Twilight of European colonialism

This book, which after much thought I have decided to call The Twilight of European Colonialism: A Political Analysis, attempts to live up to both its title and its subtitle. It is confined almost wholly to political developments, providing only a bare minimum of economic material when it seemed in dispensable for understanding the political events. It does not attempt to do more than hint at the tremendous social and cultural changes which have led colonial peoples to awaken to the fact that independence is now within their grasp. As a historian I have provided some slight historical background where it seemed necessary, and I have charted the political development in cach colony in chronological sequence, pausing at each stage to analyze the significance of the major advances toward self-government. Since the future of many colonies is not yet fully assured, I have outlined the problems which remain to be solved, especially in those colonies where European settlers have made their permanent homes, and I have made some attempt to pre dict the future on the basis of present trends. In places I have not hesitated to criticize the policies of the European powers involved, particularly when they have appeared to be either denying their own professed principles or defeating the ends they have set for themselves.

Most of the chapters fall naturally into three parts. The first part deals with the colony as a whole and offers some tentative conclusions, the second goes into considerable detail on the political advances granted by the co lonial powers and the rise of political parties to take advantage of them; the third part comes to further conclusions on the basis of the data pre sented and comments on the probable future. When the manuscript had been completed, a reader suggested that the passages of a general nature be grouped in one section for the nonspecialist, and the detailed material left to be read separately by those who wished to go into the subject more thoroughly, Although I could recognize the merit of this suggestion, espe. cially for the general reader, I concluded that much of the significance of the detailed material could be appreciated only if read in company with the comments. But to aid the general reader there is a detailed table of con tents, which includes the subheadings within chapters, so that he may know where to find the passages of interest to him; and to aid the specialized reader there is a rather full index, with as many subheadings and cross ref. erences as seemed necessary to enable the book to be used as a work reference. I have, moreover, not included any formal bibliography, confin ing myself to a few bibliographical notes at the end of each major section which may direct the reader to some published works where he can find useful supplementary information. In this field there are very few books of any great value. The greater part of my research involved the study of public documents, up-to-date periodical material, and information from friends, acquaintances, and officials, supplemented by an extensive world tour in 1957, when I was able to visit almost every place covered in the book. of

In a work of this scope, which I have attempted to bring up-to-date as of September 15, 1959, it is more than probable that there will be occa sional errors of fact, and there will certainly be changes while the book is in production. I shall insert footnotes calling attention to major changes until the volume goes to press. Much of the material is not easy to check, but it is as accurate as I have been able to make it with the material at my disposal, I offer the reader my apologies in advance for any errors that may be found, and I will be grateful if my attention is called to them. I cannot promise they will be corrected in a later edition since any such later edition will be written from a different time perspective. More colonies will have attained their in dependence, and it may indeed be possible that colonialism can then be described as a historical phenomenon, wholly in the past. If so, then all the events that led to its demise will necessarily be seen from a different vantage point, and in different perspective; and a different selection of events will be chosen for emphasis.

In this book, which within its limits tries to be inclusive, I have tried to catch the rapid sequence of events as they were passing. It is thus not a work of historical scholarship but rather of analytical journalism. In its preparation I have had the constant encouragement and help of my wife, who also typed much of the manuscript under exceedingly difficult condi tions.