Africa's Tragedy is Capitalism

We are witnessing to-day a striking phenomenon in the history of the world – another struggle among the nations over the re-newed re-partition of Africa. For centuries the peoples of Africa were subjected to exploitation and robbery by the capitalist maritime nations of western Europe and other marauders. Millions of sons and daughters of Africa were transported as slaves to far away countries. Robbed of their lands, deprived of all means of independent economic existence, compelled to go and work for starvation wages, the lot of the African has been tragic.

In the words of Karl Marx, Africa was “a warren for the commercial hunting of black skins.” There has been a systematic exploitation of the economic resources of the African territories to the detriment of the inhabitants. The industrialisation of Africa  has been discouraged and obstructed with the result that the standard of living of vast numbers has fallen below subsistence level. The once communal land, the rightful property of Africans is passing out of the hands. The mining industries are the possession of foreign corporations whose main objective is the exploitation of the people, thus rendering working people economically helpless. When a country is compelled to rely on one cash-crop (e.g. cocoa or palm oil) for a obliged to cultivate only for export while at the same time its farmers and workers find themselves in the grip of poverty and hunger, then it is evident that the government of that country is incompetent to assume economic responsibility for it.

Africa means untold mineral wealth placed at the disposal of the modern commercial system; limitless cheap labour. The mainstay of capitalistic hopes lies in the African continent and its peoples. Capitalism everywhere cultivates and plays upon race and national antagonisms. The neo-colonial status of the African people facilitates the maximum exploitation of their labour. More and more  people in Africa are coming to understand that capitalist forms of production, based on private ownership. They are fighting for genuine democracy, placing  control firmly in the hands of the people. Many Africans are answering Marx’s great call: “Workers of all countries, unite!” and are strengthening solidarity ties between themselves and those beyond their borders, on a regional, continental and worldwide basis. Due to unique differences of history and  tradition the exact path to socialism will differ but experience show that certain basic laws apply to all countries and brings workers together in unity.

 Private and state ownership of the means of production must be abolished, and common ownership must be established in its place. The land must be in the hands of those who farm it to raise the people’s living standards and build socialism. Capitalist influence must be rooted out in the fields of ideology where all forms of racial discrimination and oppression must be wiped out, complete equality of rights and opportunities and fraternal friendship must be an unvarying principle governing relations between all people. Working class internationalism — close ties between the workers of all lands — is essential for the building of socialism.

Africa need to erase frontiers, to create larger and more viable communities, leading to a cooperative commonwealth of Africa as a whole, a federation on the basis of free collaboration of all peoples. Socialism is the only hope of mankind. The liberated Africa of the future will build mutual assistance with all peoples of the world. The deep-rooted crises in Africa cannot be resolved by nationalism, using methods of force and violence or attempting to deceive with fraudulent reforms. We are up against an enemy with a long history of trickery, subversion, subterfuge and double-dealing. For a people desiring to emancipate itself must understand the process of its enslavement. Only in this way can we see through the machinations of world capitalism. Let us act now.