The Berlin Conference and the Carve-up of Africa: Part 3

Ruth Nhere

The Communist International

These struggles were being waged under new conditions which made possible the beginnings of anti-imperialist unity. The Communist International (Comintern) founded in March 1919 was to provide the organisational framework for gigantic strides in both the theory and practice of national and social revolution. The Comintern’s Theses on the National and Colonial Question, drafted by Lenin, broke new ground in this respect. The revisionist and social chauvinist ideology that had infected the social-democratic parties of Europe and had reached its peak during the First World War was emphatically condemned:

“The Communist International breaks once and for all with the traditions of the Second International, for which in fact only white-skinned people existed. The task of the Communist International is to liberate the working people of the entire world. In its ranks the white, the yellow, and the black-skinned peoples – the working people of the entire world – are fraternally connected.” – V.I. Lenin

The conception of the development of the world revolution against imperialism was set out on the basis of the close alliance of the Soviet Republic and the working class in the advanced countries with the national liberation movement of the oppressed peoples. The opening of a new epoch, one of the transition of capitalism to socialism, had been immeasurably advanced by the world’s first socialist revolution. Lenin, with his customary clarity, grasped the substance of this new development in human history and explained the basis for the unity of anti-imperialist forces:

“… in the present world situation following the imperialist war, reciprocal relations between peoples and the world political system as a whole are determined by the struggle waged by a small group of imperialist nations against the Soviet movement and the Soviet states headed by Russia. Unless we bear that in mind, we shall not be able to pose a single national or colonial problem correctly, even if it concerns a most outlaying part of the world.” – V.I. Lenin

The Comintern was to make a rich contribution towards the elaboration of the strategy and tactics of national liberation struggles. In the longer term its work and concrete practice of the young Soviet state were to reveal a way of development for the future independent states of Africa – that of socialist orientation. Lenin argued forcefully that it was correct for the Comintern to advance the proposition: “that with the aid of the proletariat of the advanced countries, backward countries can go over to the Soviet system, and, through certain stages of development, to communism, without having to pass through the capitalist stage”. – V.I. Lenin

The national liberation movement was able to make significant advances during the inter-war years. The world economic crisis of 1929 – 1933 aggravated the contradictions between colonies and the metropolitan countries. The efforts of foreign monopoly capital to solve the crisis led to heightened exploitation of the African peoples. The economic upheavals of this period sharpened inter-imperialist rivalry by intensifying the struggle for markets, sources of cheap raw materials and spheres of investment.

The Second World War accelerated the dual processes of deepening crisis in the imperialist camp and the strengthening of the anti-imperialist forces. Once again war proved a harsh political school. Roughly one million Africans were mobilised into the armed forces with a further 2 million serving the troops. The war laid bare the contradictions amongst the imperialist powers and at the same time, through the momentous struggle waged by the Soviet people, revealed the strength of socialism. Socialist revolutions in a number of European and Asian countries laid the basis for the establishment of a world socialist system. The irreversible disintegration of the colonial system had begun.

Despite the fine sentiments of the Atlantic Charter of 1941, the imperialist countries limited themselves to promises of constitutional reforms in the colonies after the war. Contrary to the UN Charter (1945), they retained their territories, this time through the trusteeship system. At the same time the flow of foreign investments into Africa continued to increase. The total value of African exports rose from $100 million in 1938 to $5440 million in 1955. This period also saw the entry into Africa of the USA as imperialism’s main military and political force. The US monopolies launched a massive invasion of the continent with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development acting as an important arm of American influence (To be continued … The Advent of Neo-Colonialism).

Castro Khwela
Good evening fellow Compatriots!