The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.35           October 13, 1997 
 
 
25 And 50 Years Ago  
October 13, 1972
Recently I was able to interview Jacob Khamalata and Paulo Jorge, two leaders of the MPLA (Movimiento Popular de Libertacao de Angola - People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola) in Lusaka, Zambia. Khamalata is MPLA chief representative in Lusaka; Jorge is chief of the MPLA's Department of Information and Propaganda. MPLA is one of several organizations now carrying out armed struggle for the independence of Angola.

Khamalata and Jorge outlined the background to Portuguese colonialism in Angola: "The Portuguese arrived in Angola at the end of the fifteenth century - 1482 to be exact. Only in 1922 did the colonists succeed in totally subjugating and pacifying Angola.

"For three decades the colonial regime was largely unchallenged, but in 1953 Angola's first political party was formed. It sought to organize and mobilize the people against Portuguese domination, making political and economic demands.

They stressed the importance of Portuguese membership in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) because this military alliance provides most of the equipment Portugal uses in Africa. Portugal which "won't even be able to produce an automobile until 1974," would be completely incapable of waging three colonial wars at the same time without this aid.

South Africa, they said, also provides the Portuguese with troops in Angola and Mozambique. They stressed the importance of uniting the different independence movements in Southern Africa to fight against their common enemies, South Africa and Portugal.

October 13, 1947
The capitalist press, following the lead of the State Department, is trying to whip up war hysteria over the "Information Bureau" set up by the Kremlin in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. They picture it as a revival of the Communist International and a turn toward the revolutionary socialist program followed by Lenin and Trotsky. They say it is a provocative move, a "declaration of political war" that demands warlike retaliation.

The truth is that Stalin has not made a turn toward revolution. He is only reviving the pro-capitalist People's Fronts of a decade ago, directing them this time against Truman and American imperialism instead of Hitler and German imperialism.

All Stalin wants is a deal with Wall Street. He seeks to continue the wartime partnership. In return for a non- aggression pact and dollar credit he offers the services of his agents to derail and wreck working class revolutions throughout the world. Stalin's formation of an "Information Bureau" is only the frightened defensive reflex of a bankrupt bureaucrat against the menacing advance of Wall Street's war machine.

 
 
 
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