page_title: Kwame Nkrumah
section_title: Relationship with Communist world
hierarchical_section_title: Kwame Nkrumah / Ghana's leader (1957–1966) / Foreign and military policy / Relationship with Communist world
caption_attribution_description: English: Placard at a demonstration in support of Nkrumah's overthrow.
context_page_description: Kwame Nkrumah PC was a Ghanaian politician and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An influential advocate of pan-Africanism, Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and winner of the Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union in 1962.
  After twelve years abroad pursuing higher education, developing his political philosophy and organizing with other diasporic pan-Africanists, Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast to begin his political career as an advocate of national independence. He formed the Convention People's Party, which achieved rapid success through its unprecedented appeal to the common voter. He became Prime Minister in 1952 and retained the position when Ghana declared independence from Britain in 1957. In 1960, Ghanaians approved a new constitution and elected Nkrumah President.
  His administration was primarily socialist as well as nationalist. It funded national industrial and energy projects, developed a strong national education system and promoted a pan-Africanist culture.
context_section_description: In 1961, Nkrumah went on tour through Eastern Europe, proclaiming solidarity with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Nkrumah's clothing changed to the Chinese-supplied Mao suit.
  In 1962 Kwame Nkrumah was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union.
caption: Anti-Nkrumah placard at a demonstration after the coup.
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