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An East African Radical: the life of Erica Fiah*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

N. J. Westcott
N. J. Westcott
Affiliation:
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
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Extract

Erica Fiah's neglected life is a very valuable source of information on African political thought and action in colonial Tanganyika. His mission education imbued him with strong Christian values and a belief in British culture and civilization. Coming to Tanganyika from Buganda he was always rather alienated from the local society and culture, and was therefore inclined to seek a political and social community with educated Africans throughout the territory, or with the traders and workers in Dar es Salaam. He too would have liked to be the ‘Mwalimu’ of the Tanganyikan people. In his relations with the colonial government he clearly went a step further than Martin Kayamba or the African Association of his day, who relied on maintaining and exploiting the paternalism of the Government and its patron–client relationship with Africans. Fiah's attitude was one of ‘loyal opposition’, which he expressed first through his own Garveyite association, in the 1930s, and then through his newspaper Kwetu, during the 1940s. Fiah sought to improve and change the existing system, taking more active steps than mere petitioning to make the Government fulfil its moral obligations. This led him into conflict with the African Association in 1936–8; later it also distanced him from the emerging nationalist movement which he had helped fertilize, but whose complete rejection of colonial rule was beyond his intellectual horizon. Fiah's life was not the failure it seemed but a central link in the political transformation of the people of Tanganyika.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , January 1981 , pp. 85 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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References

1 Scotton, J. F., ‘Tanganyika's African Press 1937–1960: a nearly forgotten pre-Independence Forum: African Studies Review, 21 (1978), 1–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Iliffe, John, A Modern History of Tanganyika (Cambridge, 1979), 377–9, 393–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar A friend of Fiah, T. L. M. Marealle, compared him to Gandhi and declared. ‘Om. Fiah's name will be the first in the opening pages of our future history.’ (Kwetu, Special Number, Nov.–Dec. 1941.)

2 This account of Fiah's early life is based on his brief autobiography in Kwetu, Feb. 1945, pp. 13–14. For the background, see Harlow, V. and Chilver, E. M. (eds.) History of East Africa, 11 (Oxford, 1965)Google Scholar, ch. 2 (by D. A. Low). The origin of Fiah's name is a complete mystery.

3 See TNA (Tanzania National Archives, Dar es Salaam), SMP 23754/II/17–23.

4 Scotton, J. F., ‘The first African press in East Africa’, International Journal of African Historical Studies, vi, ii (1973), 213–14Google Scholar; and King, K.J., ‘The Young Baganda Association’, Journal of African and Asian Studies, iii, i (1969).Google Scholar

5 Clayton, A. H. and Savage, D. C., Government and Labour in Kenya (London, 1974), 81–91Google Scholar; Iliffe, , Tanganyika, 250.Google Scholar

6 J. M. Lonsdale, ‘Notes of interviews on 6 and 20 Jan. 1965 with Erica Fiah’ (hereafter, Fiah interview). I am grateful to Dr Lonsdale for lending me these notes.

7 Kwetu, 26 March 1942.

8 Fiah Interview, and TNA SMP 22444/I/27.

9 Interviews with A. H. Pike, O.B.E. (District Commissioner, Dares Salaam 1938–45), 3 Nov. 1978 and 19 March 1979 (hereafter, Pike interview); TNA SMP 23754/I/13.

10 This may explain his far more violent reaction to racial discrimination than, say, Martin Kayamba's. Compare Iliffe's biography of Kayamba in Iliffe, J. (ed.) Modern Tanzanians (Nairobi, 1973), 66–94Google Scholar, and Kayamba's autobiography in Perham, M. (ed.), Ten Africans (London, 1936)Google Scholar; see also Post, K. W. J. and Jenkins, G. D., The Price of Liberty (Cambridge, 1973), 33–75Google Scholar, and Jones-Quartey, K. A. B., A Life of Azikivie (Harmonds-worth, 1965), 29–61.Google Scholar

11 TNA SMP 10849/40/1. For Dar es Salaam, see Iliffe, Tanganyika, 384–95, and N. Westcott, ‘Life in Dar during World War Two’, Daily News (Dar es Salaam), 21 Dec. 1979.

12 Pike interview; note also the jubilation with which a rumour of his death was received in 1936: Kwetu, 14 Jan. 1939.

13 For the African Association, see Iliffe, Tanganyika, ch. 13; and TNA SMP 19325/1.

14 Mambo Leo, Nov. 1934, p. 184; Minute by Kayamba, 21 Sept. 1934, TNA SMP 22444/I/2.

15 Letter from Commissioner of Police, 27 March 1936, TNA SMP 22444/1/45. Garvey's influence is acknowledged in Fiah interview. For details of Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association, see Cronon, E. D., Black Moses (Madison, 1955)Google Scholar, and for writings, Garvey's, The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, edited by Garvey, A. J., 3 vols. (London, 1967, 1977).Google Scholar

16 Vice-Pres. ACA to Chief Secretary, 19 N0V. 1934, TNA SMP 22444/I/12, and Fiah to District Officer, Dares Salaam, 14 Dec. 1934, 22444/1/23. ‘Précis of Facts in the Case of Erika Fiah’, April 1953, TNS SMP 10849/40/97; Fiah interview. Kwetu, Special Number, Nov. –Dec. 1941. Compare Hopkins, A. G., ‘Economic Aspects of Political Movements in Nigeria and in the Gold Coast, 1918–1939’, Journal of African History, vii, i (1966), 133–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

17 ‘Mbiu ya kwanza’, enclosed in Fiah to Chief Secretary, 14 Dec. 1934, TNA SMP 22444/I/26–7; ‘Bye-Laws of the African Commercial Association’, TNA SMP 22444/I/42 (emphasis added).

18 Ibid.

19 Fiah to Provincial Commissioner, Dar es Salaam, 13 Jan. 1936, TNA SMP 22444/I/42 (emphasis added).

20 Proposed Bye-Laws of the Tanganyika African Welfare and Commercial Association’, TNA SMP 22444/I/47.

21 Ibid. That the TAWCA made a real attempt to fulfil the last pledge is shown by the petition from Pres. TAWCA to District Commissioner, Dar es Salaam, 17 Dec. 1940, TNA SMP 10849/706. Cronon, Black Moses, 61.

22 Minutes by Northcote, Scupham and MacMichael, TNA SMP 22444/I/66–9. The general feeling was that the leaders of the TAWCA were out to line their own pockets from the gullible public. The Governor's policy was to deflect their energies away from politics into social welfare. The TAWCA was tolerated but not recognized.

23 Letter from Commissioner of Police, 24 June 1936, TNP SMP 22444/I/72; Tanganyika Standard, 2 May 1936; and PRO (Public Record Office, London), CO 691/147/42022/25. Note by Scupham, 9 July 1936, TNA SMP 22444/I/70.

24 A series of letters in TNA SMP 22444/1/73–95.

25 Quoted in M. R. Jellicoe, ‘Indigenous Savings Associations in Eastern Africa…’, UNESCO: Economic Commission for Africa paper (25 Oct. 1968), 7 (lent me by Dr M. L. Pirouet).

26 Fiah interview; and Kwetu, 7 Dec. 1937.

27 Fiah interview and Kwetu, 14 Jan. 1938. Fiah and George Mvaa did the teaching.

28 Idi Salim to Chief Secretary 9 Aug. 1936, and note by Scupham, 9 July 1936, TNA SMP 22444/I/96, 98 and 70. Scupham had also enquired of Fiah why there needed to be two associations in Dar, which may have encouraged him to act.

29 Minutes of meeting in TNA 61/385/1/28; Tangazo (printed handbill), dated 23 July 1936, TNA SMP 22444/I/136.

30 Bulletin of Political Intelligence, Sept.–Nov. 1936. TNA SMP 19325/1/53.

31 Pres. AA Dar to Chief Secretary, 18 Jan. 1938, TNA SMP 19325/1/58, and Acting Provincial Commissioner, Dar es Salaam, to Acting Chief Secretary, 13 May 1938, TNA SMP 22444/I/143.

32 There is a profusion of accusation and counter-accusation on this matter which it would be tedious to specify: all relevant correspondence is in TNA SMP 19325/I/58–68, and 22444/I/136–146. Also Kwetu, 25 March 1938. The prosecuted Vice-President was one Ramadhani Ali, leader of the Zaramo community and one of the most influential men in Dar es Salaam; see TNA 540/3/32.

33 The coup is described, in Wazee wa Kiafrika to Chief Secretary, 24 April 1938, TNA SMP 19325/I/63; for Fiah's prosecution, see Commr Police, 3 May 1938, TNA SMP 15754.

34 Gen. Sec. AA, Dar es Salaam to Governor, 26 Feb. 1940, and ‘Minute of the Third African Association Conference of 1945 held at Dodoma’, TNA SMP 19325/II/5 and 18b; also Iliffe, Tanganyika, 418–35.

35 Early copies of Kwetu are in the University Library, Dar es Salaam, but most are in TNA SMP 23754/I–IV. The quotations are from Kwetu nos. 1 and 2, 18 Nov. and 7 Dec. 1937.

36 Kwetu, 2 Aug. and 22 Nov. 1938, and 12 March 1940.

37 Scotton, ‘Tanganyika's African Press’, 1.

38 Kwetu, Feb. 1945, p. 14; TNA SMP 23754/I/10. Abbasi, one-time editor of The African Comrade and ‘a ridiculous paper titled “Jolly Joker”’, was obviously a thorn in the flesh of the administration, TNA SMP 12915/I/55. He occasionally contributed to Kwetu, e.g. 29 Feb. 1944 and Jan. 1948.

39 Kwetu, 3 May 1943.

40 Kwetu, July 1944 and 4 Aug. 1940; Fiah interview; Pike interview. A great supporter of Kwetu who collected large sums from Indians was one Thomas Marealle, who was elected Paramount Chief of the Chagga in 1951.

41 Hailey, Lord, Native Administration and Political Development in British Tropical Africa (London, 1944), 253Google Scholar; Kwetu, 28 Dec. 1939; Fiah to Chief Secretary and Provincial Commissioners, 20 July 1941, and minute dated 22 Jan. 1946, TNA SMP 23754/III/76 and IV/184.

42 This is based on the place of origin of letters published in Kwetu; and see the issues for 14 Jan. 1939 and Feb. 1945.

43 E.g. Elias Amos Kisenge, ‘African Progress is retarded because of lack of money’, Kwetu, Special Number, Nov. –Dec. 1941, pp. 11–14. Pres. AA, Dodoma and Kondoa Irangi, to Editor, in Kwetu, 15 Nov. 1943. It is not surprising that Dodoma was alone as Kwetu continued to attack the AA, usually for not supporting Fiah: Kwetu, 5 Nov. 1940.

44 TNA SMP 15938 and 23754/I/13. The administration took fifty copies.

45 Ibid.; also minute by Blaxland (Information Officer), 2 Feb. 1949, TNA SMP 23754/IV/214. During the war, the I.O. vetted Kwetu before publication. Pike interview.

46 Article by Isherwood (Director of Education), Mwanafunzi, 1938. Bukoba banning reported in Kwetu, 22 Dec. 1943.

47 E. g. Zuhra, Dunia, and The African Voice: TNA SMP 16759 and 12915/III/47; Scotton, ‘Tanganyika's African Press’, 8–10.

48 Iliffe, Tanganyika, 377; and Modern Tanzanians, 86–91; I hope to do this in a separate article.

49 Geiss, I. (tr. Keep, A.), The Pan-African Movement (London, 1974)Google Scholar, passim; Fiah interview; Kwetu, 26 June 1943 (Fiah), 26 March 1942 (Solanke), 25 June 1942 (Danquah).

50 King, K. J., ‘James E. K. Aggrey: Collaborator, Nationalist, Pan-African’, Canadian Journal of African Studies, iii, iii (Fall, 1969), 511–31.Google Scholar References to Aggrey are scattered throughout Kwetu.

51 Kwetu,25 June 1942, p. 2.

52 Kwetu, 21 Feb. 1939, ‘Jinsi Waafrica 99% Tunavyofikiri Ustaarabu’, and many other issues, e.g. Nov.–Dec. 1941, Special Number. Twumasi, Y., ‘J. B. Danquah’, African Affairs, vol. lxxvii, 306 (Jan. 1978), 86.Google Scholar

53 Kwetu, 14 July 1938, John Lonsdale was able to rescue a few books from Fiah's library, including Morton's which Fiah had annotated, and I am very grateful to him for lending them to me.

54 Kwetu, 31 Dec. 1940.

55 Ibid, and Kwetu, 26 Dec. 1941. The KNCU annual reports always appeared in the paper. Hopkins, Compare, ‘Economic aspects’, 136.Google Scholar

56 Kwetu, 26 Dec. 1941, p. 4.

57 Kwetu, 7 Sept. 1941, supplement.

58 Kwetu, February 1946, p. 2.

59 Kwetu, 14 July 1938, p. 3. Such an attitude was typical of the Ganda, however.

60 Kwetu, 26 Dec. 1941, ‘Commercial Progress in Tanganyika’; and January 1948, ‘Maisha ya Mwafrika Zamani’ (Fiah's sole concession to the myth of ‘Merrie Africa’).

61 Kwetu (Daily Edition), vol. 1 no. 1, 16 July 1948, in TNA SMP 31555/1/144.

62 Kwetu, 12 March 1940. For Fiah's ideological indebtedness to the British, see the memorandum he sent the Central Development Committee (21 May 1939) and his ‘Address to Sir Wilfrid Jackson’ (Nov.–Dec. 1941), and various professions of loyalty after Dunkirk (29 June 1940). The same attitude existed among educated West Africans: cf. Ayandele, E. A., The Educated Elite in Nigerian Society (Ibadan, 1974).Google Scholar

63 Kwetu, Nov.–Dec. 1941, ‘African Education in Tanganyika’. See King, K. J., Pan-Africanism and Education (Oxford, 1971)Google Scholar, passim, Fiah wanted universal primary education, and a big expansion of higher education.

64 Kwetu, 8 Dec. 1941, ‘A Word on the Labour Department's Annual Report for 1940’; Kwetu, 8 Sept. 1939, on the Tanga dock strike.

65 Kwetu, 5 Feb. and 11 June 1941.

66 Kwetu, 24 May 1940, 26 March 1942 and 24 May 1941.

67 Kwetu, 26 Dec. 1941, and May and July 1946. Also see K. E. Amos in Kwetu, Nov. –Dec. 1941.

68 Kwetu, 11 June 1941. Hardly an issue went by without a complaint against some manifestation of discrimination. It is very significant that Fiah held the Government responsible for this and the slow development of the country generally.

69 Kwetu, 16 July 1941.

70 Kwetu, 10 Dec. 1938, 1 Aug. 1941 and 13 Jan. 1943.

71 The books were in his library, and the pamphlets are quoted liberally in Kwetu. Their source is revealed in Fiah interview.

78 E.g. Kwetu, February and July 1946.

73 Kwetu, Sept. 1944 and Jan. 1946. Correspondence in TNA SMP 10849/40. Fiah's library also contained books on Soviet farming methods, Fiah interview.

74 From 1946 onward, Kwetu clearly reflects Fiah's obsession about food. In that year there was a drought, and food for Africans in Dar es Salaam was unobtainable or unpalatable, TNA SMP 31555/I.

75 Kwetu, September 1944.

76 Correspondence in TNA SMP 36781. ‘Chama cha Wakulima Wenyeji’.

77 Fiah interview.

78 Iliffe, , ‘A History of the Dockworkers of Dar es Salaam’, Tanzania Notes and Records, no. 71 (1970), 136Google Scholar, and Fiah interview. Iliffe reports that Fiah was ousted ‘through government intrigue’.

79 This is the subject of the file TNA SMP 10849/40. Petition at fo. 104.

80 Book and information from Dr Lonsdale. In Morton's book Fiah also notes the heroic failures of the early trade unionists and the sufferings of the Irish.

81 Probation Officer to Commissioner for Social Development, 13 April 1954. TNA SMP 10849/40/112A.

82 Thuku, Harry, An Autobiography (Nairobi, 1970).Google Scholar This was said during Mau Mau. See also Lonsdale, J. M., ‘Some origins of Nationalism in East Africa’, Journal of African History, ix, i (1968), 119–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar