The African Student Movement in the Soviet Union during the 1960s: Pan-Africanism and Communism in the Shadow of Nation-States
2024
Abstract
In the 1960s thousands of African students attended universities in the Eastern bloc. This article retraces the history of the student movement focusing on the Federation of African Students in the Soviet Union (FASSS).
Uniting students from all over Africa, FASSS was a radical and autonomous organization. It was also a theatre of conflicts over Pan-Africanism, communism and the national question, while it had to address the issue of Soviet racism.
The article details these conflicts and explores why Maoism became attractive among African students. It further examines why FASSS fell apart and retraces the trajectories of returned student leaders.