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The African Dimension to the Anti-Federation Struggle, ca. 1950–53: “It has united us far more closely than any other question would have accomplished”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2021

Rob Power
Rob Power*
Affiliation:
The London School of Economics and Political Science
*
E-mail: r.w.power@lse.ac.uk
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Abstract

The documentary record of African opposition to the CAF (Central African Federation) has been the subject of renewed historiographical interest in recent years.2 This paper seeks to contribute to the existing debate in three principle ways. Firstly, it will show that opposition to the scheme was fatally undermined by the pursuits of two very distinct strands of NAC (Nyasaland African Congress) and ANC (African National Congress) political activism. In the second instance, it will show that this dissimilar political discourse produced contradictions that resulted in bypassing African objections. Thirdly, the paper will go a step farther, suggesting that the two respective anti-Federation campaigns not only undermined the efforts of both Congress parties to stop federation, but laid the path for future discord in the national dispensation then materialising.

Keywords

Federationnationalismgrass rootsprotestlegitimacy
Type
Article
Information
Itinerario , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , August 2021 , pp. 304 - 324
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Research Institute for History, Leiden University

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Footnotes

1

Bodleian Library Oxford (hereafter BLO), Africa Bureau Papers (hereafter AB) 240/2, N. \1\2 \3\4 Kwenje, President of the Salisbury branch of Nyasaland African Congress to Dr. Hastings Banda, undated, 1952.

2

See for instance: Gerwald, Hinfelaar, and Macola, One Zambia, Many Histories; Macola, Liberal Nationalism; Gerwald, Hinfelaar, and Macola, Living the End of Empire; Larmer, Rethinking African Politics; Rotberg, “The Partnership Hoax.”

References

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Groves, Z. “Transnational Networks and Regional Solidarity: The Case of the Central African Federation, 1953–1963.” African Studies 72:2 (August 2013): 155–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooker, J. R. “Welfare Associations and Other Instruments of Accommodation in the Rhodesias between the World Wars.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 9:1 (October 1966).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyam, R. “The Geopolitical Origins of the Central African Federation: Britain, Rhodesia and South Africa, 1948–1953.” Historical Journal 30:1 (March 1987): 145–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keatley, P. The Politics of Partnership: The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. London: Penguin, 1963.Google Scholar
Larmer, M. Rethinking African Politics: A History of Opposition in Zambia. London: Routledge, 2011.Google Scholar
Macola, G. Liberal Nationalism in Central Africa: A Biography of Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, P. Year of Decision: Rhodesia and Nyasaland 1960. London: Oxford University Press, 1960.Google Scholar
McCracken, J. “Democracy and Nationalism in Historical Perspective: The Case of Malawi.” African Affairs, 97:387 (April 1998): 231–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Momba, J. C. “Peasant Differentiation and Rural Party Politics in Colonial Zambia.” Journal of Southern African Studies 11:2 (April 1985): 281–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, P. “‘Government by Blackmail’: The Origins of the Central African Federation Reconsidered.” In Lynn, M., ed., The British Empire in the 1950s, Retreat or Revival?, 53–76. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.Google Scholar
Murphy, P. Party Politics and Decolonization: The Conservative Party and British Colonial Policy in Tropical Africa 1951–1964. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Musambachime, M. C. “Dauti Yamba”s Contribution to the Rise and Growth of Nationalism in Zambia, 1941–1964.” African Affairs 90:359 (April 1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Musambachime, M. C. “The Impact of Rumor: The Case of the Banyama Vampire Men Scare in Northern Rhodesia, 1930–1964.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 21:2 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parpart, J. L. “Class Consciousness among the Zambian Copper Miners, 1950–1968.” Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Etudes Africaines 21:1 (1987).Google Scholar
Powdermaker, H. “Communication and Social Changes Based on a Field Study in Northern Rhodesia.” Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2nd ser., 17:5 (March 1955): 437–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Power, J. Building Kwacha, New York: University of Rochester Press, 2010Google Scholar
Rotberg, R. “African Nationalism: Concept or Confusion?” Journal of Modern African Studies 4 (May 1966): 33–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rotberg, R. “The Origins of Nationalist Discontent in East and Central Africa.” Journal of Negro History 48:2 (April 1963): 130–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rotberg, R. “The Partnership Hoax: How the British Government Deprived Central Africans of Their Rights.” Journal of Southern African Studies 45 (24 January 2019). https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2019.1558654.Google Scholar
Rotberg, R. The Rise of Nationalism in Central Africa: The Making of Malawi and Zambia. 1873–1964. Cambridge, Mass.: Havard University Press, 1965.Google Scholar
Shepperson, G. Myth and Reality in Malawi. Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Sommerville, J. J. B. “The Central African Federation.” International Affairs 39:3 (July 1963).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stockwell, S. “Imperial Liberalism and Institution Building at the End of Empire in Africa.” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 46:5 (2018): 1009–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, L. Speaking with Vampires: Rumor and History in Colonial Africa. California: California University Press, 2000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, L. “Vampire Priests of Central Africa: African Debates about Labor and Religion in Colonial Northern Zambia.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 35:4 (October 1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, J. R. T. The Welensky Papers: A History of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Durban: Graham Publishing, 1983.Google Scholar
Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and Africa Studies, Weston Library, Oxford [BLO]:Google Scholar
–Africa Bureau Papers, MSS.Afr.s.1681 [AB];Google Scholar
–Papers of Rt. Hon. Arthur Creech Jones, MSS.Brit.Emp.s.332 [CJ];Google Scholar
–Fabian Colonial Bureau Papers, MSS.Brit.Emp.s.365 [FCB];Google Scholar
–Sir Roy Welensky Papers, MSS.Welensky.Google Scholar
The British Library, London [BL]:Google Scholar
–Endangered Archives Project [EAP] 121, Northern Rhodesia African National Congress Papers.Google Scholar
National Archives, Kew [NA]:Google Scholar
–Colonial Office Papers [CO];Google Scholar
–Dominions Office Papers [DO].Google Scholar
Malawi National Archives, Zomba, Malawi [MNA]:Google Scholar
–Central African Archives, Microfilm Collection, MNA CAA.Google Scholar
–Central African Archives, Southern Province Records [SMP].Google Scholar
–Central African Archives, District Commissioner Reports [1DCZA].Google Scholar
School of Oriental and African Studies Archives, London:Google Scholar
–Papers of the Movement for Colonial Freedom;Google Scholar
–Papers of Thomas Fox-Pitt, Director of the Anti-Slavery Society, PPMS 6.Google Scholar
Barnes, , “History in a Changing Society.” Rhodes-Livingstone Institute Journal 11 (1951): 1–24.Google Scholar
Epstein, A. L. Politics in an African Urban Community. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1958.Google Scholar
Gunther, J. Inside Africa. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955.Google Scholar
Harries-Jones, P. Freedom and Labour: Mobilization and Political Control on the Zambian Copperbelt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.Google Scholar
Holleman, J. F., and Biesheuval, S.. White Mine Workers in Northern Rhodesia 1959–1960. Leiden: Afrika-Studiecentrum, 1973.Google Scholar
Powdermaker, H. “Communication and Social Changes Based on a Field Study in Northern Rhodesia.” Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2nd ser., 17:5 (March 1955): 437–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powdermaker, H. Copper Town: Changing Africa, The Human Situation on the Rhodesian Copperbelt. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.Google Scholar
Barnes, , “History in a Changing Society.” Rhodes-Livingstone Institute Journal 11 (1951): 1–24.Google Scholar
Epstein, A. L. Politics in an African Urban Community. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1958.Google Scholar
Gunther, J. Inside Africa. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955.Google Scholar
Harries-Jones, P. Freedom and Labour: Mobilization and Political Control on the Zambian Copperbelt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.Google Scholar
Holleman, J. F., and Biesheuval, S.. White Mine Workers in Northern Rhodesia 1959–1960. Leiden: Afrika-Studiecentrum, 1973.Google Scholar
Powdermaker, H. “Communication and Social Changes Based on a Field Study in Northern Rhodesia.” Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2nd ser., 17:5 (March 1955): 437–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powdermaker, H. Copper Town: Changing Africa, The Human Situation on the Rhodesian Copperbelt. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.Google Scholar
Volume. 497, Cols. 208–334Google Scholar
Volume. 499, Cols. 1233–1298Google Scholar
–Rhodesia-Nyasaland Royal Commission Report, 1939 (Bledisloe Report) Cmd. 5949Google Scholar
–The Federal Scheme for Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland Prepared by a Conference Held in London, January 1953. Cmd.8754. London: HMSO, 1953Google Scholar
–Report by the Conference on Federation Held in London in January 1953. Cmd. 8753. London: HMSO, 1953Google Scholar
Butler, Lord. The Art of the Possible: The Memoirs of Lord Butler. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1971.Google Scholar
Fraenkel, P. Wayaleshi. London: Weidenfield, 1959.Google Scholar
Kaunda, K. Zambia Shall Be Free. London: Pearson, 1966.Google Scholar
Lyttelton, Oliver [Viscount Chandos]. The Memoirs of Lord Chandos. London: The Bodley Head, 1962.Google Scholar
Makasa, K. Zambia's March to Political Freedom. Nairobi: Heinemann Education, 1985.Google Scholar
Welensky, R. Welensky's 4000 Days: The Life and Death of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. London: Collins, 1964.Google Scholar
Zukas, S. Into Exile and Back. Lusaka: Bookworld Publishing, 1993.Google Scholar
Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly during its Fifteenth Session, “Resolution 1514 XV, the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,” 14 Dec. 1960.Google Scholar
Kaunda, Kenneth, President, United National Independence Party of Northern Rhodesia, statement delivered in New York, 11 April 1961.Google Scholar
Clegg, E. Race and Politics: Partnership in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. London: Oxford University Press, 1960.Google Scholar
Cohen, A. The Politics and Economics of Decolonization in Africa: The Failed Experiment of the Central African Federation. London: I. B. Tauris, 2017.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, A. “Settler Power, African Nationalism and British Interests in the Central African Federation: 1957–1963.” PhD diss., University of Sheffield, 2008.Google Scholar
Collins, M. “Decolonisation and the ‘Federal Moment’.” Diplomacy and Statecraft 24 (2013): 21–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crehan, K. “'Tribes' and the People Who Read Books: Managing History in Colonial Zambia.” Journal of Southern African Studies 23:2, special issue for Terry Ranger (June 1997): 203–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, J. Britain and Decolonization: The Retreat from Empire in the Post-War World. London: Palgrave, 1988.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwin, J. “British Decolonization Since 1945: A Pattern or a Puzzle?” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 12:2 (1984).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fetter, B. Colonial Rule and Regional Imbalance in Central Africa. Boulder: University of Colorado Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Franklin, H. Unholy Wedlock: The Failure of the Central African Federation. London: G. Allen and Unwin, 1963.Google Scholar
Gerwald, J. B. “Rumours of Mau Mau in Northern Rhodesia, 1950–1960.” Afrika Focus 22 (2009): 37–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerwald, J. B., Hinfelaar, M., and Macola, G., eds. Living the End of Empire, Politics and Society in Late Colonial Zambia. Leiden: Brill, 2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerwald, J. B., Hinfelaar, M., and Macola, G., eds., One Zambia, Many Histories: Towards a History of Post-colonial Zambia. Leiden: Brill, 2008.Google Scholar
Groves, Z. “Transnational Networks and Regional Solidarity: The Case of the Central African Federation, 1953–1963.” African Studies 72:2 (August 2013): 155–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooker, J. R. “Welfare Associations and Other Instruments of Accommodation in the Rhodesias between the World Wars.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 9:1 (October 1966).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyam, R. “The Geopolitical Origins of the Central African Federation: Britain, Rhodesia and South Africa, 1948–1953.” Historical Journal 30:1 (March 1987): 145–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keatley, P. The Politics of Partnership: The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. London: Penguin, 1963.Google Scholar
Larmer, M. Rethinking African Politics: A History of Opposition in Zambia. London: Routledge, 2011.Google Scholar
Macola, G. Liberal Nationalism in Central Africa: A Biography of Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, P. Year of Decision: Rhodesia and Nyasaland 1960. London: Oxford University Press, 1960.Google Scholar
McCracken, J. “Democracy and Nationalism in Historical Perspective: The Case of Malawi.” African Affairs, 97:387 (April 1998): 231–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Momba, J. C. “Peasant Differentiation and Rural Party Politics in Colonial Zambia.” Journal of Southern African Studies 11:2 (April 1985): 281–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, P. “‘Government by Blackmail’: The Origins of the Central African Federation Reconsidered.” In Lynn, M., ed., The British Empire in the 1950s, Retreat or Revival?, 53–76. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.Google Scholar
Murphy, P. Party Politics and Decolonization: The Conservative Party and British Colonial Policy in Tropical Africa 1951–1964. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Musambachime, M. C. “Dauti Yamba”s Contribution to the Rise and Growth of Nationalism in Zambia, 1941–1964.” African Affairs 90:359 (April 1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Musambachime, M. C. “The Impact of Rumor: The Case of the Banyama Vampire Men Scare in Northern Rhodesia, 1930–1964.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 21:2 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parpart, J. L. “Class Consciousness among the Zambian Copper Miners, 1950–1968.” Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Etudes Africaines 21:1 (1987).Google Scholar
Powdermaker, H. “Communication and Social Changes Based on a Field Study in Northern Rhodesia.” Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2nd ser., 17:5 (March 1955): 437–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Power, J. Building Kwacha, New York: University of Rochester Press, 2010Google Scholar
Rotberg, R. “African Nationalism: Concept or Confusion?” Journal of Modern African Studies 4 (May 1966): 33–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rotberg, R. “The Origins of Nationalist Discontent in East and Central Africa.” Journal of Negro History 48:2 (April 1963): 130–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rotberg, R. “The Partnership Hoax: How the British Government Deprived Central Africans of Their Rights.” Journal of Southern African Studies 45 (24 January 2019). https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2019.1558654.Google Scholar
Rotberg, R. The Rise of Nationalism in Central Africa: The Making of Malawi and Zambia. 1873–1964. Cambridge, Mass.: Havard University Press, 1965.Google Scholar
Shepperson, G. Myth and Reality in Malawi. Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Sommerville, J. J. B. “The Central African Federation.” International Affairs 39:3 (July 1963).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stockwell, S. “Imperial Liberalism and Institution Building at the End of Empire in Africa.” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 46:5 (2018): 1009–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, L. Speaking with Vampires: Rumor and History in Colonial Africa. California: California University Press, 2000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, L. “Vampire Priests of Central Africa: African Debates about Labor and Religion in Colonial Northern Zambia.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 35:4 (October 1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, J. R. T. The Welensky Papers: A History of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Durban: Graham Publishing, 1983.Google Scholar