The 5th Pan-African Congress
In 1945 a relatively small group of Africans from various parts of the world gathered together in Manchester England to host the 5th Pan-African Congress (5th PAC). The 5th PAC differed significantly from the previous four congresses in its emphasis. It marked a turning point in the ongoing struggle of African People for freedom. At the 5th PAC participants represented mass based and political organizations with a much higher representation of Africans born on the continent.
The tone of the resolutions shifted from appeals to the colonial powers based on goodwill and morality to demands based on the rights of Africans to govern themselves, control their own land and resources.
The necessity for revolutionary political action was in the resolutions adopted at the congress. At the conclusion of the 5th PAC, the delegates challenged the colonial powers. They stated "If the western world is still determined to rule mankind by force, then Africans as a last resort, may have to appeal to force in the effort to achieve FREEDOM, even if force destroys them and the world... We condemn the monopoly of capital and the rule of private wealth and industry for profit alone. We welcome economic democracy as the only real democracy. Therefore we shall complain, appeal and we will make the world listen to the facts of our condition. We will fight every way we can for FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY and SOCIAL BETTERMENT."
The struggle of African people had entered a new phase. The conference delegates had resolved for Africa to recover the continent and free it from imperialist occupation. Galvanized by the strategy and philosophy of Positive Action adopted at the 5th PAC, the African masses in all the corners of the continent and the diaspora organized and struggled to attain their independence and freedom.
The impact of the 5th PAC could clearly be seen. By 1957 Ghana, following a Positive Action campaign led by Kwame Nkrumah achieved independence. Within a year of its independence Ghana organized and hosted the 1st All African Peoples Conference with delegates from 62 African Nationalist organizations. This meeting, continuing in the revolutionary trend set by the 5th PAC intensified the struggle of African Freedom Fighters. Within two years the number of independent African states had risen from 8-15. By 1963 over two thirds of the African continent was free from colonial rule.
It is clear that the 5th Pan-African Congress struck a note in the history of the Revolutionary Pan-African Movement, and defined the ideological direction, needed to take the African struggle forward, bringing together the intellectual and the mass political trends and the need for Positive Action directed by MASS POLITICAL ORGANIZATION!
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