Dear Prof. Faustine Ondore,
Since the historic 2nd National Congress of the Communist Party Marxist (CPM) Kenya, where we reaffirmed our revolutionary path and rebranded to reflect our Marxist-Leninist commitment, attacks on our Party by bourgeois intellectuals have significantly intensified. These critiques, often veiled in the guise of cultural nationalism or academic objectivity, betray a deep-rooted allegiance to imperialist ideology and an intolerant dismissal of revolutionary thought.
Your latest critique is a glaring example of this trend. It reflects not only a profound misunderstanding of Marxism-Leninism but also an affront to the sacrifices and struggles of African revolutionaries who have wielded Marxist theory as a weapon against imperialism and neo-colonialism. This cannot be tolerated.
Our response to your misinformed assertions, presented below, not only exposes the baseless nature of your claims but also reaffirms the enduring relevance of Marxism-Leninism as the ideological foundation for Kenya’s liberation and the broader Pan-African struggle.
Your critique of the Communist Party Marxist (CPM) Kenya is deeply flawed, riddled with contradictions, and reflective of the petty-bourgeois intellectual paralysis that imperialist “soft power” seeks to perpetuate within academia. However, since the class struggle is a battle of ideas, it is our responsibility as revolutionaries to address such critiques, not merely to defend Marxism-Leninism but to advance the revolutionary task of ideological clarity.
When we say your critique is intolerable, we are not expressing annoyance, as you might assume, but rather addressing the ignorance and shallow analysis it reflects—especially now that you are an ‘authority’ with some following. Let us now delve deeper into your assertions.
1. Marxism-Leninism: A Tool for Liberation, Not an Imported Doctrine
Your dismissal of Marxism-Leninism as a foreign imposition betrays a profound misunderstanding of its role in the African liberation struggle. Marxism-Leninism is not a European or Asian ideology—it is a scientific method for understanding and dismantling exploitation, regardless of geography. Its universal applicability lies in its focus on class struggle and its ability to adapt to the material conditions of any society.
This is not theoretical abstraction. Africa’s greatest revolutionary leaders embraced Marxism-Leninism as their guiding framework. Amílcar Cabral, in The Weapon of Theory, argued that Marxism provided the intellectual and practical tools necessary for national liberation. Walter Rodney demonstrated in his works, including How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, how Marxism exposes the exploitative structures of imperialism and provides a roadmap for overcoming them.
Closer to home, A.M. Babu’s African Socialism or Socialist Africa? dismantled the myth of “African socialism,” exposing it as a tool used by the petty bourgeoisie to obscure class contradictions and maintain neo-colonial dominance. In Kenya, Pio Gama Pinto—a committed Marxist—was assassinated because his ideology threatened the comprador bourgeoisie’s alliance with imperialist powers. These figures did not “copy-paste” foreign ideas; they contextualised Marxism-Leninism within Africa’s historical and material conditions, using it as a weapon for liberation.
Your critique fails to engage with this history. Instead, it clings to the illusion that cultural nationalism alone can address the systemic exploitation of African peoples. This is a dangerous fallacy. Without a scientific understanding of capitalism and imperialism, cultural nationalism becomes a tool of the ruling class to distract from the realities of class struggle.
2. On African Culture: A Class Analysis
Your insistence on “Kenyan values” and “African culture” as the basis for political struggle overlooks a fundamental truth: in a class society, there is no such thing as a unified national culture. Culture, like every other societal construct, reflects the interests of the dominant class.
In Kenya, the so-called “African culture” you romanticise has been shaped by feudal chiefs who collaborated with British colonialists, by comprador elites who continue to serve imperialist interests, and by the global capitalist system that commodifies every aspect of our existence. This is not the culture of the working class and peasantry, who have historically resisted exploitation through collective action and solidarity.
As Marxist-Leninists, we understand that true cultural liberation can only occur through class struggle. Far from erasing African culture, Marxism-Leninism liberates it from the shackles of imperialism and neo-colonialism. It empowers the masses to reclaim their culture as a tool for revolutionary transformation, not as a fetishised relic of a pre-colonial past.
3. On Language and Symbols: A Global Perspective
Your critique of our use of Marxist terminology and international symbols as “foreign” reveals a shallow understanding of language and symbology in revolutionary movements. Symbols like the hammer and sickle are not tied to Russia or China; they represent the universal struggle of workers and peasants against exploitation. These symbols belong to the international working class, of which Kenyan workers and peasants are an integral part.
Similarly, language evolves with material conditions. Kiswahili, for example, incorporates words from Arabic, Portuguese, and English, reflecting centuries of socio-economic interaction. The evolution of language is not an ideological compromise but a reflection of historical necessity. By your logic, the Swahili words meza (table) or jeneza (coffin)—introduced during Portuguese colonialism—should also be rejected.
Moreover, you chose to write your critique in English, a colonial language, while accusing us of relying on “foreign” concepts. This glaring contradiction undermines your argument and exposes the limits of your cultural nationalism.
4. Kenya: A Case for Marxism-Leninism
In Kenya, the relevance of Marxism-Leninism is irrefutable. Our history is one of class struggle: from the anti-colonial Mau Mau movement, rooted in peasant resistance, to the post-independence betrayals by comprador elites who entrenched neo-colonial dependency. The Kenyan working class and peasantry continue to face systemic exploitation through landlessness, unemployment, and imperialist economic policies dictated by institutions like the IMF and World Bank.
Marxism-Leninism provides the tools to analyse and dismantle these structures. It exposes the comprador bourgeoisie as agents of imperialism and equips the working class with the ideological and organisational framework to build a socialist Kenya. Your reliance on parochial nationalism offers no such solutions. It is a diversionary tactic that perpetuates the very system you claim to critique.
5. An Invitation to Intellectual Honesty
I dare invite you, Prof. Ondore, to read some of the African revolutionary classics on Marxism. Begin with Amílcar Cabral’s The Weapon of Theory, Walter Rodney’s analysis of the relevance of Marxism to African liberation, and A.M. Babu’s African Socialism or Socialist Africa? Study the lives and works of African Marxists like Pio Gama Pinto, Chris Hani, and Thomas Sankara, who embraced Marxism not as a foreign ideology but as a practical tool for liberation.
These figures were not “intellectually bankrupt”; they were intellectual giants who understood that imperialism is a global system that requires a global response. If you are serious about advancing the liberation of African peoples, you must move beyond the intellectual gymnastics of cultural chauvinism and engage with the concrete realities of class struggle.
6. The Battle of Ideas
The class struggle is, above all, a battle of ideas. Your critique represents the ideological barrages we expect from the petty-bourgeois intelligentsia, whose allegiance to imperialist academia blinds them to the necessity of revolutionary change. As Marxist-Leninists, we welcome this battle, for it is through such struggles that the working class sharpens its ideological weapons.
Your attack, Prof. Ondore, is not just misguided—it is a disservice to the Kenyan people. It seeks to disarm them of the very tools they need to achieve true liberation. We will not allow such intellectual cowardice to prevail.
The Communist Party Marxist (CPM) Kenya stands firm in its commitment to Marxism-Leninism as the most advanced weapon in the fight against imperialism and capitalism. We invite you, and others in academia, to join us in this struggle—not as spectators, but as active participants in the fight for a socialist Kenya.
Yours in struggle,
Booker Omole
General Secretary
Communist Party Marxist (CPM) Kenya
Prof. Ondore Message to CPMK
I like to see the obvious passion and commitment in the CPK. However, I believe that the defining feature or character of any movement is an idea. Furthermore, the particular idea is not reflected in an empty theory or slogan but a practical vehicle for the attainment of solutions to societal problems or advancement of its values and beliefs.
In this regard, African values, beliefs, and aspirations are unique to us as a people. I am therefore disappointed that the CPK seems not to articulate Kenyan values or cultures succinctly or sufficiently. Led by the Kenyan Youth, one would expect the abundance of Kenyan presence in its symbols and expressions. You will hopefully forgive my relative of many of CPK's public expressions such as Leninsm-Maxism-Engelism. Worse, the CPK has not seen it fit or appropriate to educate the public on these types of lofty words, or indicate their relevance in the Kenyan context.
I am keenly aware that from our own long struggles against imperialism, slavery, exploitation and colonialism, we can define our own political literature, social norms and other appropriate expressions that relate to and describe our own historical, cultural and political developments and aspirations. These are unique to us but foreign to the Chinese, Russians, or Europeans. I hate to conclude that the youthful leadership of CPK can only copy-paste words, mannerisms, and symbols from China or Russia.
Sadly, this evidences a strange form of intellectual bankruptcy normally associated with the extremes of imperialism and mental colonialism, the very traits we ought to fight with utmost rigour. Don't we have indigenous words for expressing the ideas expressed by people like Carl Max? Can CPK be defined by Kiswahili or other indigenous languages? I hope that this short narrative leaves you very much annoyed by myself but challenged to think and behave like true Kenyans and Africans. Good luck.