Lonsdale and Berman also argue that the Kikuyu debated the responsibilities of leadership and civic duty long before Independence and long before class structures were formed. The moral language of ethnicity correlated wealth with virtue and judged the issue of class against that background.
They further argue that Mau Mau was fought primarily for virtue, which was equated with power. Thus, they suggest that Mau Mau was fought among the Kikuyu as much as against the British, an idea supported by the struggle between loyalists and Mau Mau.
Whether you argue that Mau-Mau was a movement for all Africans within Kenya, or largely a movement by and for Kikuyus alone, it was critical for gaining Kenya's independence, even though it did not appear successful when the British smashed its power in 1957, killing more than 10,000 Kenyans. Mau-Mau articulated African grievances, making it clear to European settlers than the power, wealth, and prestige they had enjoyed during the colonial period was going to end.
Great Britain granted Kenya independence in December 1963.
For further reading:
Boahen, A. Adu. African Perspectives on Colonialism. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987. Barnett, Donald L. and Karari Njama. Mau Mau From Within: Autobiography and Analysis of Kenya's Peasant Revolt. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1966.
Berman, Bruce and John Lonsdale. Unhappy Valley. Conflict in Kenya and Africa, Book Two: Violence and Ethnicity. Ohio University Press, 1992. NOTE: I do not recommend this book unless you are intensely interested in Mau-Mau. It is highly theoretical and scholarly.
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