The African American Press in World War II by Alkebulan Paul;

Author:Alkebulan, Paul;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

II

In 1945 J. A. Rogers, the Afrocentric author and researcher, presented an illustrated version of George Padmore’s life for the Pittsburgh Courier. Rogers credited Padmore with being one of the foremost living authorities on Africa and colonial affairs. George Padmore was influential in Britain’s Socialist Labor Party and had traveled extensively throughout Europe, the Soviet Union, and Africa. He also had written, among other publications, Life and Struggle of the Negro Toilers in 1931 and How Britain Rules Africa in 1936. Rogers’s mini-biography was factual as far as it went. He, however, had chosen to withhold certain information. The article didn’t mention any of Padmore’s extensive communist affiliations. Perhaps Rogers feared this information might have a negative influence on readers. Certainly the American and British governments knew about George Padmore’s Marxist leanings. It is doubtful, however, if many of Rogers’s African American readers knew about this information.[4]

In any event, George Padmore was one of the most important and influential correspondents covering the anticolonial struggle for the African American press. He was born as Malcolm Nurse in 1902 on Trinidad. His education took place in the United States at Fisk, Howard, and Columbia universities, and at New York University’s Law School. Padmore joined the Communist Party in 1927 and began editing The Negro Champion in Harlem. He went to Moscow in 1929 and became head of the African Bureau of the Red International of Labor Unions. The Trinidadian traveled to Germany in 1931 to lead the International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers. The Nazi Party’s rise to power forced him to end his activities in Germany. He also gradually became disillusioned with the Soviet Union’s manipulative policies toward the anticolonial struggle. Padmore believed that the Soviet leaders subordinated colonial independence struggles to their own national interest. He resigned from the Communist International and the Party in 1935 and began a lifelong involvement with the Pan-African movement. His resignation, however, did not mean that he had turned his back on Marxism.[5]

Padmore wanted to adapt the Marxist theory of history to help liberate Africa. He worked with other Caribbean and African political activists to found the London-based International African Services Bureau in 1937 as a response to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. Padmore was a prolific writer and journalist. He turned out a steady stream of articles on the anticolonial struggle for the African American press during the war years. His writings contributed a leftist perspective and helped to shape the tone of press commentary on the colonial struggle because he argued that national independence was the only worthwhile objective for African and Asian politicians. In 1956 he published Pan-Africanism or Communism? Padmore argued that African people should be free from European ideological domination whether capitalist or communist.[6]

His analysis of the trade union policies of pro-independence movements was equally important. He didn’t believe the role of trade unions was restricted to bargaining for wages and benefits. African American journalists were familiar with this concept because of A. Philip Randolph’s work in the political and social arenas.

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