Another important principle in our party line is the following: independence in our thought and in our action.

We are struggling for the independence of our land, for the independence of our people. The first condition for this is that our party and its leadership should be independent in its way of tackling questions and of answering them, and in its action inside or outside our land. This has been our party line.

All decisions we take in the framework of our party, about our work inside or outside our land, on the African or the international plane, are taken with absolute independence in our way of thinking and acting. This is one of our sacrosanct principles, which we must defend at all costs.

But we must understand that independence is always relative. In many things we have to decide, for example, we have to gauge them in the light of the interests of our neighbouring countries as well for us to go forward. In many decisions we take on the African or international plane, we are guided by the interests of Angola and Mozambique as well. Some positions we may take, or even some decisions on war material, for example or our action, are not solely dependent on us but are also dependent on our friends who give us aid. But this does not destroy the truth of the principle.

The PAIGC leadership has always acted on the basis of independence of thought and action. We have been capable, and must constantly be more so of thinking deeply about our problems so as to be able to act correctly, to act strongly so as to be able to think more correctly. Many comrades have not done this in keeping with their responsibilities. Some have limited themselves to acting without thinking, and others have lots of ideas without doing anything in practice. We must be able to bring these two basic elements together: thought and action, and action and thought. This independence in our thought and action is relative. It is relative because in our thought we are also influenced by the thought of others. We are not the first to wage an armed struggle for national liberation, or a revolution.