Garvey publicly praised Lenin and predicted worldwide adoption of Soviet government

Evidence

Tony Martin discusses Garvey’s reaction to the report of Lenin’s death in January 1924: “Garvey’s first response was a telegram to the all Soviet Congress which said in part, ‘To us Lenin was one of the world’s greatest benefactors. Long life to the Soviet Government of Russia.’ This was followed by a lengthy speech at Liberty Hall entitled, ‘The Passing of Russia’s Great Man,’ in which he called Lenin ‘probably the greatest man in the world between 1917 and the hour of 1924 when he breathed his last.’ He expressed the view also that the whole world was destined ultimately to assume Russia’s form of government. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 2249

Categorization

• XREF: Complicates the conventional Garvey-versus-Communists binary; links to Robinson’s point that Pan-Africanism and socialism overlapped more than later separations suggest.