London Socialist Historians Group
9th June
contact Dr Keith Flett 07803 167266
Socialist Historians move 10th June seminar in support of IWGB boycott of Senate House
The London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London*, has said that leading socialist historian Marika Sherwood will launch and speak on her new book (Pluto) on Nkrumah and the dawn of the Cold War on Monday 10th June.
The event is at Bookmarks Bookshop, 1 Bloomsbury St, WC1B 3QE at 6.30pm on Monday 10th June
The event which would normally have taken place at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London’s Senate House has been moved in support of the continuing boycott by the IWGB of the University. The boycott is over the failure of the University to bring back in-house outsourced workers who are responsible for the day to day running of the building.
LSHG Convenor Keith Flett said, we are pleased to be able to launch this important new research into the origins of the Cold War at Bookmarks, one of the leading socialist bookshops in the UK, and delighted to be working again with Marika Sherwood
About the book
The West African National Secretariat (WANS) has almost been forgotten by history. A pan-Africanist movement founded in 1945 by Kwame Nkrumah and colleagues in London and France, WANS campaigned for independence and unity. Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast in late 1947. The colonial government accused him of being a communist and fomenting the riots of early 1948. He was jailed. This led to the beginning of the Cold War in West Africa.
Drawing on archival research including the newly released MI5 files, Marika Sherwood reports on the work of WANS, on the plans for a unity conference in October 1948 in Lagos, and on Nkrumah’s return home. Sherwood demonstrates that colonial powers colluded with each other and the US in order to control the burgeoning struggles for independence. By labelling African nationalists as ‘communists’ in their efforts to contain decolonisation, the Western powers introduced the Cold War to the continent.
Providing a rich exploration of a neglected history, this book sheds light for the first time on a crucial historical moment in the history of West Africa and the developmental trajectory of West African independence.
*The London Socialist Historians are not organising seminars at the Institute of Historical Research at the moment in support of the IWGB boycott of Senate House and their campaign to bring outsourced workers back in house
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