A political mission Walter Rodney the historian By Winston McGowan Stabroek News June 11, 2000 Introduction Because of his active involvement in local politics in the final six years of his life, many Guyanese remember Walter Rodney primarily as a politician. Throughout most of his adult life, however, his principal achievements were realised in his capacity as a historian, teaching, researching and writing the history especially of Africa and the Caribbean. Rodney is not only the most distinguished Guyanese historian, but one of the most renowned and internationally acclaimed Guyanese scholars of all time. This reputation stems largely from the nature, quality and quantity of his historical writing. By Caribbean standards he was a very prolific writer. Thus in his comparatively short academic career he produced three major books, one edited work on Guyanese plantations in the late nineteenth century, several pamphlets and booklets and over eighty articles in academic journals. These works indicate that he had very definite views about history. View of history Rodney's basic philosophy of history was essentially Marxist. This caused him to be preoccupied with questions of class and economy and to devote inadequate attention to cultural history. It also prompted the strong anti-imperialist character of his writings, most vividly expressed in his description of colonialism thus: "Colonialism had only one hand - it is a one-armed bandit." Unlike many Marxist-oriented historians, however, Rodney managed to overcome the temptation to distort history consciously or unconsciously to suit ideology. Rodney also regarded history as inter-disciplinary. His historical writing profited considerably from approaches and insights which he derived from his knowledge of economics and political science. He also viewed history as didactic, providing guidelines for the proper understanding and solution of current problems. Thus he sought to show that many of the major problems facing Africa today were the result of injuries suffered during the long era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. His second major publication, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, written in Tanzania after his return there following his expulsion from Jamaica in 1968, stemmed from what he described "as a concern with the contemporary African situation." In it he not only sought to give a historical explanation for current African underdevelopment, but also to present what he called "a correct historic solution". His conclusion was that "African development is possible only on the basis of a radical break with the capitalist system, which has been the principal agency of underdevelopment of Africa over the past five centuries." In his view mental liberation as a result of the acquisition of true historical knowledge was an indispensable, though not the only, precondition for the black man's total liberation. One of Rodney's major objectives was "to uproot the numerous historical myths which have been implanted in the minds of black people". He considered such myths, born of ignorance, prejudice and loss of memory, as formidable obstacles to the realization of urgently-needed socio-economic change in Africa and the Caribbean. In his view mental liberation as a result of the acquisition of true historical knowledge was an indispensable, though not the only, precondition for the black man's total liberation. Traits Rodney's historical writing had many distinctive traits. It was very diverse in content as well as character. Some of his publications were academic, while others, such as Groundings With My Brothers which focuses on his experiences in Jamaica in 1968, were polemical. Furthermore, many of them were localized, dealing with specific issues in African and Caribbean history, whereas some were global in perspective, addressing more universal themes such as the history of capitalism, socialism, colonialism, and neocolonialism, Pan Africanism, and Third World dependency and underdevelopment. Much of Rodney's work was based on original independent research. It was often pioneering and creative and was usually distinguished by clarity of thought, convincing logic and rigorous analysis of the ideas or events which he was examining. These traits were partly a result of the perceptive, critical, analytical mind which he possessed. Rodney's scholarship was also marked by an approach which academics sometimes describe as 'history from below', i.e. history written from the perspective, and often for the benefit, of the disadvantaged or dispossessed. In some contexts this means history written from the viewpoint of the struggling non-white developing world, including Africa and the Caribbean, rather than from the outlook of the white developed world especially of Europe and North America. This approach is clearly demonstrated in Rodney's best- known work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. In other circumstances 'history from below' means history from the perspective of the working class, the masses, the ordinary people in the society, the poor and the powerless, rather than from that of the more privileged middle and ruling classes. This approach is particularly pronounced in Rodney's final book, The History of the Guyanese Working People, 1881-1905, published posthumously in 1981 and from the standpoint of the historian's craft his finest work, and one of his major achievements. Achievements Among Rodney's achievements as a historian, three stand out. Firstly, through his doctoral dissertation and his first major book, A History of the Upper Guinea Coast, 1545-1800, he established himself as one of the leading authorities on the important subject of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade from Africa to the Americas. Secondly, he produced the first major historical study of African underdevelopment. Thirdly, his final publication was the first serious, detailed, systematic study of the working class in the Caribbean. It has made a major contribution to the knowledge of the history of the working class and of racial divisions in Guyana. Conclusion Walter Rodney was not an 'ivory tower' historian. He believed strongly that teaching, research and writing should be accompanied by serious social commitment - that historical research should be put to practical social use. It is this aspect of Rodney's work as a historian which is emphasized in the tribute given in his honour at the time of his death by the International Scientific Committee responsible for organizing the multi-volume Unesco General History of Africa, to which Rodney was a contributor. In its memorial the Committee stated: In evaluating Walter Rodney one characteristic stands out. He was a scholar who recognized no distinction between academic concerns and service to society, between science and social commitment. He was concerned about people as well as archives, about the work place as well as the classroom. He found time to be both a historian and a sensitive social reformer. Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today