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The True Grit of Compromise

In recent years the historiography of decolonization in Africa has undergone a dramatic shift in emphasis. Where once decolonization was the story of the struggle of African nationalists to overthrow the oppression of colonial rule, it has now become a less dramatic account of the retreat from Empire by tired and troubled colonial powers. The 'push-factor' of nationalist demands has given way to the 'pull factors' of the post-war world the Sterling crisis and domestic economics, the Cold War and American influence, the loss of the will to rule. Buried beneath an avalanche of archival documents dealing with the 'High Policy' of post-war imperialism, the role of African nationalist leaders in bringing colonial empire to an end is perhaps in danger of being forgotten. How refreshing it is, then, to read John Spencer's vivid and detailed account of the growth of African political action and emergence of nationalist politics in colonial Kenya. Here is precisely the sort of study that is needed in order to relocate African nationalists in the story of decolonization. It is not an encomium in praise of the heroes of the struggle against oppression, but presents a scholarly and worthy analysis of the issues, motives, principles and personalities that shaped African politics. Spencer sets great store by the continuities he finds in the gradual evolution of African politics. The first half of the narrative takes us from the early days of the East African Association under Harry Thuku in the 1920s, through the fluctuations in the fortunes of the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA) during the inter-war period, to the revival of African political action in the Kenya African Study Union at the end of the war. The terrain here has been only partially mapped by others, and Spencer is able to provide significant new insights into the political debates among the Kikuyu around the two principal crises of the period: the female circumcision question, and the representation of Kikuyu evidence to the Kenya Land Commission and subsequent decisions regarding the transfer of lands at Tigoni. The rich detail that Spencer is able to reveal, and the manner in which he exposes the internal clashes and splits which seem to have characterized these phases of African politics, hinges upon the skilful use of an extensive range of oral evidence, collected in more than 200 interviews. These informants include virtually every major African actor in the events described though Kenyatta is, not surprisingly, conspicuous by his absence; a number of leading Asian and European settler politicians; and several prominent colonial administrators. The oral material really comes into its own, however, in the second half of the book, which deals with the KAU from 1946 to 1953. Spencer identifies first a moderate and then a militant phase in KAU politics, and charts the struggle that emerged between the factions as they quarrelled over the tactics that should be adopted by KAU. Central to this debate is Kenyatta, and the discussion of his ability to control and muster the nationalist forces. The conclusions are not entirely favourable for the founding father of the Kenyan nation. There is no longer any originality to be claimed in a critique of Kenyatta's leadership in these difficult years, but it is stimulating to glimpse the 'insiders'' view, as recounted by Spencer's informants, of Kenyatta struggling under the double burden of increased settler militancy against African representation and the growing militancy within the KAU itself, fired by impatience with the administration in its unwillingness to promote African interests further and faster. Paradoxically, in this critical period the KAU failed successfully to project itself as a 'national' party, but was widely perceived as a Kikuyu party the KCA under a different guise.