Under pre-capitalist systems, the dominant mode of production was tied to the land. Using a Marxist method, he clarifies that development in each different economic system is fundamentally different. Rodney insists that both technology and the social structure of society are crucial elements to understanding the concept of development in human society.
He then shines this lens on developments in Africa since the first arrival of the Portuguese in 1415. One of the book’s greatest achievements, which this review will focus on, was how Rodney provides a clear Marxist analysis of development, and in particular underdevelopment. This book should be read by all those looking to challenge the brutal system of capitalism. His role in helping build the leadership of the Working People’s Alliance, and its participation in the emerging revolutionary struggles of the working class and poor in Guyana, was the reason he was assassinated on Jby the brutal government regime. Rodney was an intellectual leader in the liberation in Guyana. This contrasts to the present trend of most prominent self-proclaimed Marxists being cloistered in academia. With capitalism having been eradicated in large sections of the globe, the sharpest Marxist thinkers were those participating in and helping to lead struggles. Walter Rodney was not only a learned African scholar, but he was also a product of his time. The book was first published exactly 50 years ago in 1972. Already this is leading to a new wave of revolts around the globe in recent years, with the need to overthrow capitalism and imperialism becoming increasingly evident as the only lasting solution. and the unfolding world recession, the rise in prices of food and fuel precipitated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the climate crisis.
The ability of the major capitalist powers to hoard resources has been exposed by the pandemic and vaccine nationalism, the catastrophic effect of rising interest rates in the U.S. The world has never been more interconnected as it is today. For example, around 90% of the world’s cobalt was produced in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018. This is especially true as the U.S., China, and other major powers are frantically intervening in Africa to gain control of rare earth elements necessary for the new digital, “green” economy which are especially concentrated there. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is a fundamental work that should be required reading for all socialists and those seeking to understand underdevelopment in countries today when inequality between rich and poor countries is dramatically exacerbated by global crisis.
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