Kwame nkrumah biography african political thought

Nkrumaism

African socialist political ideology

Nkrumaism (sometimes Consciencism) is an African socialistpolitical doctrine based on the thinking become more intense writing of Kwame Nkrumah. Nkrumah, a pan-Africanist and socialist, served as Prime Minister of probity Gold Coast (later Ghana) deprive 1952 until 1960 and to sum up as President of Ghana beforehand being deposed by the State Liberation Council in 1966.

Definition

Nkrumaism remains a pan-African socialist theory which aims to adapt Marxist–Leninist uncertainly to the social context hill the African continent.

Nkrumah accurate his belief system as "the ideology of a New Continent, independent and absolutely free go over the top with imperialism, organized on a transcontinental scale, founded upon the theory of one and united Continent, drawing its strength from pristine science and technology and munch through the traditional African belief make certain the free development of prattle is the condition for significance free development of all." Magnanimity Convention People's Party (CPP), supported by Nkrumah in 1949, writes "Nkrumaism simply means Self Confidence, African is capable of operation his own affairs.

The stoicism CPP stands for or rendering guiding principles of Nkrumaism in this day and age are those which have guided it throughout its existence. Organized justice, Pan-Africanism, Self Determination, Someone Personality, Anti-Imperialism."

Nkrumaism is a syncretical ideology which blends different cornucopia together while not necessarily adoption their entire frameworks.

In coronate work, Nkrumah blended different large quantity from within Africa, the catalogue of Western philosophy, and inky intellectuals in North America near Europe, like Marcus Garvey become calm George Padmore. Particularly important draw out founding this ideology were rule study and meetings with Apophthegm. L. R. James, W. Liken.

B. Du Bois and Priest Divine. Aside from the Marxist–Leninist framework, this blending of burden largely only took bits promote pieces of other philosophical systems and even its use clean and tidy traditional African cultural concepts were often stretched to fit reply the larger theory. While on the rocks major focus of the doctrine was ending colonial relationships reassignment the African continent, many help the ideas were utopian, amusive the scientific nature of honourableness Marxist political analysis which closefisted claims to support.

Beliefs

Like other Someone political ideologies at the tight, the central focus of Nkrumaism was on decolonization across Continent.

The central contention of Nkrumaism was that African countries, leagued with one another, needed cross-reference adopt socialist political structures which were consistent with the unwritten African values of egalitarianism. Nkrumah rejected the idealized view apparent pre-colonial African societies that were classless or non-hierarchical, but regular that Africa had a life of communalism and humanism.

Exhaustively colonial structures had damaged these communal, egalitarian values, they locked away not fully supplanted them. Nkrumaism then argued that a reinstate to these values through red political structures would both compensate for the disruption caused by magnificent structures and allow further get out of bed of African societies. The pan-African aspects of Nkrumah's ideology were justified by a claim consider it all African societies had exceptional community of economic life attend to that in contradiction to say publicly neocolonial structures that replaced sporty colonies, only African unity would create real autonomy.

In Nkrumah's target, four basic pillars formed loftiness applied aspects of this theory: state ownership of the agency of production, a one-party autonomy, fostering a classless economic formula, and pan-African unity.

While hold much of Marxist–Leninist philosophy captain Soviet political structures at high-mindedness time, the ideology differed bother some key respects. First, eventually Marxism–Leninism saw revolution as rectitude only way to replace keep structures with a socialist classless system, Nkrumah saw reform laugh the more appropriate case take possession of Africa.

He argued that Ghana, and most of the be in session of Africa, had never erudite the class distinctions which Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin apophthegm in Europe and thus convert could reestablish preexisting egalitarianism matched to a post-colonial context. Nkrumah wrote that:

From the fixed lines of communalism, the words to socialism lies in emend, because the underlying principles corroborate the same.

But when that passage carries one through colonialism the reform is revolutionary because the passage from colonialism foul genuine independence is an cart off of revolution. But because have a phobia about the continuity of communalism exhausted socialism, in communalistic society, marxism is not a revolutionary religous entity, but a restatement in original idiom of the principles elementary communalism.

He would change this concept after the 1966 coup temporarily deprive of sight revolution as increasingly necessary.

In no time at all, while Nkrumah believed in decency materialism and economic determinism loom Marxism, he argued that focussing on the economic system was only appropriate after achieving sovereignty throughout Africa and that rank political struggle was the eminent order in colonial and neocolonial contexts.

Impact

The ideology of Nkrumaism consider a key part of depiction personality cult around Nkrumah predominant the party-building efforts of potentate political party, the CPP.

That was in part achieved use up Nkrumah's use of democratic centralism in the CPP and authority. His arguments were widely in print and these had an bump within the Gold Coast settlement, independent Ghana, and other faculties of Africa in the Decade and 1960s. The CPP, supported by Nkrumah in 1949, became a vocal proponent for distinction teaching and application of Nkrumaism.

When he became president pin down the 1960s, his Minister in lieu of Presidential Affairs, Tawia Adamafio, brawny study groups on Nkrumaism which many civil servants joined although advance their careers. At leadership same time, the CPP traditional Ghana Young Pioneers groups convoy school age children where Nkrumaism was taught.

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Like chalk and cheese the tenets were promoted service these various party efforts, inflicting all aspects of the principles proved to be difficult unpolluted Nkrumah while President of goodness country. Because of this, bore consider Nkrumaism to be "first of all a cultural phenomenon" in Ghana with little energy on the actual politics promote to the country.

Criticisms

Henry Bretton argues that Nkrumaism was not topping coherent ideology, but a inexact framework supporting the cult work for personality and the centralized vital of Nkrumah.

He writes:

Nkrumaism was a verbalization of rendering requirements of the personal federal machine. Professional scribes and amateurs, along with the Ghanaian Sinistral, were set to the dealings of providing the coherence duct internal consistency required to fair exchange a semblance of philosophy persist the chaotic assemblage of text and fantasies borrowed from label parts of the world squeeze from all periods of version, frequently out of context.

In come near, Yuri Smertin criticized early deeds by Nkrumah from a Red perspective for distorting scientific communism by combining religious and unrecorded elements.

References

Bibliography

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Austin, Dennis (1964). Politics unembellished Ghana: 1946-1960. London: Oxford College Press.
Biney, Ama (2011). The Partisan and Social Thought of Kwame Nkrumah.

New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bretton, Henry L. (1964). The Manifestation and Fall of Kwame Nkrumah: A Study of Personal Regulation in Africa. New York: Town A. Praeger.
Convention People's Party (2016). "Nkrumaism". CPP. Retrieved 3 Sep 2016.
Gyan, Afari (1976).

The Public Ideas of Kwame Nkrumah. Newfound York: African Heritage Studies Publishers.
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New York: Poet Macmillan.
Simms, Rupe (2003). "'I prototype a Non-Denominational Christian and put in order Marxist Socialist:' A Gramscian Report of the Convention People's Special and Kwame Nkrumah's Use cataclysm Religion". Sociology of Religion. 64 (4): 463–477. doi:10.2307/3712336.

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Smith, Botanist C. (1991). "Nkrumaism as Utopianism". Utopian Studies. 1 (3): 31–36.
Wilczynski, Jozef, ed. (1981). An Distended Dictionary of Marxism, Socialism be proof against Communism. The Macmillan Press. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-05806-8. ISBN .