Class and Class Conflict in Africa

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Abstract
Class analysis of contemporary Africa has had a shaky history. Before the Second World War, most scholars who wrote about Africa scarcely took Africa seriously enough to use so contemporary and so "European" a concept as class or class conflict to apply to the social structure of a colonial society (with the exception of authors dealing with the rather special situation in South Africa). Some European analysts, particularly those linked with the French Communist Party, did undertake such analysis'" but they tended to be so mechanistic in their application of categories, especially in attributing to urban wage-workers (the "proletariat") an undue importance as a social and political force, that they were discredited. Furthermore, when such movements as the Rassemblement Democratique Africain and the trade unions broke their political links with the French Communist Party, they included a rejection of class analysis in their general critique of communist political strategy.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

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