Abstract:
The paper seeks to examine the relations between the Kenyan
and Western labour movements, particularly with the AFL-CIO
and the ICFTU. It is shown that apart from the mere offer of
financial inducements by these Western labour movements, on
which many writers tend to dwell, the collaborative relationship
between them and the Kenyan labour movement, which emerged
from the early 1950s to the mid-1960s, was made possible by the
remarkable ideological compatibility between these movements.
This arose out of the
conjuncture of internal contradictions of
both movements and the process of decolonisation. It will be
argued that while the Kenyan labour movement was not simply
being 'manipulated', as is so often asserted by some dependency
writers, its relations with the Western labour movements rein
forced internal' trends towards deradicalisation.
