criticism of the United States, France and West Germany would command more attention if he looked at Russian and Chinese “aid" activities in Africa with an equally critical eye. He is surprisingly kind to Britain, perhaps because the British Government has always treated Ghana well. Even while attacking European control of African monetary systems he admits that Ghana has benefited from British investment and from the Bank of England's assistance in establishing the Bank of Ghana.

Nkrumah has been treated with tolerance, even with warmth, since he became Prime Minister of the first African state to win independence in the post-war period. His first book, the autobiography “Ghana” published at that time, was a relatively moderate and very interesting account of the evolution of a new African state and its leader. But Nkrumah’s tone has changed since then. On his showing in this latest book it is time the Commonwealth stopped taking him too seriously. In any Western society his writings would mark him as no more than a rather pathetic member of the “lunatic fringe." There is a large and growing volume of goodwill round the world for the Africans’ desire to enjoy the fruits of their own resources and independence: to see an economic break-through and a rising standard of living in Black Africa. Outbursts such as those in “Neo-colo-nialism” will do little to increase that good will or solve Africa’s problems.