ABSTRACT
Politics in British West Africa during the inter-war years was dominated by the same elite that sponsored the National Congress of British West Africa. The members of the educated elite who gained control of the elected seats in the three legislatures were, with rare exceptions, constant in their dedication to the principle of protest only through constitutional channels. The grievances of the elite were mainly concerned with the betterment of their own position. It was only in the years immediately before the war that the basis of opposition to the colonial regime began to broaden. In the 1930's a series of youth organisations arose to challenge the established elite. The elite had many grievances—racial discrimination, expenditure of funds in the European sections of colonial capitals, lack of development; but what humiliated them most was their almost totally subservient role in the colonial economy.
