African Revolutionary Writers, Part 2a
Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson was the Chairman
of the Council on African Affairs,
an organisation based in New York from 1937 until it was shut down by
McCarthyism in 1955. W.
E. B. Du Bois was vice-chair.
The Council on African
Affairs was a vital link between the struggles of the African-Americans of the
Americas, and the National Democratic Revolutions that were getting under way
in those years, in Africa.
In the Council on African
Affairs can be seen the historical as well as the theoretical unity between the
descendents of the slaves that had been taken from Africa, and the people
struggling for freedom from colonialism in Africa itself. The connection with
the South African liberation struggle was direct, via Mr E. S. Reddy and Dr
Yusuf Dadoo, among others.
It was a two-way street.
Sometimes the African-American (and Afro-Caribbean) leadership was in front,
and at other times the African example was to an extent impelling the
trans-Atlantic struggles. This is the main reason why this body of literature,
called “African Revolutionary Writers” does, and must of necessity, include
many African writers from across the sea.
Paul Robeson himself was an extraordinary
man who achieved excellence in many fields, including sport and scholarship,
before becoming a star of the theatre and the cinema, and becoming a performing,
recording and broadcasting artist as a singer.
The attached document can
give a good idea of who Paul Robeson was and the role that he played in the
liberation struggle, as well as among the people of the United States of
America.
·
The above serves to
introduce the original reading-text: Excerpts from “Paul
Robeson Speaks”, 1953.
