The All African People’s Congress (AAPC) called by Kwame Nkrumah -- and George Padmore

Abstract

George Padmore and Kwame Nkrumah began to work together in London in 1945. Their relationships continued when Nkrumah returned home. As the few released MI5 files reveal, Nkrumah discussed his aims, his policies, his plans with Padmore. This commentary gives an outline of Padmore’s life and activism. At Nkrumah’s request, Padmore was involved with the organising of the Congress of Independent African States, and then with the All-African Peoples Conference. This second conference was to be a conference of people, not presidents/prime ministers. Held in Accra in December 1958, it was attended by hundreds of people, and must have been much more reliant on Padmore, as he had been in contact the political activists around the world for many years. Sadly, Padmore’s contribution to these conferences, and much else, have not been recognised. Is this partly because we don’t really know enough? The British government has released very few files on him and not all have been preserved in Ghana.