George Padmore

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George Padmore (1902-1959), born Malcolm Nurse, was a Trinidadian communist and later a leading Pan-Africanist with anti-communist sympathies. Through his work with communism and decolonisation Padmore was one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century.

He was born in Arouca, Trinidad. In 1924 he travelled to Fisk University in Tennessee where he studied medicine. He later transferred to Howard University, New York University and later to Harvard Law School. It was during this time that he became active in the Communist Party USA and changed his name to George Padmore.

Padmore was an important black student leader, and this led to his involvement in Comintern, the international communist movement. In late 1929 he left the United States and moved to the USSR where he headed the Negro Bureau of the Communist International of Labour Unions and was Secretary of the International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers. He also edited the journal Negro Worker.

In 1934 Padmore resigned his positions and moved to London. In London he collaborated with C.L.R. James and other Caribbean and African intellectuals. In response to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia James and Padmore organised the International African Services Bureau. In his capacity as leader of the IASB Padmore helped organise the 1945 Manchester Conference which was attended by Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, W.E.B. DuBois, Jaja Wachuku. This conference helped set the agenda for decolonisation in the post-war period.

When Ghana became independent in 1957 Padmore moved there and served as an advisor to Nkrumah. Padmore died in London in September of 1959, where he had gone to receive medical treatment.

The Life and Struggles of Negro Toilers (1931)

How Britain Rules Africa (1936)

Africa and World Peace (1937)

The White Man's Duty: An analysis of the colonial question in the light of the Atlantic Charter (with Nancy Cunard) (1942)

The Voice of Coloured Labour (Speeches and reports of Colonial delegates to the World Trade Union Conference, 1945) (editor) (1945)

How Russia Transformed her Colonial Empire: a challenge to the imperialist powers (with Dorothy Pizer) (1946)

"History of the Pan-African Congress (Colonial and coloured unity: a programme of action)" (editor) (1947) reprinted in The 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress revisited by Hakim Adi and Marika Sherwood (1995)

Africa: Britain's Third Empire(1949)

The Gold Coast Revolution: the struggle of an African people from slavery to freedom (1953)

Pan-Africanism or Communism? The Coming Struggle for Africa (1956)