TAKES BIG STRIDE FORWARD
By Denis Anderson
Sangerts article in the Manchester Guardian [see above] confirms reports of big developments in the Nigerian workers movement.
Nigeria, with a population of over 35,000,000, is the largest nation ~~ in population -- in West Africa, Up till now the center of a reaction= ary feudal regime, it is crucial to the future of all West Africa, Its labor movement has had a long history and played a big role in the struggle for independence, The general strike of 1945 brought the nation to a standstill and forced big concessions from the British,
The right-wing Congress has been directly supported by the ICFTU. The left wing, under the leadership of the old Nigerian radical leader Michael Imodu, has kept a strong basis, particularly in transport, It is this left wing which, with the Nigerian Youth Congress (that led the big Lumumba demonstrations in Nigeria) and various other left-wing and Marxist roupings, has formed the Nigerian Socialist Workers and Farmers Party PRSWrP |. This party is based upon a scientific socialist appreciation of the Nigerian situation, stressing above all the workerepeasant alliance: and the need to cement this, .
Clyde Sanger offers valuable comment. His dismissal of the NCNC is to be noted. We cannot share any illusions Mr. Sanger may have in Chief Awolowo, We do, however, appreciate his honest statement coneerning how easily the right-wing trade-union leaders were bribed,
The working-class movement in Nigeria is still young, and no doubt it will commit many mistakes,
The birth of the NSWFP at such a fortunate time augurs well for the future, It is a development which we must follow with sympathy and care,
Once the left-wing party reaches the masses in the feudal. =~ and even slave -= north, it will open up truly revolutionary potentials which have slept for centuries,
One thing is certain: in revolutionary Africa of today, the coalition of Northern feudalist and Eastern and Western capitalists cannot continue for long.