This is a historical novel, the purpose of which is to de-mystify the struggle for Pan-Africanism: a unified, socialist Africa. In a letter to Reba Lewis on November 3, 1969, Kwame Nkrumah wrote: ". . . what I want you to do is to write it [her novel] with the technique of [a] historical novel with actual real names and not fictitious ones, e.g. you could use Osagyefo or Kwame Nkrumah as the case may be." This quotation can be found in Kwame Nkrumah: More Letters from the Conakry Years, p. 137. Africans, I have taken Nkrumah up on this suggestion. The novel begins two years after the attempted overthrow of Nkrumah. (In the novel, the 1966 coup is unsuccessful.) Africa is now unified and African people are struggling to build socialism. "In forging a Union of African Socialist States, UASS, we have heeded the call to unite, and we have made a great contribution to worldwide socialism," Nkrumah announced at the time of unification. Part One: After launching its two-year plan of development, the Tubman-Lumumba-Garvey Party-State Congress is being held in Accra, Ghana--the temporary capitol of the Union. The purpose of the Congress is to report on the progress made; to reveal the challenges that must be confronted; to elicit feedback from the many cadre, ministers, and other state officials on the development of a five-year plan. Wielding the weapon of criticism/self-criticism, this conference—at which Osagyefo delivers key addresses and at which the Union Ministries report on their progress in building socialism—helps the reader to assess the challenges that must be confronted in building a UASS. This part also introduces the two main characters: Assata (from the earlier work, "Kwame Nkrumah is Alive and Well!") and Kimathi. The challenge for these main characters, like for all of us, is to translate Nkrumaist theory into Nkrumaist practice. Part Two: In this section, on behalf of the Party’s Central Committee and the Union Government, and as a consequence of his violation of Assata, Kimathi journeys to Guinea Bissau-Cape Verde, interacting with, speaking to, and reporting on the progress of peasants, youth, and women. Through his travels, the reader glimpses the real challenges of building socialism and the real challenges of the people's efforts to digest the traditional African principles of humanism, collectivism, and especially egalitarianism. Also in this section, via the letters that Assata writes to Kimathi during his travels, the reader witnesses the state of the newly formed Union and the struggle to build worldwide socialism through the eyes of revolutionaries such as Amilcar Cabral, Julia Wright, Stokely Carmichael, Shirley Graham DuBois, Fidel Castro, and Ho Chi Minh. The reader also notes the conniving, vicious machinations of the enemy—the capitalists and their running dogs—in their efforts to thwart the African masses’ quest for a unified, socialist Africa.

Author: Doreatha Drummond Mbalia

ISBN: 9781702731195

Publisher: Self Published