Was the Section française de l’Internationale ouvrière also African? 1945–1960

Abstract This article looks at relations between Europeans and Africans within the sections of the Section française de l’Internationale ouvrière (SFIO) in sub-Saharan Africa. It is based on documentation and correspondence sent to the Paris Centre, mostly by Europeans, and held at the Office universitaire de recherche socialiste. There were, however, significant differences between the sections in French West Africa (Ivory Coast and Guinea) and those in French East Africa (Chad, Oubangui-Chari, Congo-Brazzaville) and Cameroon. The relationships of domination inherent in the colonial situation were expressed more or less violently in different places. The way in which Europeans in the African SFIO looked at Africans in the sections was generally racist and unsympathetic, and thus said a great deal about power relations in the colonial world. In the end, these relationships of domination got the better of the sections, whose fate was definitively sealed by the advent of African governments and then independence, despite the short-lived experience of the Mouvement socialiste africain.