Kenyatta studies Russia
After the unaddressed letter about his move from London, Kenyatta went to Germany in the company of his girlfriend, Connie McGregor and the famous African American Pan-Africanist, George Padmore. Padmore, an African American journalist and author, had great influence on Kenyatta and they, together with other African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and African American WEB Dubois, became the pioneer Pan Africanists and organisers of the Pan African Congress. Padmore and Dubois have roads named after them in Nairobi to immortalise their contribution to the eventual freedom of Africans from colonial domination.
Kenyatta proceeded to Moscow following an invitation to study at The Toilers of the East University. To see how the Russians were dealing with their own backward areas, Kenyatta travelled as much as he could, but most of his time was spent at this special revolutionary institute in Moscow where he studied for two years. Kenyatta returned to London on 30th August 1933.
KCA had sent money for the cost of the return fare to Kenya for both Kenyatta and Mackerie but by then Kenyatta had not arrived in London. Mackerie bought himself a first-class ticket and pocketed the rest; so when Kenyatta had returned to London he was stranded.
In January 1933, Kenyatta wrote an article, entitled ‘An African looks at British Imperialism’ for the issue of the ‘The Negro Worker.’ This article was as extreme as anything he had written for the communist press. In the article, he dismissed the Carter Commission out of hand. He asserted that land had been stolen by the whites and those natives, chosen to speak for the people, were no more than stooges. By then, no one advancing such views would be allowed free expression in Kenya and indeed at this point no one thought in these terms. The Kikuyu leaders in Kenya at the time all looked to the British government for their welfare and saw their future only on colonial terms unlike Kenyatta, who looked for self-governance. Taking stock of himself as the winter of 1933 approached, Kenyatta concluded that there was no place for him yet in his own country. One thing was missing though; unlike other Africans he met, his own education still lacked credentials, so he decided to become a student again to make up for this deficiency.
He was first attached to the London University at the phonetics department of University College where he helped Lily Armstrong compile her book, ‘The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of the Kikuyu Language.’ He later began to study anthropology under the world -famous Professor Bronislaw Malinowski, then teaching at the London School of Economics. Under his guidance, each student was expected to give a paper which was followed by discussion and lectures. Kenyatta’s paper gave a detailed account of Kikuyu female circumcision with a factual account of how the ceremony was performed. Europeans and missionaries considered this rite disgusting and barbarous, while the Kikuyu considered it very important for the solidarity of their social structure. But through the discipline of anthropology, Kenyatta had found the weapon he needed to answer the philosophy of colonialism. The outcome was his book, published in 1938, ‘Facing Mount Kenya.’
In autumn 1936, Peter Mbiyu Koinange, son of chief Koinange, arrived in UK on completion of his studies in America. It was the Leaky family who arranged for Koinange to spend a year at the Cambridge College with which they had connections, St.John’s. During this time, he met with Kenyatta and helped him prepare ‘Facing Mount Kenya.’ for production. At that time, he was still called Johnstone Kenyatta but wanted an African name for the cover of the book. Together with Koinange, they coined the word ‘Jomo’ the closest alliteration of “Guchomora”, the Kikuyu word for “unsheathing a sword.” By now, Kenyatta had taken an active part in the Pan-African movement when he met Dinah Stock, the then secretary of British Center against Imperialism. By profession, she was a Workers Educational Association (WEA), lecturer. She also helped Kenyatta organize his Manuscript for the book.
1938 was a very busy year for Kenyatta. With Dinah Stock’s assistance he wrote a number of articles for the Manchester Guardian about Kamba troubles. He also attended various meetings organized by the Fabians, the ILP and by the Workers Education Association. Through this, he translated into political terms the message of ‘Facing Mount Kenya.’ By this time, the qualified Koinange, now back in Nairobi and contrary to his expectations, was allocated a minor post in the Education Department on a salary less than Europeans with far poorer qualifications than his own. Koinange refused the offer and with the help of his father, he founded the Teachers’ Training College at Githunguri on the 7th of July 1939.
During the Second World War, there was an inevitable clamp-down on Kenyatta’s communications with Kenya. On 30th May, KCA was banned, with Jesse Kariuki, George Ndegwa and other ringleaders, arrested and exiled to the northern part of Kenya. The arrest and government security measures sealed off Kenyatta from his own country. But the war did force on Kenyatta a period of reflection. To him, there was no much point in writing to the papers but Dinah Stock encouraged him to continue. So he began a novel, not to be completed, about the upbringing of an African in a British colony. Another result was a pamphlet which appeared under the title ‘My People of Kikuyu’ with the subtitle ‘The Life of Chief Wang’ombe,’ the first half of which described the traditional political organization of the Kikuyu and stressed its democratic structure through age grades and it ended with a strong plea for Kenyan independence. In 1942, Kenyatta met Edna Grace Clarke, the daughter of a marine engineer from Yarmouth. On 11th May 1942, they were married at Chanctonbury Registry Office. And on 11th August 1943 at Worthing hospital, Edna gave birth to a son, Peter Magana, named after Kenyatta’s grandfather.
Kenyatta continued his activities with the Pan-African congress. In the years that followed, Peter Abrahams had written a novel entitled ‘A Wreath for Udomo’ Kenyatta was Abraham’s model for his hero, Udomo. He is seen first in exile and then as the African statesman whose wisdom appears too conservative for the forces released by independence, which was to prove to be curiously prophetic. Abrahams was impressed both with Kenyatta’s sense of history and his humanity, and still in his novel, Udomo is involved in having to face complex issues while in England. Finally, on 5th September 1946, Kenyatta boarded the Alcantara to return to Kenya. The European experience had transformed him for life and on board the ship he spoke of a Kenya in which all races, white and black, Arabs and Indians, could live and work in peace alongside each other. But he did not doubt his own mission to be their leader.
