The economic,social and political development of the African people in the past few centuries has been, needless to mention, peculiar. In the global stage, the past five hundred years have witnessed the primitive accumulation of wealth in preparation for the dawn of the capitalist era, the agitation therefrom for the abolition of the feudal system of economic production, the onset of the capitalist mode of production and consequently the advancement of modern industry, the advent of monopoly capital and the rise of imperialism and colonialism, and, finally, neocolonialism.
The peculiarity of Africa in this case is that it is not at the centre of these developments; it is at the periphery. Africa is not the initiator of these advancements, it is the recepient. For the primitive accumulation of capital necessary for industrilization in Europe, Africa had to suffer the capture and enslavement of its people in merciless fashion. During the advent of the capitalist mode of production and the development of modern industry, Africa served as the source of raw materials as well as market for manufactured goods, a situation achieved through the forceful occupation and colonization of African territory by the European powers. In the advent of monopoly capital and neocolonialism, Africa is merely seen as an appendage of the global economic system; a ripe area for the investment of monopoly finance and industrial capital.
The one underlying fact of these epochs is that they have reduced the African people to mere servitude and have made them unable to determine their destiny.
Looking at the state of our economies today, it is clear that our economies are dominated by the imperialists of the North. The present system of neocolonialism, which Kwame Nkrumah describes as the last stage of imperialism, has ensured that the giant trusts, monopoly combines and multinational corporations of the North completely control our economies. Since capitalism is a class based system, its introduction to Africa necessarily led to the polarization of the people into a wide mass of toilers against a tiny elite who benefit from the labour of the workers. But with the peculiarity of Africa’s development and its domination by imperialism, there has occurred one unique feature that is characteristic of all backward societies in the face of imperialism; a weak bourgeoisie.
By virtue of its inability to compete successfully with the international capitalists of the North, the African bourgeoisie finds itself at the mercy of the global economic system and unable to assert its dominance and influence in Africa. It is forced, given the circumstances, to work with the international capitalists, the imperialists, in order to secure its own position. In short, the bourgeois class in Africa, and the South by extension, become mere appendages of the bourgeois class in Europe, North America and Japan; unable to function without them. The exploitation of the labour and resources of Africa is thus carried out by the international monopoly capitalists in conjunction with the local bourgeoisie.
But that is only in the economic sense. In the social and political arena, much more arises from this state of affairs. In any nation, the rise of the bourgeoisie as the ruling class led to the development of a superstructure bearing the image of the bourgeois system. The domination of the country by the bourgeoisie necessarily corresponds with the fulfilment of the tasks of the bourgeois- democratic revolution,such as self- determination and assertion of the nation- state, economic independence, assertion of the nation’s cultural heritage, total political liberty and democracy and human rights. In those countries where the bourgeoisie was itself dominant and independent economically, these tasks were fulfilled in totality. In Africa, however, the weakness of the bourgeoisie as the ruling class has prevented the total attainment of these tasks.
It is needless to mention that the African continent lacks total political liberty. It is clear that African governments are at best mere puppets of their former colonial masters. It goes without saying that the traditional African cultures have been brought to their knees in favour of the Western cultures. African languages are slowly but surely disappearing, with almost every African country using European languages as their official medium of instruction. Africa lacks economic independence. Africa yearns for the total attainment of civic liberties, democracy and human rights for all.
Having seen the need and urgency to fulfil these tasks, and having seen the inability of the bourgeoisie, the ruling class of Africa, to achieve them, the responsibility now falls upon the workers and peasants, the toiling masses of Africa, to attain them and take society to the next level. Being the class that actively engages in the process of economic production, the proletariat and peasantry of Africa is the only group of people that can carry through the economic revolution and assert the economic independence of the African people by placing the means of production in the hands of the producers. Being the only class that is ever growing steadily in numbers, solidarity and organization, the proletariat of Africa is the only group of people that is capable of carrying through the political tasks that modern Africa demands.
In summary, the tasks of the national- democratic revolution must and can only be carried through by the workers and peasants of Africa.
In the process of carrying through the attainment of the aforementioned tasks, the workers and peasants of Africa also embark upon carrying through the tasks that would ensure their own liberation from the yoke of capital and wage slavery. The revolution, now unfolding as a continous process, becomes two phased; national- democratic and proletarian. The proletariat and peasantry, arising as the new ruling class of the society, smarsh the power of the bourgeoisie and set forth the foundation of a socialist society; voila, the revolution becomes permanent.
A socialist Africa cannot though be the end of the triumph of the socialist movement in Africa. The Global South must collectively be liberated from the yoke of imperialism and capitalism if we are to secure the future of the billions of the toiling masses of the world. Similar revolutions must occur in Latin America, Asia and the rest of the South setting forth the momentum of the international socialist revolution. Wrote Trotsky;
The completion of the socialist revolution within national limits is unthinkable… the socialist revolution begins in the national arena, unfolds in the international arena, and is completed in the world arena. Thus, the socialist revolution becomes a permanent revolution in a newer and broader sense of the word; it attains completion only in the final victory of the new society our entire planet.
Attainment of the socialist revolution in the Global South and its breakaway from imperialism will, in no time strain the world economic system based on exploitation and surely starve the monopoly capitalists of the North. A massive economic strain would then follow in the countries of the North, whose people have hitherto been shielded by the appropriations made from the wealth of the developing countries. For the first time, the negativities of the capitalist system and the poverty it creates will become apparent even to the labour aristocracy of the North. The proletarian masses of the North will realize that genuine progress for the human society lies only in the forcible overthrow of their own ruling classes and the installation of the workers; socialism, not social democracy or nationalism. The proletarian movements of the North will thus get the chance to carry through the socialist revolution; objective factors meeting subjective factors- voila, the revolution becomes worldwide!
Thus, the application of Marxism- Leninism in Africa lies in the recognition of Africa’s place in the global economic system, the recognition of the tasks to be achieved by the people of Africa, the realization of the inability of the bourgeoisie to attain these tasks and the responsibility of the proletariat arising therefrom, the recognition of the necessity of the Global South revolution, the realization of the effect of the African proletarian revolution on the worldwide revolution and the understanding therefrom of the role of the African socialist movement in the international socialist movement.
Backward countries may, under certain conditions, arrive at the dictatorship of the proletariat sooner than the advanced countries, but they will arrive later than the latter at socialism… in a country where the proletariat has power in its hands as the result of the democratic revolution, the subsequent fate of the dictatorship and socialism depends not so much upon the national productive forces as upon the development of the international socialist revolution.
- Leon Trotsky, Permanent Revolution.
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