Antonio Messina

Antonio Messina is a self-financed visiting PhD fellow (Political Science, University of Catania).

Party, intellectuals and transnational networks. The trajectory of Humanism in Zambia (1964-1991)

Research abstract

On 17 June 2021, former President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda passed away in Lusaka. Many delegations gave speeches in which they celebrated and recounted the man’s achievements, often calling him the “giant son of Africa” ​​or “pan-African giant”. The newspapers referred to Kaunda as “real pan-African shikulu”, “a Pan-Africanist who championed African Unity”, “a Father of Pan-Africanism”, a “Father of African independence”, “the last giant of African nationalism” and the one who “embodied the true sense of Pan-Africanism”. South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa described Kaunda as a “rightfully revered father of African independence and unity”. Rwandan President Paul Kagame said in a tweet Kaunda’s “commitment to Africa’s liberation will never be forgotten” and that “his leadership on the continent and legacy of Pan-Africanism will live on for generations to come”. Bobi Wine, Ugandan opposition leader, described him as the father of African unity: “For our founding father, it was not enough for his country Zambia to be liberated when the region and the African continent remained bonded in the shackles of colonialism and apartheid”. Similar judgments have been repeated by journalists, political commentators and leading figures of the African political world.

Where do these judgments come from? What was the regional and international resonance of Kaunda's political philosophy? How did his “humanism” stand out within the broader framework of socialism and try to bring about a revolution in Zambia? How much was this revolution indebted to Pan-Africanism and the revolutionary experiments that were simultaneously taking place in Yugoslavia, Korea, the Soviet Union and China? Finally, what are the limits of the humanist revolution and the compromises it has made with the powerful established forces of the Church and the Trade Unions? Was the failure of the socialist revolution in Zambia due to intrinsic limitations of the project or to a general collapse of radicalism? Finally, what is the legacy of humanism in Zambia and Africa today?

To answer these questions it is necessary to follow the trajectory of the UNIP (United National Independence Party) and some of its most influential theorists, primarily Henry Meebelo and Fergus Macpherson, who through the party's “Research Bureau” have tried to shape the nation and to root in the political conscience of the Zambians the philosophy of humanism as a “political religion”, indicating the way of a new model of democracy presented as fundamentally compatible with the essentially communal and holistic nature of African populations. Much can be said about the party's strategy through the study of documentary evidence (which can now be viewed online as part of the British Library Endangered Archives Project). Yugoslav labor relations policie proved decisive in influencing the programs for the realization of an “industrial democracy” in Zambia, as well as the privileged relationship with Korea and China and cultural exchanges between party delegations. Archives kept at ASCL in Leiden allow us to draw a sufficiently clear picture of relations with the Church, thanks above all to the documentation donated by the Dutch missionary Frans Verstraelen. Of considerable importance are the archives on international trade unions kept at the International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam), to reconstruct the relationship between UNIP and ZCTU and the degree of pervasiveness of the humanist ideology in Trade Union organizations.

The hypothesis is that the regime and the party have built an impressive transnational network and pan-African regional solidarity, making Zambia the center of the anti-colonial struggle of all  southern Africa, but that this result has been achieved at the price of the sacrifice of revolutionary programs and the implementation of socialist humanism.