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ABSTRACT
This article examines the 1958 cotton crisis in Sudan, an event that has hitherto been absent in histories of the country and the region. I present the cotton crisis as a crisis of capital during which political, religious, and corporate elites each struggled to regain liquidity and to determine the resulting distribution of money, debts, and power in Sudanese society. The ways in which each of these actors sought to recover investments and refinance their positions had a lasting impact on the politics of the postcolonial state in Sudan, as different sections of capital sought different policy responses to the crisis from government. This article highlights how religious elites in Sudan had renewed and expanded their influence within the corporate business structures created by the colonial economy. Profits from these structures then flowed into the political system, shaping conflict and crisis after decolonisation.
Acknowledgements
The archival research for this paper was carried out while I was in receipt of ESRC funding for a doctoral project at Durham University, UK. I wish to thank my supervisors Justin Willis and Cherry Leonardi, as well as the archivists at Barclays Bank in Manchester, UK, Credit agricole in Montrouge, France, and the National Records Office in Khartoum, Sudan. I am grateful as well to the research centre CEDEJ for hosting me and other researchers in Khartoum.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Niblock, Class and Power, 217.
2 El-Battahani, “Armed Forces,” 2.
3 Holt and Daly, Sudan, 116.
4 Woodward, “Fragile State,” 87.
5 Holt and Daly, Sudan, 118.
6 Bechtold, “Sudanese Politics,” 24.
7 Berridge, Civil Uprisings, 18.
8 Ali, “Political Economy” is the exception.
9 Barnett, Gezira; Bernal, “Colonial”; and Young, Transforming Sudan.
10 Ertsen, “Relationships,” 207. Also, Young, Transforming Sudan.
11 Harvey, Limits.
12 Ogle, “Funk Money.”
13 Mollan, “Economic Imperialism,” 224–232.
14 Ibid., 161.
15 Nicoll, “Dā’irat al-Mahdī,” 15–17.
16 Ibrahim, Neo-Mahdīsm.
17 Ibid.
18 Cudsi, “Political Parties,” 293–294.
19 Sudan Government, 1945, 41 and 1951/52, 25–26. The Egyptian Pound (£E) was pegged with sterling at a rate of £E.0975:£1. In 1957, the Sudanese Pound (£S) replaced the Egyptian Pound in Sudan at par.
20 Ibid., 191.
21 Data from Middle East Documentation Unit, Durham University (MEDU)17/4/BAN/1. Sudan Ministry of National Guidance, The Agricultural Bank 1970, 7.
22 Ali, “Political Economy,” 130.
23 Tignor, “Private Sector,” 180–181. Chaldeos, Greek Community.
24 Niblock, Class and Power, 31–32.
25 Barclays DCO, Barclays Bank Archive (BB)0038/0748. Visit to the Sudan. 12–19 December 1956.
26 Wilmington, “Aspects of Moneylending.”
27 BB0011/2025. C. H. Smith to Local Directors. 16 August 1960.
28 Johnson, “Introduction.”
29 Willis, “Self-Government Election,” 496.
30 Cross, “Banking”, 51–58 and a manuscript being prepared for publication.
31 Ibid.
32 Robertson, “Raw Cotton.”
33 Département d’affaires étrangers, Crédit lyonnais, Crédit agricole, Archive (DAE)10996. Khartoum Agency to DAE, Paris. 5 December 1957.
34 DAE10997. Credit Lyonnais, DAE, Installation au Soudan. 7 November 1952.
35 DAE10997. Situation générale de notre activité au Soudan. 31 December 1955, 28.
36 Niblock, Class and Power, 202–204.
37 National Records Office, Sudan [NRO]2/2/25. al-bank al-ziraa3a al-sudanii, taqriir al-majlis al-idaarah. 1959/60.
38 Johnson, “Introduction.” Willis, “Self-Government Election,” 488.
39 BB0029/0440. Memorandum: The Mahdi. 10 January 1957.
40 DAE10996. DAE to Khartoum. 22 November 1957.
41 DAE10996. Khartoum to DAE. 5 December 1957.
42 DAE10997. “Budget Slashes Spending,” Newspaper cutting. November 1955.
43 Niblock, Class and Power, 206–210.
44 Ali, “Jouda.” DAE10997. Situation Générale, 28–29.
45 Ali, “Political Economy,” 177–178.
46 Niblock, Class and Power, 210.
47 BB0029/0181. Half-yearly Report: Sudan. 30 September 1956.
48 DAE10996. Pré-financement à l’intérieur. 30 October 1957.
49 DAE10996. Egyptian Produce Trading Company, Cotton Facts. 23 April 1958
50 BB0029/0181. Half-yearly Report: Sudan. 30 September 1958.
51 BB0080/4565. Visit to Khartoum. 9–13 December 1958.
52 MEDU17/4/BAN/1. Bank of Sudan, Quarterly Bulletin. 31 March 1961, 20.
53 Mihatsch, “Dependence.”
54 Ibid.
55 Young, “Anglo-Egyptian Rivalry” and Transforming Sudan, 105.
56 BB0080/4565. Visit to Khartoum. 9–13 December 1958.
57 BB0029/0384. Memorandum: Liverpool Uganda Company. 11 November 1958.
58 Ibid.
59 Niblock, Class and Power, 217.
60 Berridge, Civil Uprisings, 18.
61 BB0011/1982. LHO, Report for Advances Committee. 28 April 1959.
62 BB0011/1982. Ministry of Finance, Statement on Cotton Cultivation. 21 April 1959.
63 Ibid.
64 BB0011/1982. C. H. Smith to General Managers. 14 April 1959.
65 DAE10995. Sudan Bankers’ Association, Annual Report. 1958.
66 BB0011/1982. Note: Sudan Cotton. 24 February 1959.
67 BB0011/1982. Main Points in C. H. Smith’s Cotton Report. 28 March 1959.
68 DAE10995. Projet de création d’une Banque Agricole. 16 June 1954.
69 BB0011/1982. Local Director to General Managers. 30 April 1959.
70 BB0011/1982. LHO to General Managers. 6 May 1959.
71 Ibid.
72 BB0011/2025. C. H. Smith to Local Directors. 16 August 1960.
73 BB0011/0818. The Agricultural Debts Collection Act 1961 (Draft).
74 BB0011/0818. Memoranda submitted by Credit Lyonnais. October 1961.
75 BB0011/2380. Cotton Advisor’s Confidential Report. 28 February 1962.
76 BB0011/1982 & 1983. Multiple documents. 1959. These sums concerned both cultivation and non-cultivation financing to cotton customers.
77 BB0029/0438. C. H. Smith, Confidential Report on the Dairat El Mahdi. 31 December 1955.
78 Ibid.
79 BB0029/0440. C. H. Smith, Second Confidential Report on the Dairat El Mahdi. 15 April 1956.
80 BB0029/0440. Memorandum: The Mahdi. 10 January 1957.
81 BB0038/0746. Visit to Sudan. 11–21 February 1959, 5–6.
82 BB0011/2380. Extract from Cotton Report. 5 January 1962.
83 Cross, “Banking,” 213–220.