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International Socialism, Winter 1963/4

 

Barry Hindess

Central Africa

 

From International Socialism, No.15, Winter 1963/4, p.39.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.

 

Unholy Wedlock
Harry Franklin
George Allen and Unwin; 32s.

Harry Franklin – for some years a member of the Northern Rhodesia government – has written a history of the Central African Federation from its ill-conceived birth to its inevitable death. In the process he explodes many of the myths put out by Voice & Vision, etc. The most blatant of these is the one that talks about multi-racial society. A multi-racial government elected by a quarter of a million whites – out of a population of over seven and a half million – is a contradiction in terms. The africans believed, quite correctly, that federation was an attempt to extend and strengthen white supremacy in central africa. Mr. Franklin is not a particularly good writer and his style is often annoying. However this history, written from the inside, of the rise and fall of federation is very welcome as a counter to much of the stuff put out a few months back. The death of Welensky’s multi-racialism can only be applauded and this book, for all its faults, certainly does this.

 
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