George Padmore and Decolonization from Below

From his base in London, the Trinidad-born Marxist, George Padmore, was a central figure of
mid-twentieth century pan-Africanism who became critically involved in debates about the
nature and practice of European imperialism. Focusing on Padmore's political manoeuvring,
Leslie James traces his politics through the ongoing influence of the Caribbean and the
legacy of the Garvey movement; the international communist movement and Soviet
decolonization; debates about fascism and colonialism; the new 'reform' rhetoric apparent
in World War II; the beginnings of the Cold War; and, pivotally, post-war African politics
that confronted a wealth of new dynamics including independent Ghana, apartheid South
Africa, and the Mau Mau Emergency in Kenya. Within the ideas and political practice of this
forthright man lie a number of common questions about the circulation of ideas, the shape
of black radical thought, and the weight of Cold War politics within the modern history of
European imperialism and the end of empire.