Lionel Cliffe and the generation(s) of Zimbabwean politics

Abstract

Lionel Cliffe’s idea of ‘generations’ was a way of understanding the structure/agency divide and internecine struggles among Zimbabwe’s nascent ruling classes during its liberation struggle. Here, its utility as an analytical tool on factional conflict is assessed. Cliffe’s own involvement in the Zimbabwe African National Union’s history is also examined as a lens on its generational and ideological contradictions. Further, archival evidence of the British state’s observations of Mugabe illustrates how he fused the contradictions of age cohorts, points of entry into the struggle, political philosophy and international dimensions, and suggests, too, the difficulties of outsiders’ understanding of complex struggles.

Five funerals, no weddings, a couple of birthdays: Terry Ranger, his contemporaries, and the end of Zimbabwean nationalism – 24 October 2013–3 January 2015

“…When he was released and deported he worked with a Zimbabwean committee in London to release them. ZANU member Fay Chung asked Ranger to join it but he declined, judiciously replying that since he had no idea who was behind the assassination he could hardly get involved (while other members who shared the same ignorance got involved because they disapproved of torture being used to extract confessions) (CIIR 1976;Moore forthcoming).…”