George Padmore and Decolonization from Below Pan-Africanism, the Cold War, and the End of Empire

From his base in London, the Trinidad-born Marxist, George Padmore, was a central figure of
mid-twentieth century pan-Africanism who became critically involved in debates about the
nature and practice of European imperialism. Focusing on Padmore's political manoeuvring,
Leslie James traces his politics through the ongoing influence of the Caribbean and the
legacy of the Garvey movement; the international communist movement and Soviet
decolonization; debates about fascism and colonialism; the new 'reform' rhetoric apparent
in World War II; the beginnings of the Cold War; and, pivotally, post-war African politics
that confronted a wealth of new dynamics including independent Ghana, apartheid South
Africa, and the Mau Mau Emergency in Kenya. Within the ideas and political practice of this
forthright man lie a number of common questions about the circulation of ideas, the shape
of black radical thought, and the weight of Cold War politics within the modern history of
European imperialism and the end of empire.

Leslie James is a Lecturer in World History at the University of Cambridge, UK. She previously held the post of Pinto Postdoctoral Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and has taught at the LSE and at Goldsmith's College, University of London, UK. She is also co-editor with Elisabeth Leake of the forthcoming volume, Decolonization and the Cold War: Negotiating Independence.

Introduction: The Artful Anti-Colonialist
1. Origins: 'The Most Completely Political Negro'
2. Putting Empire in Black and White: Padmore's Ideas about Race and Empire
3. 'The Long, Long Night is Over': A War of Opportunity?
4. Writing Anti-Imperial Solidarity from London: George Padmore's Colonial Journalism, 1940-1951
5. The Psychological Moment: The Colonial Office, Pan-Africanism, and the Problem of the Soviet Union, 1946-1950
6. A Buttress for the 'Beacon Light'
7. The Era of Padmore the 'Outsider': Nation, Diaspora, and Modernity, 1950-1956
8. Ghana, Death, and the Afterlife
Conclusion: 'The Soliloquy of Africa'