Africa
and its islands, with a land area of some twelve million square
miles and a population estimated at about 500 million, could easily
contain within it, and with room to spare, the whole of India, Europe,
Japan, the British Isle, Scandinavia and New Zealand. The United
States of American could easily be fitted into the Sahara Desert.
Africa is geographically compact, and in terms of natural resources
potentially the richest continent in the world.
In
Africa, where economic development is uneven, a wide variety of
highly sophisticated political systems were in existence over many
centuries before the colonial period began. It is here, in the so-called
developing world of Africa.where the class struggle and the progress
towards ending the exploitation of man by man have already entered
into the stage of decisive revolutionary change.
The
political maturity of the African masses may to some extent be traced
to economic and social patterns of traditional times. Under communalism,
for example, all land and means of production belonged to the community.
There was people's ownership. Labour was the need and habit of all.
When a certain piece of land was allocated to an individual for
his personal use, he was not free to do as he liked with it since
it still belonged to the community. Chiefs were strictly controlled
by counselors and were removable
Class
Struggle in Africa, by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, 1970, page 13 |
