The outbreak of the Second
World War further diminished the influence of his organization.
Garvey died in London in June, 1940.
Both James Weldon Johnson and W. E. B. DuBois claimed that
emigration of blacks from America to Africa was merely a form of
escapism. (Ironically DuBois's disillusionment drove him to
Africa some thirty years later. ) Johnson argued that a small
independent African nation would have to be dependent on Europe
and America for capital. Therefore Garvey's program could not
achieve the kind of freedom and equality which it claimed.
Johnson maintained that it would still be subject to oppression
from white imperialism. As such, the nation would only be an
underdeveloped area dependent on external financing and
continually subjected to economic exploitation. In foreign
affairs it would always be small and weak, and it would have to
depend on some stronger ally for its defense. It would only
become a pawn for the great powers, all of which were white
Europeans or Americans. Johnson claimed that a separate African
nation would not provide the kind of power base which Garvey
promised.
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