The shifting influence of Frantz Fanon on Walter Rodney’s anti-imperialism (1968–1978)

This article examines the shifting imprint of Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth on the evolving anti-imperialist politics of Afro-Guyanese Marxist historian and revolutionary Walter Rodney (1942–80). Drawing on material from the Walter Rodney Papers and beyond, it argues that Rodney’s changing engagement with Fanon reveals key patterns and nuances about his political development on questions of class as the strategy and tactics of liberation. The article contends that while Rodney initially embraced Fanon’s ideas, he gradually refined, challenged and at times rejected them as he grappled with the failed promises of post-independence Jamaica and Tanzania. By tracing Rodney’s political evolution during his most active years from 1968 to 1978, the article explores Rodney’s turn towards Marxist theory as he diverged from Fanon on the question of spontaneity, the petty bourgeoisie in African societies and the centrality of the working class in the struggle against imperialism.