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date: 14 June 2021

Abstract and Keywords

Communism in Africa can be analyzed along two dimensions: Communist movements that generally developed between the two world wars and were subjected to state repression and communism as a post-colonial state policy. During the colonial era communists built alliances with democratic and anti-colonial movements; any success reflected their ability to forge links with trade unions and nationalist organizations. Following independence, many new states adopted communist ideology and policies to facilitate international alliances and promote development. Those regimes form a subset of African one-party states that span the ideological spectrum. In post-colonial Africa communist and socialist movements have made episodic political gains during turbulent periods, but they have found it difficult to capitalize on such advances when faced with multiparty elections.

Keywords: communism, socialism, Africa, anti-colonial, nationalist, one-party states, post-colonial movement, trade unions

Allison Drew

Allison Drew is a professor in the Politics Department, University of York. Her books include Between Empire and Revolution: A Life of Sidney Bunting, 1873–1936 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2007), Discordant Comrades: Identities and Loyalties on the South African Left (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000), and South Africa’s Radical Tradition: A Documentary History (Cape Town: Buchu Books, 1997). She is completing a manuscript entitled ‘We are No Longer in France: Communists in Colonial Algeria’.

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