Padmore on Bechuanaland

Previously, we observed that from 1928 the international profile of the Lesotho-based Lekgotla la Bafo was enhanced through its affiliation with Communist International (Comintern) associated League for the Defence of the Negro Race and the Africa Bureau of International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers, both of which were then headed by the Pan-African Socialist George Padmore (1903-59).

Born in Trinidad as Malcolm Ivan Meredith Nurse, he adopted the name Padmore initially as an alias while doing underground work for Comintern; having joined the Communist Party in 1927 while attending university in the USA. From 1928 through 1934, when he rejected Stalin but not Marx, Padmore was at various times posted by Comintern in Moscow, Vienna and Hamburg. He also travelled to West Africa.