ABSTRACT
The basic contradiction in the Ghanaian economy is the subordination of the cocoa-producing peasantry to international capitalism through the mediation of the Cocoa Marketing Board. Politics in Ghana has largely been determined by its petty bourgeoisies, engaged in a wide array of commercial and clerical services. The nationalist movement was very quickly deflected from challenging Ghana's links to the world capitalist system. During the 1950s the buoyant world price of cocoa had cushioned Ghana from the full brunt of the contradictions inherent in its peripheral capitalist economy. Ghana had taken the lead in the call for pan-African liberation. The corporate world expressed concern at Ghana's leftward trend and spread rumours of economic chaos. Given the economic chaos inherited from the Busia regime, the National Redemption Council's first hurdle was a restoration of some measure of economic stability, with a more viable pattern of accumulation and distribution of surplus value.
