Decolonial Marxism: Essays from the Pan-African Revolution by Walter Rodney

Decolonial Marxism: Essays from the Pan-African Revolution Reviews

• 
  Zach Carter

  The assembly of topics here is stunning - he starts with a justification for talking about Marxism and Scientific Socialism in Africa, then moves on to the effects of slavery and colonialism on the continent. He narrows in on Tanzania in particular to assess the formation of class relations and the development of Ujamaa in the post-colonial period, but he does it so rigorously and never veering away from dialectical materialism. By ending it with two brief essays on transition and decolonization, he reminds us not only how crucial it is to study Marx, but how one can apply Marx to the African continent. One of the parts I found most interesting was how unsparing he is in his criticisms of some African leaders who consider themselves socialists but in reality only serve to maintain the (neo)colonial apparatus, and in doing so he brilliantly documents how the transition from colonialism to decolonial marxism can hit a snag at a neocolonial state. By effortlessly weaving in Fanon's theories from Wretched of the Earth, he also introduces a great discussion about nationalism and the emergence of a national bourgeoisie. This is one of the best books to come out this year, and it's something we all need to read and read again.
• 
  Talia

  he has done it again! such clear and digestible analysis. rodney is prob one of my fav historians to read, witty yet scathing
• 
  Tanroop

  As always with Rodney, this is refreshingly clear and radical. As always with Rodney's posthumous works, because of his murder at the hands of the Guyanese state, it cannot but feel unfinished, in a sense. They were the lectures, speeches, works-in-progress of a great guerrilla intellectual, cut down in his prime. It's frustrating to think about how much more he could have contributed, how much more we could all learn from his perspective. Nonetheless, in his absence, turning to his unpublished works is still a fruitful and generative endeavour.
  
  The essays here cover a really huge scope, and the only real unifying theme is Rodney's application of Marxism to Pan-African and Third World realities. Of particular interest, for me, was the final section where Rodney deals with the experiments with Ujaama socialism in Tanzania, the contradictions of 'transition' in post-colonial states, and the meaning of 'decolonization' in a world rife with neo-colonialism. Another favourite of mine was "Marxism as a Third World Ideology".
  
  A great read!
• 
  Sully Iqbal

  Another Rodney banger
• 
  Jim

  Another brilliantly detailed and immensely deep piece of Marxist scholarship from Walter Rodney. I love history, and I found it fascinating to read this and be able to consider Rodney's arguments, assessments, and projections - made in the later 1/3 of the 20th century - based on the current situation in Africa. Like most serious world problems, not much has changed at all. Africa, while slightly better off now than it was at the time of these writings, has fallen even further behind the rest of the countries of the world. Unsurprisingly, if you follow Rodney's arguments about the threats that Marxism brings to Capitalism. Not that these are negatives for me, as I am a firm believer that Capitalism has destroyed much of the world's people - and much of the planet - and is a system that absolutely must be overcome if humans are to survive, let alone thrive, as a species. One could argue the book is too hopeful but that would be based entirely on knowing much of what Rodney hoped for has not come to pass, and that things are actually getting worse for nearly everyone, everywhere, not just Africans, or in Africa. An extremely intelligent analysis and explanation of theory and on-the-ground reality (at the time, at least). I, for one, hope for a true revolution that rids the world of capitalists and capitalism. Our current state of affairs is unbelievably dire and I have no doubts those in power will not give up their gains without force being applied, directly. Rodney writes with a fire that just may start a conflagration...
• 
  bbbassel

  For a collection of essays, this book tells a great story. Over 16 essays, Walter Rodney applies Marxist ideas to African history. He talks about education, trade, slavery, (under-)development, political struggles, and the essence of socialism. He constantly refers to a lot of things I don’t know about (in a way that encourages reading about all these histories and figures) but always states his main points in general and clear terms.
  
  I said the book tells a great story, and it does so by ordering the essays in a way that makes sense: you get Marxist theory first, then underdevelopment, then stuff from the colonial period, and finally you end with some stuff on making the transition to socialism and decolonizing. But most of the essays were written about a particular movement or in a particular context. I would have liked to have a few sentences mentioning that at the beginning of each essay. At least the date of publication or writing, which is unfortunately never given (sometimes you can figure it out through context cues).
  
  For someone who was interested in Marxism and African history (and colonial history in general) this was a great introductory text. I’m hoping to read more on these topics in the coming year.
• 
  Jordan

  Decolonial Marxism is timeless. The lessons that Rodney deciphers from studying colonial history and struggles for decolonization in the Caribbean and in Africa ring just as true today as they did way back when. Though many of the projects Rodney praises and critiques in this book (socialist Mozambique and Ujamaa Tanzania in particular) have long since died, their ghosts live on. Projects like the Communes in Venezuela and the ‘21st Century Socialism’ of other Latin American states in particular seem plagued by the same errors that Rodney foresaw in Africa almost 50 years ago. This book is called Decolonial Marxism for a reason, and it’s because Marxism (Scientific Socialism) must necessarily play a crucial role in the process of decolonization, otherwise your “decolonization” will be in name only. History has proven this.
  Study the contractions, give all power to the working people, liquidate the petty bourgeoisie, and long live African revolution.
• 
  Dan

  Rodney is, as always, essential reading for the modern Marxist. Much like Amilcar Cabral, his ability to apply a historical materialist analysis to the post colonial states in Africa with a ruthlessly critical eye is incredible. His analysis of Tanzania in particular stands as a great example for revolutionaries on how to examine the class nature of a concrete society in a given historical conjuncture in order to develop a revolutionary path forward.
  
  Great stuff everyone should read it!
• 
  Andrew

  Rodney writes with such remarkable clarity and incision that this is really one of the most engaging volumes of political theory I've ever read. I don't have much to say about it that hasn't already been written by many smarter people, but every Marxist should read Rodney, as well as anyone interested in modern African history, especially African neocolonialism. Whether it be this book or his most famous
  How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is really up to you.
  
  The only criticism I have of this book is probably a quibble yet it seems like such a glaring omission that I'm subtracting a star: there is nowhere in the Verso edition any indication of when these speeches or writings were produced. Not on the copyright page, not in the TOC, not as a brief footnote at the beginning of each piece, not in the forward, nowhere. If you want to know when he said these things you'll have to either guess based on the dates discussed in the particular piece or do your own research outside of this book, which feels pretty ludicrous to me. How could nobody think to add a simple date?
  
  Anyway, still great, still you should read it.
  
  
  Not Bad Reviews
• 
  iz

  i aim to be big brain enough to understand all of this book, but alas, not yet
• 
  Autumn Riehemann

  going to read this but want to own it so i can highlight so it's going back on my want to read list cause maybe ill own it another time
• 
  704graham

  He really doesn’t miss
• 
  Comrade Kim

  Slow at times, but worth it. I picture Walter Rodney as the serious, quiet kid in class who one day blurts out something hysterical and out-of-the-blue, which means he's good.
• 
  Jasmine

  Although this has a 2022 publication date, these essays are more than forty years older. The world has changed quite a bit in forty years -- most relevantly for this book, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formation of a unipolar global order under the control of the US, the rise in neoliberalism, and a maturation of neocolonialism. The most unique parts of the book is its careful studies of class relationships in Guyana, Tanzania and other countries in the global south (woefully understudied in western writing). However, because the information was all rather out of date, I felt I was missing part of the picture. Why did these projects fail, and could we have foreseen why? How should decolonial marxist theory update itself in light of these developments? Is the answer indeed a stronger central state, of which Rodney was critical, but which has proven successful at developing the productive forces and holding off the imperial core in countries like China?
  
  Where tourism and education and the petty bourgeoisie of the colonized world were all analyzed in great detail, the mechanisms of how the imperial core controls the imperial periphery felt a little unclear. Sometimes, Rodney appeared to give way to attributing actions to a sort of evil, power-hungry manipulation by the colonial powers. I understand that can be an easy shorthand for the impersonal domination of capital, however I think understanding the mechanisms and rhetoric used is helpful for recognizing it in action.
  
  The more timeless parts of the book were the essays on scientific socialism as an ideology of national liberation (Chapters 3-5). These were a good complement to Losurdo's Class Struggle, which I read at the same time. They also contain this classic quote that I had read previously:
  
  

  In the English tradition, which was also handed down to this part of the world, to the Caribbean, to many parts of Africa, it is fashionable to disavow any knowledge of Marxism. It is fashionable to glory in one's ignorance, to say that we are against Marxism. When pressed about it one says - but why bother to read it? It is obviously absurd. So one knows it is absurd without reading it and one doesn't read it because one knows it is absurd, and therefore one glories in one's ignorance of the position.
• 
  Victor Ogungbamigbe

  Not as enjoyable as the banger that was 'How Europe Underdeveloped Africa', and in certain areas it feels like a rehashing of some of the same topics, however Rodney is still able to hook me with his precise analysis and engaging prose. Also the first of his writing I have read which provides a window into his political project and his musings on what scientific socialism must look like to truly free the colonized.
• 
  Coltrane Bodbyl-Mast

  A collection of essays from relatively ambiguous dates by the famed Guyanese Marxist Walter Rodney which cover a variety of topics, from class struggle to historiography. Of course, as the title indicates, much of them deal with the struggles of Africans and the African Diaspora, with a particular focus on Tanzania under Nyerere and Rodney’s home country of Guyana. Most of the later half of the book deals with Tanzania and in particular the class formations there, and its system of Ujamaa, which Rodney views somewhat favorably, though goes over its many flaws. The main role of many of these essays are to fully analyze the emergent contexts of Africa in the 1970s, looking to critique in particular prefixed (i.e. Arab/African) socialisms, and critique much of the Pan African movement. Other essays are summaries of concepts expounded upon in How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, and so the reader should look there for some of the more historical materialist questions brought up by this book. Overall a great collection of essays, though some dating (even if approximate) on them would be nice.
• 
  Adam

  Errs towards repetitiveness due to the structure of the book and overlapping topics of the essay, but Rodney's knowledge and insight shines through. Individually all of the essays offer critique of postcolonial conditions and shine multiple different lights on the reality of neocolonialism - though I imagine most people interested in this book are familiar with many of its brutal contours already.
  
  I found the essays on education to be particularly worthwhile.
• 
  Kat Cui

  Slow getting through the first few chapters but once you get Rodney at work applying theory to real-time analysis it’s incredible to see. I feel like I learned so much in the last 25 pages or so. I loved the analysis of socialism building in Tanzania and comparisons across post colonial situations
• 
  Adel

  brilliant thinker and writer
• 
  Geena Zebrasky

  This book is essential to understanding the political and economic foundations of modern Africa. Rodney does an excellent job of (re)contextualizing our analysis of the development of Africa, as always, as well as the application of Marxist thought and practice to different situations. I think that he points out an essential element of Marxism - that while it grew out of an analysis of the particular situation of Marx's analysis of Western Europe, this doesn't mean that it is time/location limited. He argues (and points out that Marx argues) that the whole point is that we take a historical materialist approach to any given situation, and can/must be adjusted to each (he describes a revolutionary praxis as "an ongoing social product". This is part of the reason it's so essential for anyone that considers themselves an anti-capitalist to understand how capitalism was an outgrowth of underdevelopment and other processes that Rodney covers in this book (and others). The chapter "The Historical Roots of African Underdevelopment" does a great job at presenting the history that lead up to colonization, and how the European economy was in no way a spontaneous growth - what has Europe actually done independently? Economists and historians like to paint the US and Europe in a light that depicts development as something that occurred independently, when realistically it wouldn't have happened without violence on a world scale that's ongoing (he makes a good comment on violence in the book as well). He covers how capitalism and the development of the Western world is based upon a foundation of underdevelopment globally (which he describes in much more depth in How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, but does a good job synthesizing and clarifying here). Trade was utilized to undercut development, and subordination and dependence on foreign capital was established before colonization explicitly did this. Rodney provides specific and clear examples, and is just an overall excellent writer throughout - he's well researched in his claims and it's not jargony or hard to understand. There's a great chapter on the linkage between slavery and underdevelopment as well, and how this was transformed over time - it's also a good thing to read before he goes into what it really means to decolonize, and if decolonization has even occurred - in the sense that satellite and dependent states were established after "independence" was achieved. He also writes extensively about what "development" really means - and can it be achieved on the African continent, in the sense of a Western "development"? (Hint: no, and we wouldn't want this anyway, because it would be fundamentally exploitative). Also, he challenges the idea of "freedom" and "democracy" as exported via the US and other international (western) orgs - which I find crucial - what is democracy if it's actually just the protection of capital? Towards the end, he goes into his analysis of Tanzania (where he taught), establishing and analyzing an education that isn't Western and actually is beneficial to African people, and he does a good job of providing examples throughout beyond this that both help demonstrate how to apply a Marxist/revolutionary approach to transition and decolonization, which he describes as "social policy directed by the working class" and "a total strategy for liberation that encompasses a control of the material resources". Anyway, there's a lot I didn't cover, but this is another great and revealing book by Rodney - really fundamental to a radical and real education.
• 
  Ezra Schulman

  Decolonial Marxism: Essays from the Pan-African Revolution. Walter Rodney, best known for his groundbreaking historical work, How Europe Undeveloped Africa, was a keen observer and participant in the questions surrounding decolonization and development in the 60s and 70s. His viewpoint on these questions, as clearly evidenced by the title of the book, was Marxist. However, in his work, decolonization is not merely an add-on to Marxism, and neither is Marxism simply a supplement to decolonization. Rather, for Rodney, decolonization simply makes no sense without Marxism. Colonialism and imperialism persist in the economic and social structure of colonized countries even in the absence of the formal political structures of decolonization, requiring an internal transformation of societies alongside a reorganization of their external links. Rodney extends this Marxist revision to the concept of development. In a stroke of genius, he extends Marx’s question of the oblasts, namely can you transition to communism through an already existing communal form of organization, to the debates around African socialism at the time. Rodney refuses to give a clear answer, gesturing instead to how Marx and Engel’s position on the Russian peasant communes changed due to the decline of the peasant communes itself. Rodney is in many ways like Marx and Engels: one of the few thinkers who is able to think as fast as history moves. Although some of his theory is populated by comintern-era static phrases and tautologies, Rodney’s thought manages to balance a historical flexibility with a true love for the people and desire for liberation.
  
• 
  John Mihelic

  I recently made it through the text that made Rodney’s name, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa,” and the bulk of these essays feel like the seed of that larger work. I sure have learned more about the African side of decolonialism through reading Rodney, but some of these essays are hit or miss – reading the text as a book started slow and didn’t pick up until the middle. This might be a question of the editing choices though.
• 
  John

  Different articles around a cluster of topics on africa and south america in the 19th century. Some essays are quite dense and hard to follow (towards the beginning), while others are conversational in tone and provide great insight as an outsider looking in (last few chapters). Overall great information.
• 
  Isaiah

  My only criticism is in the subsection titled “The elimination of racism”. It absolutely should’ve been elaborated and expanded as to how the “racist school structure was promptly attacked and destroyed”. I would also argue the elimination of the racist school structure would not eliminate the social phenomena that is racism, so I needed that subsection to be further substantiated.
• 
  Rolf

  I’ve heard for a while that I need to read Walter Rodney, and I now understand why. This is a collection of essays brought together after his death, and each is excellent--the one on education understandably stood out the most to me given my profession, but the whole collection is worth reading.
  
• 
  Zac Denman

  Everyone should be reading Walter Rodney