Politics in colonial Malawi emphasized the local over the territorial, and this was in large measure a function of indirect rule. The challenge for nationalist politicians was to make the connection between the parochial issues and the “big picture.” After 1953, Nyasaland African Congress members went about doing precisely that, creating a populist political culture that was taken up and reshaped by Dr. Banda and the Malawi Congress Party machine. Both the NAC and the MCP utilized climates of crisis to justify calls for surrendering local political autonomy, first to the nationalist state and later to the autocratic one. Before 1964, federation provided the crisis. After that, the sense of threat emanated from the enemy within (and rebels without).

The period from 1953 to 1956 has been characterized by scholars as a “dark and desperate” phase for a moribund NAC. If not for the efforts of James F. Sangala (president general 1954–57), some have said, the organization would have faded into obscurity. The credibility of its central executive had been damaged by the events of 1953, yet the absence of central coordination forced members to seek local inspiration, support, and institutions through which to mobilize, and this meant stronger links between Congress and the masses. The process of developing such connections had started in Blantyre a year earlier when a group of radicals seized control of the branch. From Blantyre, similar initiatives spread.