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The '''West African Students' Union''' (WASU) was an association of [[student]]s from various [[West Africa]]n countries who were studying in the [[United Kingdom]].

==Origins==
WASU was founded on 7 August 1925 by twenty-one [[law]] students, led by [[Ladipo Solanke]] and [[Herbert Bankole-Bright]].<ref name="history">"[http://www.wasuonline.org/history.html History of West African Students' Union (WASU)]", West African Students' Union</ref> Solanke had founded the [[Nigerian Progress Union]] (NPU), for [[London]]-based students with a [[Nigeria]]n background, the previous year. With the support of [[Amy Ashwood Garvey]], it had begun to campaign for improved welfare for all [[Africa]]n students in London, and for assorted measures for progress in Britain's African [[colony|colonies]].<ref name="Adi">Hakim Adi, ''West Africans in Britain: 1900-1960''</ref>

As early as 1923, Solanke had proposed that the [[Union of Students of African Descent]] (USAD), a Christian social organisation dominated by students from the [[West Indies]], should incorporate itself into the [[National Congress of British West Africa]] (NCBWA). In 1925, Bankole-Bright of the NCBWA called on USAD, the NPU, the [[African Progress Union]] and the Gold Coast Students Association to join together to form a single organisation for West African students, inspired by the [[Indian Students' Union]]. Many students joined together to form the WASU, and Solanke became the new organisations' secretary-general, while [[J. B. Danquah]] became its first president. [[J. E. Casely Hayford]] was the new grouping's first patron, and he used this post to promote [[African nationalism]].<ref name="Adi" />

The new organisation made opposition to the [[Racial segregation|colour bar]] its first priority, while also including the promotion of political research, support for the NCBWA and the provision of a [[student hostel]] in its founding aims.<ref name="Adi" />

WASU began publication of a journal, ''Wasu'', in March 1926. Solanke and [[Julius Ojo-Cole]] wrote the majority of articles in what was intended as a scholarly publication, circulated both in Europe and Africa.<ref name="Adi" />

The aim of founding a hostel was taken directly from USAD and the NPU. Many African students in Britain found that, due to [[racism]], it was difficult to secure satisfactory lodgings. While the [[Colonial Office]] showed some interest in establishing such a hostel, WASU was keen to maintain control of the project, and in 1929, Solanke left for a fundraising journey through West Africa. Despite this, the Colonial Office assembled a secret committee to plan for a hostel under its control, and attempted to secure private funding for its construction.<ref name="Adi" />

WASU also undertook some political campaigns within Britain. In 1929, it successfully stopped plans for an African village exhibition in [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]], which it felt would be exploitative. This campaign was taken up in Parliament by [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] (CPGB) [[Member of Parliament]] [[Shapurji Saklatvala]]. During the 1930s, the group developed increasing links with [[communist]] groups, such as the [[League Against Imperialism]] (LAI) and the [[Negro Welfare Association]], in particular in its campaigns against the colour bar and against the Italian invasion of [[Ethiopia]].<ref name="Adi" />

While in Africa, Solanke founded more than twenty branches of WASU, in the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]], Nigeria, [[Sierra Leone]] and the [[Belgian Congo]]. While these organisations were short-lived, they formed the initial membership of the [[Nigerian Youth Movement]] and the [[Gold Coast Youth Conference]].<ref name="Adi" />

==Activities in the 1930s==
By 1932, when Solanke finally returned to Britain, ''Wasu'' had ceased to appear, and membership had fallen amid disputes between Nigerian and Gold Coast members. However, he had raised sufficient funds to open a hostel in [[Camden Town|Camden]] in March 1933 named "Africa House". In addition to providing accommodation for students, the hostel also offered rooms to West African visitors to London, and it housed reference materials on West Africa. The new hostel did nothing to settle the disputes within WASU, and Solanke was accused of wasting money while in Africa, and of attempting to personally control the new lodgings. Almost all the GCSA members left WASU, and even an intervention by [[William Ofori Atta]] was unable to settle matters.<ref name="Adi" />

The Colonial Office determined to open a rival hostel, at which political discussion could be monitored and discouraged. WASU opposed the scheme, and formed an "Africa House Defence Committee", including [[Reginald Bridgeman]] of the LAI, also gaining the support of the [[National Council for Civil Liberties]] and [[Paul Robeson]], who was awarded the title "Babasale of the Union". [[Aggrey House]] opened in October 1934, but a WASU-led [[boycott]] left it unfilled, until the Colonial Office finally offered WASU official recognition and financial support to run Africa House. In financial difficulties, WASU accepted the deal, and also accepted funding from organisations such as the [[United African Company]].<ref name="Adi" />

In 1937, the [[Gold Coast Farmers Union]] wrote to Solanke, asking for his assistance in breaking the [[Cocoa bean|cocoa]] [[cartel]] of [[Cadbury's]] and the UAC. With [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] MPs [[Reginald Sorensen]] and [[Arthur Creech Jones]], WASU campaigned in support of the [[1938 Gold Coast cocoa hold-up]], where small farmers attempted to pressurise the companies by disrupting their supplies. The campaign also convinced most members of the GCSA to rejoin WASU.<ref name="Adi" />

In July 1938, with grants from various West African governments and British companies, WASU opened a new hostel, on [[Camden Square]]. This also solved the union's financial problems, and enabled it to step up its campaigning activity. WASU became increasingly identified as an [[anti-colonial]] group, and it called for [[British Dominions|dominion]] status and [[universal suffrage]] for the West African colonies. [[Clement Attlee]] gave a speech to the union in which he suggested that the [[Atlantic Charter]] would apply to all nations, effectively endorsing WASU's aims, but [[Winston Churchill]] insisted that [[self-determination]] could only apply to European nations.<ref name="Adi" />

==Activities in the 1940s==
In 1942, WASU organised a "West African Parliamentary Committee", chaired by Sorensen. It also published a call for the immediate internal self-government of Britain's West African colonies, to be followed by independence within five years of the end of the war. [[Harold Macmillan]] personally visited Africa House to argue the British government's case.<ref name="Adi" />

WASU's influence in West Africa again increased, with both the [[Nigerian Union of Students]] and the [[Sierra Leone Students' Union]] affiliating. WASU also represented the [[Nigeria Union of Teachers]] within the UK. With its links to the Nigerian [[trade union]] movement, WASU was a significant supporter of the [[Nigerian general strike]] in 1945.<ref name="Adi" />

In the mid-1940s, Solanke returned to West Africa to undertake further fundraising, with [[H. O. Davies]] becoming acting Secretary-General. WASU also affiliated to the [[World Youth Movement]], and in 1946 it held a joint conference with [[Kwame Nkrumah]]'s [[West African National Secretariat]]. This event agreed a platform of [[anti-imperialism]] and [[socialism]].<ref name="Adi" /> Nkrumah also became Vice President of WASU.<ref>Microsoft Encarta, "Kwame Nkrumah"</ref> The following year, WASU called for an immediate decision on independence for the West African colonies, and criticised the Labour government for its failure to deliver this.<ref name="Adi" />

==Final years==
Solanke returned from West Africa at the end of the decade, with sufficient funding for a new hostel to open on the [[Chelsea Embankment]]. However, he fell out with WASU's executive, each accusing the other of excessive expenditure, and in 1949 he stepped down from his positions in the group. In the 1951 elections to WASU's executive, he organised an [[anti-communist]] slate, which failed to take control from the largely communist leadership of [[Joe Appiah]] and [[Ade Ademola]]. In 1952, WASU determined to close their Camden hostel, but Solanke instead took control of it.<ref name="Adi" />

WASU affiliated to the [[International Union of Students]] (IUS) on its foundation, and its members regularly attended the [[World Festival of Youth]]. Although the [[National Union of Students (United Kingdom)|National Union of Students of the United Kingdom]] left the IUS in 1952, WASU retained its membership.<ref name="Adi" />

In 1952, WASU began publication of ''WASU News Service'', as an openly [[Marxist]] replacement for ''Wasu''. Following further financial problems, it sold its hostel on the Chelsea Embankment and opened cheaper premises on Warrington Crescent in 1956. The same year, it underwent a major reorganisation and passed a motion disassociating it from all political organisations. In 1958, it joined the [[Committee of African Organisations]] and lost importance, but it remained active into the early 1960s.<ref name="Adi" /> The [[National Union of Nigerian Students]] was one of the organisations set up in the wake of the demise of WASU.<ref>{{cite web|title=National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS)|url=http://www.fofweb.com/History/MainPrintPage.asp?iPin=student00484&DataType=WorldHistory&WinType=Free|publisher=Facts On File|accessdate=13 December 2013}}</ref>

==Modern organisation==
A new West African Students' Union based in [[Ghana]] was founded in 2004 to unite students' unions throughout the region. It describes itself as a formal resuscitation of the earlier organisation.<ref name="history" />

==References==
<references />
[[Category:1925 establishments]]
[[Category:Politics of Africa]]
[[Category:Anti-racist organisations in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Students' unions]]
[[Category:Pan-Africanist organizations]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1925]]

West African Students' Union - Revision history

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