Page 150 - Afrika Must Unite

TOWARDS AFRICAN UNITY
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civil disobedience and economic boycott. There were to be
variations of emphasis from territory to territory according to the
differing circumstances. The fundam ental purpose was identical:
national independence leading to African unity. The limited
objective was combined with the wider perspective.
Instead of a rather nebulous movement, concerned vaguely
with black nationalism, the Pan-African movement had become
an expression of African nationalism. Unlike the first four
Congresses, which had been supported mainly by middle-class
intellectuals and bourgeois reformists, the Fifth Pan-African
Congress was attended by workers, trade unionists, farmers and
students, most of whom came from Africa.
W hen the Congress ended, having agreed on the programme
for Pan-African nationalism, a working committee was set up
with DuBois as chairm an and myself as general secretary. The
Congress headquarters were moved to London, where shortly
afterwards the West African National Secretariat was also
established. Its purpose was to put into action, in West Africa,
the policies agreed upon in M anchester. I was offered, and
accepted, the secretaryship.
We published a monthly paper called The New African, and
called two West African Conferences in London. By this time
the political conscience of African students was thoroughly
aroused, and they talked of little else but the colonial liberation
movement. The more enthusiastic among us formed a kind of
inner group which we called The Circle. Only those working
genuinely for West African freedom and unity were admitted,
and we began to prepare ourselves actively for revolutionary
work in any part of the African continent.
It was at this point that I was asked to return to the Gold
Coast to become general secretary of the United Gold Coast
Convention. I accepted with some hesitation. There was my
work for the West African National Secretariat to consider, and
also the preparations which were being made for the calling of a
West African National Conference in Lagos in October 1948.
I called at Freetown and M onrovia on the way home, and
spoke with African nationalists there, telling them of the con­
ference plans and urging them to attend. The political contacts
I made in both Sierra Leone and Liberia were to prove signi­