This leads to a single-party dictatorship with one leader driving policy in favor of the national bourgeoisie. The peasant masses who suffered under colonial rule continue to suffer under this system as well, leading to conflict between ethnic groups and class struggles. They are not very good at running an economy and keep all of the profits for themselves.

In a newly independent nation, the national bourgeoisie takes political control of the government and places themselves in power. Finally, Fanon points out that many countries have won independence but they’ll still be oppressed if new forms aren’t addressed by those governments or revolutionaries. However, he says that this group is crucial to any revolution because they’re more likely to fight against colonial oppression. Fanon also argues that there’s an urban proletariat made up of people living Western lifestyles who are mostly interested in preserving their privileges rather than fighting for liberation from colonialism. The nationalists represent less than one percent of the actual population, while the rest is composed of peasants who live in rural areas and have little interest in politics. This creates an atmosphere of violence where both groups know that their liberation can only be achieved through violent means during a time when there was Cold War between socialism (the Soviet Union) or capitalism (the United States).įanon claims that the masses of a colonized country and its nationalist political parties are not on the same page. Both sides are divided into light (the white people) and dark (black people). There are two different worlds: one for the colonists that is modernized with conveniences, and one for the colonized that has poverty and illiteracy. The colonists took over the colonized by using military tanks and guns, and they continue to control them in the same way. According to him, decolonization is never achieved without violence. The Wretched of the Earth begins with Frantz Fanon’s explanation about violence in colonial situations.

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