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Black-Red View
January/February 2001
Dixon Colley (1914-2001)
by John Alan
We mourn the passing of Dixon Colley. His relationship to Marxist-Humanism
was unmistakable in the chapter on the African revolutions in Raya
Dunayevskaya's PHILOSOPHY AND REVOLUTION. This month I turn over my column
to Ba Karang's "In memoriam" to Colley.
-John Alan
On Jan. 16 the West African country of The Gambia lost one of her greatest
sons in its political history, at age 87. William Dixon Colley will forever
be remembered not only as an anticolonial militant, but also as the head of
a newspaper, THE NATION, which from the start of our independence was the
only paper to express without fear or intimidation the voices of the
oppressed people of The Gambia.
Pa Dixon was renowned for his stands in defending the truth and his many
efforts to encourage young journalists to take up the fight. As a young
student I was interested in writing poems and getting them published in his
paper, but he went further than that. He introduced me to the works of his
friend, the Hegelian Marxist-Humanist philosopher Raya Dunayevskaya, who
visited him in 1962. Together they traveled over the whole country to meet
and discuss with ordinary Gambians, trade union leaders, youth, students,
and political leaders during the struggle for independence.
Dixon and Raya first met each other in London in the late 1950s and
developed a close political relationship. There is no doubt that Raya had
great respect for him. I cannot remember talking to a member of News and
Letters Committees who did not know of Pa Dixon.
He would often tell me about "this remarkable woman" and said he wondered
during her trip to Africa if she slept at all; whenever he thought Raya was
about to go to bed after a full day of work, "she would jump on her
typewriter."
Dixon's life as an activist dates back to his role as an African student
opposed to British colonial rule and ideology. When he tried to return home
after a visit to London, his passport was confiscated by the British Home
Office. His case was fought out in the British Parliament before he was
able to get his passport back and return home.
Dixon always said he never had any political ambitions-he was never going
to become a prime minister or whatever, he was going to be a journalist.
But he was not only a journalist. One of his most exciting experiences was
his visit to the liberated zones in Algeria during the liberation struggle
of the 1950s.
Among his close acquaintances were those who didn't read his newspaper.
They were workers, market women, ordinary people who were not able to read
or write, but one would always read the minds of these people in his paper.
Dixon said that to be a good journalist one has to be good at listening to
the ordinary people.
Dixon helped the market women organize themselves, he gave advice and help
to women gardeners, worker activists, students and youth. He offered them
an exchange of ideas. When the Organization of Revolutionary Students, a
clandestine group, ran into printing difficulties, he put the office of THE
NATION at its disposal.
If it were not for his stubbornness to stick to principles, much of the
history of the Gambia Press Union (GPU) would never have been written.
Dixon sacrificed a lot of time and energy to make the GPU not only a
recognized union but also an instrument to further the interests of
journalists. The GPU will come to miss him.
Dixon deposited his archives at the National Library, and there is no
better place to learn and write about the political history of the country.
The political history of The Gambia will be incomplete without Dixon and
THE NATION.
It was not accidental that two great people like Raya and Dixon knew each
other. Pa Dixon will be missed by many, but he has contributed a great deal
in creating the grounds for continuity-a very important factor in his
political life. Join us in mourning the death of this great man.
-Ba Karang, The Gambia
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