Nkrumah’s Elite: Ghanaian students in the Soviet Union in the Cold War

Abstract

ABSTRACT From the independence of Ghana in 1957 to the ouster of the socialist President Kwame Nkrumah in 1966 more than 600 Ghanaians studied at universities and professional-technical schools in the Soviet Union. For both Ghana and the USSR these students were expected to become the socialist-minded elite that would build up postcolonial Ghana and reinforce the country’s relations with the socialist camp. This paper retraces the history of this student migration which, by that time, was the biggest one from a postcolonial African country to the Soviet Union. It surveys the premises, visions, and policies of the Soviet–Ghanaian cooperation, and investigates the students’ aspirations, before shedding light on their disappointing experiences and subsequent mobilisations in several cities around the USSR. This disillusionment, however, soon gave place to another one. With the ouster of Nkrumah, students studying in the Eastern Bloc came under attack. Back in Ghana, they were depicted as second-class specialists and often saw their ambitions shattered. Under those circumstances, Nkrumah’s students sought support from the Soviet Union and mobilised to defend their degrees and professional rights. In some respects, the post-1966 disillusionment rekindled their relationship with the Soviet Union.