George Padmore
George Padmore
From Comintern Negro Bureau chief to architect of Pan-African independence, the revolutionary journalist who broke with empire
"Pan-Africanism or Communism?" — rejecting Cold War binaries, his final book insisted African liberation must chart its own course
Trinidad-born Pan-Africanist theorist and journalist. Appointed head of the Profintern's Negro Bureau in Moscow in 1929, he led organising efforts among colonial workers. But he broke with the USSR in 1934 when Soviet diplomacy prioritised alliance with the colonial powers over liberation movements. From London he chaired the International African Service Bureau and organised the 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress, setting the agenda for postwar decolonisation. As Kwame Nkrumah's closest advisor, he helped shape Ghana's independence and the vision of African unity.
Career timeline
- 1903Born in Arouca, Trinidad as Malcolm Ivan Meredith Nurse
- 1924–1927Studies at Fisk and Howard Universities; joins CPUSA (1927)
- 1929Reports to Comintern in Moscow; appointed head of Profintern's Negro Bureau; elected to Moscow City Soviet
- 1930Organises ITUCNW in Hamburg; edits monthly The Negro Worker
- 1933–1934Deported from Germany after Nazi takeover; breaks with Comintern over USSR's shift on colonial policy; expelled February 1934
- 1934–1945Settles in London; chairs IASB; organises 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress
- 1947–1957Advisor to Nkrumah; publishes The Gold Coast Revolution (1953); supports Ghana's independence
- 1957–1959Moves to Ghana as Nkrumah's advisor on African affairs; dies in London 1959; ashes interred at Christiansborg Castle