It seems that it never ends. There always seem to be someone around to try and confuse our Movement. So, here is a clarification of our ideology Nkrumahism:


Marxism-Leninism and Nkrumahism
By Comrade Dr. Kwamr Ture (formerly Stokely Carmichael)

“Nkrumahism is scientific socialism applied to countries emerging from colonialism. And specifically African countries where the Marxist capital-labor conflict is only one of a number of fundamental conflicts”

-Osagyefo




There are many African organizations which accept as their ideology Marxism-Leninism. Many of these young organizations received their stimulus from the concept of Black Power, which emphasiezd the powerlessness of Africans. The All-African Peoples’s Revolutionary Party knows that the correct ideology for Africans the world-over is Nkrumahism. Nkrumahism does not and cannot negate the universal truths of Marxism-Leninism; it merely incorporates these truths.

Our Party finds that its attempts to spread OUR IDEOLOGY, Nkrumahism, we are meeting ideological conflicts from black Marxist-Leninists. We find the situation ironic simply because it is crystal clear to us that any African who understands Marxist-Leninist theory should readily recognize the necessity and correctness of our ideology. The irony in this case, we feel, is due to misunderstanding. Two particular concepts are recurring themes in this area. One is that the struggle of the African is one in which race [ethnicity] is totally irrelevant. This due to the fact that many Marxists-Leninists believe that economics is the only determining element in the making of history (sic). The other is that the African experience finds reality in Marxism-Leninism. The Party feels these organizations do not understand the importance of race in the class struggle today. Consequently, they are unable to comprehend the world socialist revolution in general and the Black [Africa. Abdurrahman.] Revolution in particular. (sic.)

One does not become a Marxist-Leninist by constantly using the term. I find myself constantly amazed at the number of people who become Marxist-Leninist overnight. It seems to me that Marxism-Leninism is a science which has to be carefully studied. Only after study, understanding and practice can one honestly and legitimately claim Marxism-Leninism. Engels understood this phenomenon and as early as 1830 cautioned against it. In a letter to J. Bloch he stated, “Unfortunately, however, it happens only too often that people think they have fully understood a new theory and can apply it without more ado from they have mastered its main principles, and even those4 not always correctly. And I cannot exempt many of the more recent “Marxists” from this approach, for the most amazing rubbish has been [produced in this particular quarter, too,”

Neither Marx, Engels nor Lenin (sic) ever claimed that economics was the sole determining factor in history. In the same letter quoted above Engels makes this crystal clear. He states, “According to the materialist conception of history, the ultimately determining element in history is the production and reproduction of real life. [See the Creation of Humanity at the Command of Allah. Abdurrahman.] More than this neither Marx nor I have ever asserted. Hence if somebody twists this into saying that the economic element is the only determining one, he transforms that proposition into a meaningless, abstract, senseless phrase…” Black (African. Abdurrahman.) Marxist-Leninists, proceeding logically from a faulty premise, arrive at an invalid conclusion asserting that in the African struggle race [ethnicity] is totally irrelevant to the class struggle.

Any student of revolution knows this is incorrect. They say they are fighting the class structure of the United States. But they do not comprehend that is a fighting “a racist class structure” and in this structure “capitalist exploitation and race oppression are complementary.”[1] Therefore, we must analyze the effects of this racial oppression and understand its relationship to the class struggle. This will allow us to arrive at the correct solution which will be reflected in our ideology. Since they do not analyze this relationship they fly into the arms of Marxism-Leninism, a science which did not analyze the race contradictions concretely, due perhaps to its own historical period. Any intelligent person knows that “in the modern world, the race struggle has become part of the class struggle”.

[His Excellency. Abdurrahman.] President Sekou Toure reminds us that Marx did not invent scientific socialism. Marx was an observer. He observed certain phenomena on relation to man and economic forces in general and to labor and capital in particular. Having observed the validity of certain theories based on historical materialism, he stated principles which act as a clear guide to the inevitable destruction of capitalism and its attendant evils, and for the reconstruction of a society free from exploitation of man by man. Many people who call themselves revolutionary ACCEPT THESE PRINCIPLES AS UNIVERSL TRUTHS. So, do I. As we stated earlied (sic) Marx, like Newton, observed and recorded but did not invent. Any student of science can independently observe the same laws of gravitation without prior knowledge of Newton. We thank Marx, Lenin and Newton for correctly classifying knowledge, thus making our own research easier.

In Osagyfo’s classical philosophical work, Consciencism, we can see that the theories of Marx and Engel have their roots in communalism. Thus, as an African, I should study Nkrumahism which knows communalism contains the very foundation of Marxism-Leninism. It contains my history, African history, as it must be presented in order to “become a pointer at the ideology which should guide and direct African reconstruction.” (sic) Nkrumahism has already studied the theories of Marxism-Leninism, accepting their universal guidelines and scientific methods. And Nkrumahism returns to Africa, returns to communalism, because Nkrumahism knows that if Mother Africa had been left untrampled by alien forces She would have been the first to achieve communism naturally, without bloodshed.