Ideological Rivalry In Africa

Press, Issue 31095, 25 June 1966, Page 4

Ideological Rivalry In Africa

Communism in Africa. By Fritz Schatten. Allen and Unwin. 343 pp. Index.

In less than 10 years Africa, I once the backwater of the I world, has become a centre of the ideological rivalry between East and West. Weak and unstable, the newly-1 independent African States have seemed to offer rich; pickings to great Powers ini search of satellites. In this: race the West, its reputation besmirched by a colonial past, has often run a very poor second to the Communist! bloc. With the very best of; intentions, Britain and France particularly have appeared: ambivalent to the Africans.! They yielded independence grudgingly at first, then with| a rush, and often did little to prepare the African fori self-rule. Post-independencei aid, while extensive, has sometimes been hedged with; conditions and controls which' bring allegations of “neocolonialism.” At the same' time many African states j have been helpless or ineffective in the face of economic: and political difficulties. This I has served to confirm the! Communist view that African, nationalism is only a transi-j tional phase which must j finally give way to socialism. Mr Schatten, a West German broadcaster and student of African affairs, has attempted the most extensive study yet of the methods used by the Communist powers seeking to attach the new African states to the Eastern bloc. Africa remains the one I area of the world where Com-1 munist front organisations. I “cultural exchanges,” and “scholarships” to Russian universities still have considerable impact on a politically unsophisticated people and the author, working largely from Russian and East European sources, has prepared an impressive catalogue of these devices. The Communist states have many advantages in Africa. They have given the Africans vigorous support in the United Nations: they have no past—at least in Africa — of colonialism: and the spectacular economic development of Russia since 1917 suggests that communism offers the means of rapid modernisation which the African believe they need. But the Communists have also made mistakes in Africa. They have over-estimated the value of their own propaganda, particularly since the Chinese-Russian split. Now the Communist world, like the West, seems to speak with

several voices and when Africans are told that communism offers “the way" to j modernisation they may well i reply: “Which communism?” ; 1 Likewise the Communists i ,have backed wrong horses, among African politicians,' : notably in the Congo. They: have alienated potential | allies by treating them as; : subordinates rather than equals, as happened with Sekou Toure in Guinea. ! Mr Schatten offers a clear (exposition of the African pre--1 dicament and the responses of .East and West. He finds the failure of the West to keep African friendship occurred ’ because independence was I achieved only by a shattering I of African confidence in the 'white man and his way of life. | The restoration of this confidence will be a long and dif;ficult process, but the author | is unfair when he says confidence in the West is still ! being undermined by the ' personal inadequacies of many technologists and teachers sent to Africa. He accuses [them of feelings of superior- | ity and lack of a sense of mission—but he does admit that , the American Peace Corps has

set a high standard of dedi<\ ation.

Basically, the Africans are searching for a model, a pattern to guide their development in the bewildering world of independence. Both East and West offer a variety of models, few of which have immediate relevance to the African situation. Mr Schatten concludes that it is not monolithic, totalitarian communism, not Western plural democracy which can best serve as a guide in Africa. Rather, the guides may be found in smaller States In an intermediate position— in the voluntary co-operatives of Israel, of the “national communism" of Jugoslavia.

Like all contemporary African studies, "Communism in Africa" was out-of-date before it was published. The military coups of the last eight months have been a major set back for Communist aspirations, but unless the generals can solve Africa’s pressing economic and social problems they may only aggravate the poverty and discontent which provide a fertile ground for militant Communist movements.