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State Power in Mozambique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

James H. Mittleman
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Extract

After winning a war of national liberation, FRELIMO faces the vexing question of whether socialism now can be established. With respect to Guinea-Bissau, Amilcar Cabral emphasized: ‘This depends on the instruments used to effect the transition to socialism; the essential factor is the nature of the state....“ No doubt his statement was premised on the belief that socialism begins with the conquest of the state by the producing classes. They must seize the state apparatus to defeat the ruling class whose power is concentrated there. Both the means of coercion and the forces that reproduce the system itself are part of this domain. It is only by gaining control of state power, which is a political act, that the working classes can subsequently organize a socialist economy.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Issues , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , Spring 1978 , pp. 4 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1978 

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References

Notes

This essay follows the conventions in both Portugal and Mozambique on the use of proper names. Whereas prominent persons in Portugal are referred to by their last name, the pattern in Mozambique is often to use the first name.

1. Revolution in Guinea: Selected Texts by Amilcar Cabrai, trans, and ed. by Richard Handyside (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1972), p. 72.

2. My forthcoming study, Underdevelopment and the Transition to Socialism: Mozambique and Tanzania, deals with the genesis of the conjuncture discussed here.

3. At Lusaka in 1969, African statesmen expressed their preference for peaceful change in southern Africa. They insisted that discussion with Pretoria would be welcomed, but only provided that apartheid was on the agenda, and that South Africa’s black population represent themselves.

4. “Soares Here for Freedom Talks,” Times of Zambia (Lusaka), June 4, 1975.

5. Interview with C. Srinivasam, Deputy Director of the Zambia Information Service, Lusaka, July 10, 1975.

6. Augusto Carvalho, Sub-editor, Expresso (Lisbon), learned of this conversation in a private talk with Otelo and related it to me in an interview in Lisbon, February 19, 1976.

7. Aquino de Bragança, “Dois Projectos de Descolonizaç£o: MFA com os Movimentos de Libertaç£o e Spinola com Champalimaud e Outros, Expresso, May 10, 1975.

8. Idem, “Lusaka: Le ‘non’ du FRELIMO,” Afrique-Asie, No. 60 (June 1964), p. 22.

9. Interview with Aquino de Bragança, Lourenço Marques, July 8, 1975.

10. Idem. “Dois Projectos. ...”

11. Interview with Antonio de Almeida Santos, New York, December 7, 1974.

12. Interview with Salim A. Salim, Permanent Representative of Tanzania to the UN and Chairman of the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation, New York, December 18, 1974.

13. This group is not to be confused with the social democrats.

14. Interview, Bragança. In private discussions with me, members of the Portuguese government confirmed this information. The Africa Research Bulletin (Political, Social and Cultural Series), XI, no. 9 (October 15, 1974), 3272B gives August 16 as the date that the talks resumed in Dar es Salaam.

15. Interview with Victor Crespo, one of the leaders of the AFM, High Commissioner to Mozambique during the Transitional Government, and member of the Group of Nine, Lisbon, February 20, 1976.

16. Interview, Bragança.

17. Salim A. Salim, in a private discussion, New York, December 6, 1974, first brought the telephone conversation between Samora and Spinola to my attention. This information confirmed in an interview with Colonel Ferreira, da Cunha, Chief of Staff of the Head of State (Portugal), New York, December 7, 1974, who was with the President when he received the telephone call, as well as by other members of the Government of Portugal and by Front officials.

18. Interview, Victor Crespo.

19. “Debts to Bear,” Economist (London), April 25, 1975.

20. Centre d’Etudes Anti-Imperialistes, “Portugal: Un enjeu révolutionnaire pour l’Europe,” Bulletin de liason du CEDETIM, no. 35-36 (May 1975), p. v.

21. Private diplomatic source.

22. Interview with Almeida Matos, Director, Division of External Commerce, Lourenço Marques, June 27, 1975.

23. Private discussion with Carlos Almeida Carneiro, Civil Engineer, Hidrotéchnica Portuguesa, Lourenço Marques, July 9, 1975; private discussion with Eng. Antonio Martins, Chairman, Cabora Bassa Hidroeléctrica SHER, Lisbon, February 16, 1976.

24. Interview with Jorge Sampaio, Secretary of State for External Cooperation, Lisbon, February 18, 1976; interview, Victor Crespo.

25. The Economist Intelligence Unit, “Angola, Mozambique,” Quarterly Economic Review, no. 2 (1975), p.18; private discussion with Anthony Baliński, United Nations Development Program Resident Representative, Lourenço Marques, June 12, 1975.

26. Interview with Valente de Almeida, Director, Bank of Mozambique, Lourenço Marques, June 20, 1975; interview with Carlos AdriSo Rodrigues, Vice Governor, Bank of -Mozambique, Lourenço Marques, June 20, 1975.

27. Interview with Antonio Manuel Martins da Cruz, Secretary of the Embassy of Portugal to Mozambique under the Transitional Government and delegate dealing with the commercial sector during the second, third, and fourth phases, Lourenço Marques, June 28, 1975; interview, Sampaio.