The West African Students' Union (WASU), founded in London, England, in 1925 and active into the 1960s,"History of WASU"
The WASU Project. was an association of

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

s from various

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

n countries who were studying in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Origins

WASU was founded on 7 August 1925 by twenty-one

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

students, led by

Ladipo Solanke Ladipo Solanke (c. 1886 – 2 September 1958) was a political activist born in Nigeria who campaigned on West African issues. Biography Birth and education Born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, as Oladipo Felix Solanke, he studied at the Fourah Bay Coll ...

and

Herbert Bankole-Bright Herbert Christian Bankole-Bright (23 August 1883 – 14 December 1958) was a well-known political activist in Sierra Leone. Early life Herbert Bankole-Bright was born in Okrika, in an area the British would the next year designate the Oil Rivers ...

."History of West African Students' Union (WASU)"
West African Students' Union Solanke had founded the Nigerian Progress Union (NPU), for

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based students with a

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

n background, the previous year. With the support of

Amy Ashwood Garvey Amy Ashwood Garvey (''née'' Ashwood; 10 January 1897 – 3 May 1969) was a Jamaican Pan-Africanist activist. She was a director of the Black Star Line Steamship Corporation, and along with her former husband Marcus Garvey she founded the ''Neg ...

, it had begun to campaign for improved welfare for all

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n students in London, and for assorted measures for progress in Britain's African

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

Hakim Adi Hakim Adi is a British historian and scholar who specializes in African affairs. He is the first African-British historian to become a professor of history in the UK. He has written widely on Pan-Africanism and the modern political history of A ...

, ''West Africans in Britain 1900–1960: Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and Communism'', London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1998. . As early as 1923, Solanke had proposed that the

Union of Students of African Descent Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

(USAD), a Christian social organisation dominated by students from the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

(and which had grown out of the earlier West African and West Indian Christian Union, founded in 1917), should incorporate itself into the

National Congress of British West Africa The National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA), founded in 1917, was one of the earliest nationalist organizations in West Africa, and one of the earliest formal organizations working toward African emancipation. It was largely composed of a ...

(NCBWA). In 1925, Bankole-Bright of the NCBWA called on USAD, the NPU, the

African Progress Union The African Progress Union (APU) was founded in London in 1918 as "an Association of Africans from various parts of Africa, the West Indies, British Guiana, Honduras and America, representing advanced African ideas in liberal education". The first p ...

and the Gold Coast Students' Association (GCSA) to join together to form a single organisation for West African students, inspired by the

Indian Students' Union Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

. Many students joined together to form WASU, and Solanke became the new organisation's secretary-general, while

J. B. Danquah Joseph Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah (18 December 1895 – 4 February 1965) was a Ghanaian politician, scholar, lawyer, and one of the founding fathers of Ghana. He played a significant role in pre- and post-colonial Ghana, which was former ...

became its first president.

J. E. Casely Hayford Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford, (29 September 1866 – 11 August 1930), also known as Ekra-Agyeman, was a prominent Fante Gold Coast journalist, editor, author, lawyer, educator, and politician who supported pan-African nationalism. His 1911 no ...

was the new grouping's first patron, which post he used to promote

African nationalism African nationalism is an umbrella term which refers to a group of political ideologies in sub-Saharan Africa, which are based on the idea of national self-determination and the creation of nation states. The new organisation made opposition to the

colour bar Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Internati ...

its first priority, while also including the promotion of political research, support for the NCBWA and the provision of a student hostel in its founding aims. WASU began publication of a journal, ''Wasu'', in March 1926. Solanke and Julius Ojo-Cole wrote the majority of articles in what was intended as a scholarly publication, circulated both in Europe and Africa. The aim of founding a hostel was taken directly from USAD and the NPU. Many African students in Britain found that, due to

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

, it was difficult to secure satisfactory lodgings. While the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of col ...

showed some interest in establishing such a hostel, WASU was keen to maintain control of the project, and in 1929, Solanke left for a fundraising journey through West Africa. Despite this, the Colonial Office assembled a secret committee to plan for a hostel under its control, and attempted to secure private funding for its construction. This became

Aggrey House Aggrey House was a hostel established in London in 1934 to cater for African students and students of African descent. It was named after James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey. It was at 47 Doughty Street, a typical Georgian terraced house, on the recommen ...

, which WASU exposed in their pamphlet '' The Truth About Aggrey House – An Exposure of the Government Plan to Control African Students in Great Britain''. WASU also undertook some political campaigns within Britain. In 1929, it successfully stopped plans for an African village exhibition in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, which it felt would be exploitative. This campaign was taken up in Parliament by

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

(CPGB)

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Shapurji Saklatvala Shapurji Dorabji Saklatvala (28 March 1874 – 16 January 1936) was a communist activist and British politician of Indian Parsi heritage. Saklatvala is notable for being the first person of Indian heritage to become a British Member of Parliamen ...

. During the 1930s, the group developed increasing links with

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

groups, such as the

League Against Imperialism The League against Imperialism and Colonial Oppression (french: Ligue contre l'impérialisme et l'oppression coloniale; german: Liga gegen Kolonialgreuel und Unterdrückung) was a transnational anti-imperialist organization in the interwar period. ...

(LAI) and the

Negro Welfare Association The Negro Welfare Association (NWA) was one of the most prominent Black British organizations in the 1930s. Calling "for the complete liberation and independence of all Negroes who are suffering from capitalist exploitation and imperialist dominati ...

, in particular in its campaigns against the colour bar and against the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. While in Africa, Solanke founded more than twenty branches of WASU, in the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, Nigeria,

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

and the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

. While these organisations were short-lived, they formed the initial membership of the

Nigerian Youth Movement The Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) was Nigeria's first genuine nationalist organization, founded in Lagos at Stanley Orogun, with Professor Eyo Ita as the founding father and many others, including Samuel Akisanya. Ernest Ikoli, the first editor of t ...

and the Gold Coast Youth Conference.

Activities in the 1930s

By 1932, when Solanke returned to Britain, ''Wasu'' had ceased to appear, and membership had fallen amid disputes between Nigerian and Gold Coast members. However, he had raised sufficient funds to open a hostel in Camden in March 1933 named "Africa House". In addition to providing accommodation for students, the hostel also offered rooms to West African visitors to London, and it housed reference materials on West Africa. The new hostel did nothing to settle the disputes within WASU, and Solanke was accused of wasting money while in Africa, and of attempting to personally control the new lodgings. Almost all the Gold Coast Students' Association (GCSA) members left WASU, and even an intervention by

William Ofori Atta William Ofori Atta (10 October 1910 – 14 July 1988), popularly called "Paa Willie", was a founding member of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) and one of the founding fathers of Ghana, as one of "The Big Six" detained by the British col ...

was unable to settle matters. The Colonial Office determined to open a rival hostel, at which political discussion could be monitored and discouraged. WASU opposed the scheme, and formed an "Africa House Defence Committee", including

Reginald Bridgeman Reginald Francis Orlando Bridgeman CMG, MVO (14 October 1884 – 11 December 1968) was a British diplomat and politician associated with a number of left wing causes including British-Soviet friendship and nuclear disarmament. Background Born ...

of the LAI, also gaining the support of the

National Council for Civil Liberties Liberty, formerly, and still formally, called the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), is an advocacy group and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, which challenges unjust laws, protects civil liberties and promotes hu ...

and

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

, who was awarded the title "Babasale of the Union".

opened in October 1934, but a WASU-led

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

left it unfilled, until the Colonial Office offered WASU official recognition and financial support to run Africa House. In financial difficulties, WASU accepted the deal, and also accepted funding from organisations such as the

United African Company The Royal Niger Company was a mercantile company chartered by the British government in the nineteenth century. It was formed in 1879 as the ''United African Company '' and renamed to ''National African Company'' in 1881 and to ''Royal Niger Co ...

. In 1937, the Gold Coast Farmers Union wrote to Solanke, asking for his assistance in breaking the

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Mos ...

Cadbury's Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mars ...

and the UAC. With Labour Party MPs

Reginald Sorensen Reginald William Sorensen, Baron Sorensen (19 June 1891 – 8 October 1971) was a Unitarian minister and Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for over thirty years between 1929 and 1964. Early life ...

and

Arthur Creech Jones Arthur Creech Jones (15 May 1891 – 23 October 1964) was a British trade union official and politician. Originally a civil servant, his imprisonment as a conscientious objector during the First World War forced him to change careers. He was el ...

, WASU campaigned in support of the 1938 Gold Coast cocoa hold-up, where small farmers attempted to pressurise the companies by disrupting their supplies. The campaign also convinced most members of the GCSA to rejoin WASU. In July 1938, with grants from various West African governments and British companies, WASU opened a new hostel, on

Camden Square Camden Square is a rectangular town square in the London Borough of Camden running parallel to Camden Road north of central Camden. It has a playground and dog walking area, and St Paul's Church is at the north end. It has a perimeter of . At ...

. This also solved the union's financial problems, and enabled it to step up its campaigning activity. WASU became increasingly identified as an

anti-colonial Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence m ...

group, and it called for

dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 ...

status and

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

for the West African colonies.

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...

gave a speech to the union in which he suggested that the

Atlantic Charter The Atlantic Charter was a statement issued on 14 August 1941 that set out American and British goals for the world after the end of World War II. The joint statement, later dubbed the Atlantic Charter, outlined the aims of the United States and ...

would apply to all nations, effectively endorsing WASU's aims, but

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

insisted that

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

could only apply to European nations.

Activities in the 1940s

In 1942, WASU organised a "West African Parliamentary Committee", chaired by Sorensen. It also published a call for the immediate internal self-government of Britain's West African colonies, to be followed by independence within five years of the end of the war.

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...

personally visited Africa House to argue the British government's case. WASU's influence in West Africa again increased, with both the Nigerian Union of Students and the Sierra Leone Students' Union affiliating. WASU also represented the

Nigeria Union of Teachers {{short description, Trade union in Nigeria Nigeria Union of Teachers is a major trade union in Nigeria. It was formed to create a united front for practitioners of the teaching profession in the country. Major objectives of the union covers the imp ...

within the UK. With its links to the Nigerian

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

movement, WASU was a significant supporter of the Nigerian general strike of 1945. In the mid-1940s, Solanke returned to West Africa to undertake further fundraising, with H. O. Davies becoming acting Secretary-General. WASU also affiliated to the World Youth Movement, and in 1946 it held a joint conference with

Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...

West African National Secretariat The West African National Secretariat (WANS) was a Pan-Africanist movement founded by Kwame Nkrumah, based in Britain. Nkrumah founded WANS in December 1945, immediately following the Manchester Pan-African Congress, becoming the new organisation's ...

. This event agreed a platform of

anti-imperialism Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...

and

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

. Nkrumah also became Vice President of WASU. The following year, WASU called for an immediate decision on independence for the West African colonies, and criticised the Labour government for its failure to deliver this.

Final years

Solanke returned from West Africa at the end of the decade, with sufficient funding for a new hostel to open on the

Chelsea Embankment Chelsea Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and walkway along the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. The western end of Chelsea Embankment, including a stretch of Cheyne Walk, is in the Royal Borough of ...

. However, he fell out with WASU's executive, each accusing the other of excessive expenditure, and in 1949 he stepped down from his positions in the group. In the 1951 elections to WASU's executive, he organised an

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

slate, which failed to take control from the largely communist leadership of

Joe Appiah Joseph Emmanuel Appiah, MP ( ; 16 November, 1918 – 8 July, 1990)Eric Pace"Joe Appiah Is Dead; Ghanaian Politician And Ex-Envoy, 71" ''New York Times'', July 12, 1990. was a Ghanaian lawyer, politician and statesman. Biography He was born in K ...

and Ade Ademola. In 1952, WASU determined to close their Camden hostel, but Solanke instead took control of it. WASU affiliated to the

International Union of Students The International Union of Students (IUS) was a worldwide nonpartisan association of university student organizations. The IUS was the umbrella organization for 155 such students' organizations across 112 countries and Territory (administrative ...

(IUS) on its foundation, and its members regularly attended the

World Festival of Youth The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union of Students after 1947. History The festival has been held regularly since 1947 as an eve ...

. Although the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom left the IUS in 1952, WASU retained its membership. In 1952, WASU began publication of ''WASU News Service'', as an openly

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

replacement for ''Wasu''. Following further financial problems, it sold its hostel on the

and opened cheaper premises on Warrington Crescent in 1956. The same year, it underwent a major reorganisation and passed a motion disassociating it from all political organisations. In 1958, it joined the Committee of African Organisations and lost importance, but it remained active into the early 1960s. The

National Union of Nigerian Students National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) was a students' union bringing together Nigerian students both within Nigeria and across the diaspora. NUNS was founded in 1956, following structural changes in the West African Students' Union. It brough ...

was one of the organisations set up in the wake of the demise of WASU.

Legacy

In 2004 a new West African Students' Union based in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

was founded to unite students' unions throughout the region. It describes itself as a formal resuscitation of the earlier organisation. Also inspired by the original West African Students' Union, The WASU Project aims to document the history of West Africans in Britain, especially those who campaigned for an end to colonial rule and against all forms of racism during the 20th century, by presenting information, photos, and eventually a film about WASU."Introduction"
The WASU Project.

References

External links

* ww.wasunion.orgat Official WASU'S Website
The WASU Project website.

"History"
at West African Students Union Parliament-WASUP website. *

- WASU president Pillah Romans {{Authority control 1925 establishments in the United Kingdom Politics of West Africa Anti-racist organisations in the United Kingdom Students' unions Pan-Africanist organizations Student organizations established in 1925 Pan-Africanism in the United Kingdom British West Africa