THE MIND OF KWAME NKRUMAH MANUAL FOR THE STUDY OF CONSCIENCISM KWAME NKRUMAH Lang T. K. A. Nubuor Marxist-Nkrumaist Series Centre for Consciencist Studies and Analyses (CENCSA) THE MIND OF KWAME NKRUMAH Manual for the Study of Consciencism Lang T.K.A. Nubuor SECOND STANDARD EDITION Copyright © 2011, 2016 Lang T.K.A. Nubuor All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the permis- sion, in writing, of the publisher. Centre for Consciencist Studies and Analyses 1 Dedicated To Eki Gbinigie who suggested the idea of a manual in place of a review Explo Nani-Kofi who encouraged the idea Beatrice Dedo Mate-Kole who remained with me when all had abandoned me Patricia Teiko Nubuor who never forgot a brother And the Great Alhaji Ali Anum-Yemoh whose wonderful friendship sustains my hope in humanity. 2 Acknowledgement This manual has been written within very difficult circumstanc- es. That it has been completed at all appears to be a miracle. That is why I express my heart-felt gratitude to goodness in the first instance for the courage that sustained me over the fifteen- month period that it took to commence writing and to complete it. For the four-year period that occupied me in preparations and writing, Beatrice Dedo Mate-Kole proved the most tolerant and helpful. Without her support, the assistance of Eki Gbinigie, Explo Nani-Kofi, Kwesi Pratt, Jnr, and Alhaji Ali Anum-Yemoh would have been in vain. Encouraging comments from promising young men like Kosi Dedey, Duke Tagoe, Kwaku Dadzie and Abraham Allotey urged me on in no small measure. Kwaku Dadzie and Richard Abonie would rather this manual were presented in a direct book form. That was the extent of the enthusiasm of these gentlemen. It is my hope that explanations offered to them will satisfy them in the time being. Ama Adumea Ohene made me feel that this manual had been awaited for decades. Her positive comments on the uncomplet- ed manuscript assured me that sophisticated readers like her would likewise be pleased that at long last the younger genera- tion would find Consciencism accessible. For all the material assistance, like Explo Nani-Kofi’s purchase of the copy of Consciencism used for this writing, financial assis- tance and spiritual support of all the above-mentioned persons I remain forever grateful. May goodness always be their lot. 3 Vladimir Ilyich Lenin on the eve of the victory of the Great Oc- tober Socialist Revolution in Russia was compelled to re-state and defend the philosophy of Marxism, i.e. dialectical material- ism, against the attempts of some Russian intellectuals who falsely claimed that they had revised and perfected Marxism. Bankole Akpata (March 28th 1964). For Marx, the doom of the capitalist system was axiomatic, but the nature of its successor depended on far more than a change in the mode of production. The revolutionaries had to know what they were doing, or the state would not wither away. And unless the state withered away, the real history of humanity would not begin. For Lenin, however, the heresy-hunt for idealists and metaphy- sicians in the ranks of the revolutionary socialists became a matter of supreme importance, for achieving the revolution it- self. Accusing Bukhanin, Zinoviev, Trotsky and other leading theoreticians in his party of God-seeking, he was prepared to break with them utterly unless they renounced their views. The First World War proved Lenin to be right. Only the tem- pered dialectical materialists of his own party could withstand the full blast of imperialist duress and propaganda. All the other socialist parties voted war credits for their governments and led the workers to the slaughter. But the understanding of reality cannot spread as fast as illusion and error in human societies … Socialists who differ philosophically about the nature of reality may travel a long way together politically. But part they must, eventually, and the bitterness in which they part will bear a di- rect ratio to the length of time during which their differences have been concealed. In philosophy as in war the sudden strife between kinsfolk can be the most destructive, and therefore the socialist movement should remain in continuous philosophical debate. Even the point of revolt against capitalism need not necessarily be the point of parting between socialists who accept an ideal- istic or materialistic explanation of reality; but the first essay in building the new society will bring irreconcilable conflicts to the surface. The gods which die in every revolution will not lie qui- etly in the grave. The believers who wait for their resurrection will contend with the unbelievers who want to burn the remains and scatter the ashes. H.M. Basner (April 2, 1964). 4 CONTENTS Dedication 2 Acknowledgement 3 Briefing on The Mind of Kwame Nkrumah 6 To The Younger Reader 9 Foreword 11 Preface 17 ON THE INTRODUCTION TO CONSCIENCISM 23 CHAPTER ONE: On Philosophy in Retrospect 28 CHAPTER TWO: On Philosophy and Society 46 CHAPTER THREE: On Society and Ideology 65 CHAPTER FOUR: On Consciencism 75 CHAPTER FIVE: Consciencist Flights in Cyberspace 100 Postscript 132 Appendix: Kwame Nkrumah, Consciencism: Philosophy and Ide- ology for De-Colonisation 133 5 BRIEFING ON THE MIND OF KWAME NKRUMAH C ertainly a new wind is blowing over Africa. The spirit of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is awakened. This renewed pres- ence is acknowledged across the continents. Not only are academicians and intellectuals reviving their interest in Dr. Nkrumah. They have also questioned and are questioning the decades of neglect in the study of the ideas of the man. Agita- tions are on foot at centres of learning to incorporate such stud- ies into the curriculum of university studies in Africa. The agita- tions do not resist the continued studies of Western philoso- phers like Thales, Plato, Aristotle and others. They make a just and positive demand that Dr. Nkrumah be added to them. In the politics of Ghana today the spirit of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah looms large. Political parties which were even opposed to the policies of the man today seek a certain accommodation with his commitments. Not only does the current President remain unambiguous in his ideological commitment to the ideals of Dr. Nkrumah but also the flag bearer of the main opposition party has stated his commitment to the Pan-African project of the foremost Pan-African Proponent, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. No longer are the old folks of that opposition secure in their age- old condemnations of the Man of African Destiny in the face of the rising and increasing youth acknowledgement of that man in their own ranks. This renewed and wide spreading interest in Dr. Nkrumah has occasioned discomfort, however, in the being of certain per- sons who have taken the strategic option of attacking the very intellectual foundations of the man in the name of the man. This transparent mission to distort and revise Dr. Nkrumah’s funda- mental ideas and commitments in favour of what he stands against is targeted at the youth of Africa and of the Diaspora. But the spirit of Dr. Nkrumah, awakened by this wicked design of low political spirits, has invoked a quick response in The Mind Of Kwame Nkrumah: Manual For The Study Of Consciencism. This manual does not only try to simplify the reading and un- derstanding of the statement of Dr. Nkrumah’s fundamental ide- as in his book, Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for De- Colonisation, through guiding the reader over its pages, chap- ter by chapter. It as well engages in a radical and militant com- bat of that distortionist and revisionist trend promoted by fifth columnists who have taken positions within what Kwame Afful calls the Nkrumah movement. Addressed to the youth of Africa and the Diaspora, this manual is the first of its kind in an attempt 6 to breakdown the technical philosophical language of Dr. Nkrumah to easily accessible terms of ordinary language. It is to be read alongside the book, Consciencism, itself. In its opening pages, the Manual addresses the youth and ex- plains the necessity of reading Dr. Nkrumah’s book in the flesh rather than the second hand or interpretative versions of it. The Foreword traces a brief history of attitudes towards philosophy in general and particularly towards Consciencism within the public domain as well as within the intelligentsia. These are atti- tudes that have not facilitated the appreciation of the profundity of Dr. Nkrumah’s thought and practice. In the Preface, vital con- cepts of the book are explained prior to the in-depth treatment of the chapters. This is followed with guiding the reader through the Introduc- tion of the book, Consciencism. In this respect, a portion of Dr. Nkrumah’s quotation from Friedrich Engels’ letter that he leaves out is recalled to provide a better understanding of what he says. The importance of the Introduction rests in the fact of its revealing Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s anxiety to quicken the libera- tion and reconstruction of Africa through the conscious use or application of principles of thought to understand the dynamics of society in scientific terms in order to effectively change it. This special feature in Dr. Nkrumah’s intellectual attitude is well understood in comparison to the physical scientist’s attitude to- wards applicable research. In the first chapter, this Manual explains the difficulties of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s presentation style and devices a strategy for following the presentation easily. In this way, it leads the reader along the themes that he explores in his development of the his- tory of Western intellectual thought. It identifies the main themes and then the sub-themes. The reader is then led to follow the development of themes and sub-themes individually all over the chapter and shows how they are connected with each other in a logical flow. This interesting pursuit of themes and sub-themes in the pages of the book is in the nature of hunting an animal and the unforgettable experience of landing at the catch makes the idea stick and memorable. But if the first chapter explores the history of abstract thought in Western intellectual history, the second chapter shows the im- mediate concrete nature of those thoughts through illustrations of their social content. So that what had hitherto appeared as mind-splitting about nothing immediately comes alive with pas- sions being aroused in this to that direction. Here, the themes and sub-themes are again in display. Themes such as the con- ceptualisation of ‘egalitarianism’ and ‘revolution’ are portrayed in their evolution within the demands of the struggles to free man from clerical restrictions and then from the clergy-oligarch 7 diarchy that compromised increased socio-economic produc- tion and freedom for the human spirit. Chapter three then takes the reader through and focuses their attention on the role of ideology in the pursuit of the perfect so- ciety and, therefore, in the everyday life of the individual and society. The definition of ideology offered is innovative. Every society exhibits one or more. This Manual simplifies the expla- nation and, ideology, in Dr. Nkrumah’s terms, is understood not essentially as a written statement but as the total set of values, written and largely unwritten, that man develops for the conduct and direction of all for the freedom and fulfilment of society and the individual. The need for such an ideology out of the histori- cally-conditioned conflicting ideologies in Africa is then advo- cated. The details of that ideology are outlined in chapter four. With the understanding that an ideology is displayed in and perme- ates every sphere of the socio-political life of a society and is exhibited in the philosophical system and theories in all stud- ies, the Manual systematically shows those outlines. The book Consciencism finally emerges as a philosophical statement that elucidates and theoretically defends scientific socialist ideology to guide the African Revolution. The Manual, in this portrayal of Consciencism, sees consciencism not as solely concerned with the fusion of the three dominant strands of African culture but as a complete thought system for every socio-political purpose. The final chapter of this Manual portrays the combat against contemporary revisionism and neglect conducted in cyber- space. It is a defence of the principles of consciencism by the author of the Manual against the revisionism and neglect of cer- tain elements in the Nkrumaist and Pan-African movement. The featured characters are Christian Kwame Agbodza, a self- appointed Professor of Consciencism, and Prof. Chinweizu Chinweizu, respectively. To render easy access of the reader to the text of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s book Consciencism - Philosophy and Ideology for De- colonisation this edition of the Manual adds the book as an ap- pendix. The author of this manual is Lang T.K.A. Nubuor, the General Secretary of the erstwhile People’s Revolutionary League of Ghana and a member of the National Defence Committee that attempted to build an alternative State to replace the neo- colonial state structure through a system of People’s and Work- ers’ Defence Committees upon the inception of the December 31, 1981 coup d’état in Ghana. He is currently the Director of the Centre for Consciencist Studies and Analyses (CENCSA). 8 TO THE YOUNGER READER WHY YOU MUST STUDY CONSCIENCISM I would … ask you to study this theory from its original sources and not at second-hand; it is really much easi- er. Marx hardly wrote anything in which it did not play a part. Friedrich Engels A dapting this quote to consciencism and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, we would ask you to study consciencism from its original sources and not at second-hand; it is really much reliable. Dr. Nkrumah hardly wrote anything in which it did not play a part. In the light of some disturbing publications on Consciencism in recent times it is deemed of utmost importance that we go to the text of its statement in the original form. In the appreciated ef- fort to show the continued relevance of the 1964 publication, some rather less careful writers have tried to revise it. The es- sence of the current revision is the rejection of the book’s mono- ideological thrust in favour of an ideological mishmash. The danger is that some people, who have clearly not read the book or failed to read it entirely, are taking in the revisionist’s stuff. The inevitable consequence is that these people are bound to be ideological liabilities unto themselves in the worldwide effort to eliminate neo-colonialism, the last stage of imperialism. This is certainly what they would not wish for themselves but are slowly and surely becoming. Experience has shown that even great writers sometimes misin- terpret their forebears. It is for this reason that it could take new theories decades or even centuries to be understood and ac- cepted. It is also for this reason that reading an original text from a secondary source without the consideration of the origi- nal text itself is not only injurious to the academic or intellectual health of the victim but also portrays that victim as one big bun- dle of laziness. This author once had the opportunity of critically commenting on a friend’s draft doctoral thesis. He found that the entire work done thus far was not only based on inaccurate secondary sources but more seriously the friend had never gone to the original texts that had been misinterpreted so badly. Upon heeding the advice to study the original texts he came out with a new draft that refreshingly reflected the texts. 9