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The Political Thought of Amlicar Cabral

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Ronald H. Chilcote
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Extract

Amílcar Cabral, a little-known revolutionary intellectual and head of the major nationalist movement fighting the Portuguese in their territories of Portuguese Guiné and the Cape Verde Islands, has experienced considerable success as leader of an African independence struggle. His political thought has guided the African response to Portuguese rule for more than a decade. It has developed through the successive phases of his career, as a student in Lisbon (1946–1950), as an agronomist who surveyed agricultural resources for the Portuguese Government (1950–1956), and as a nationalist leader and a revolutionary (1956 to the present).

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , October 1968 , pp. 373 - 388
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1968

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References

Page 374 note 1 Quoted in ‘Em Defesa da terra,’ in Cabo Verde: Boletim de Propaganda e Informação (Praia), I, 03 1950, p. 15.Google Scholar The article appears as a series in Cabo Verde, I, 11 1949, pp. 2–5;Google Scholar I, March 1950, pp. 15–18; II, November 1950, pp. 19–22; II, December 1950, pp. 6–8; and II, February 1952, pp. 24–25. Cabral also published a short poem, ‘Regresso…’., in Cabo Verde, I, November 1949, and a critical review, ‘Apontamentos sôbre poesia caboverdiana’, in Cabo Verde, II, December 1951, pp. 5–8.

Page 374 note 2 Cabral's studies include ‘A propos du cycle cultural arachidemils en Guinée Portugaise’, in Boletim Cultural da Guiné Portuguesa (Bissau), XIII, 04 1958, pp. 149–56;Google Scholar ‘Para o cohecimento do problema da erosão do solo na Guiné’, in ix, January 1954, pp. 163–94; ‘A propósito de mecanizaço da agricultura na Guiné Portuguesa’, in Ix, April 1954, pp. 389–400; ‘Acerca da utilização da terra na Africa negra’, in ix, April 1954, pp. 401–16; ‘Queimadas e pousios na circunscriçSo de Fulacunda em 1953’, in ix, July 1954, pp. 672–43; ‘Acerca da contribuicão dos “povos” guineenses para a produção agricola da Guiné’, in Ix, October 1954, pp. 771–7; and ‘Feux de brousse et jachères dans le cycle cultural arachidemils’, in xiii, July 1958, pp. 257–68. Cabal was also cauthor with his Portuguese wife, Maria Helena Cabral, of an article ‘Breves notas acerca da razão de ser, objectivos e processo de recenseamento agrfcola da Guiné’, in Ix, January 1954, pp. 195–201.

Page 375 note 1 Cabral, A. ‘Recenseamento agricola da Guiné, estimativa em 1953’, in Boletim Cultural da Guiné Portuguesa, xi, 07 1956, pp. 7–243.Google Scholar Under the aegis of the overseas Ministry, Cabral also published two monographs: Acerca de uma clossficação fitossanitéria do armazenamento (Lisbon, 1958),Google Scholar and Condiçoes fitossanitérias deprodutos ultramarinos em armazens do Porto do Lisboa (Alcántara-Norte) (Lisbon, 1960).Google Scholar

Page 375 note 2 About 1911 a Liga do Guiné was established, but it was banned four years later. Although black African participation in the Liga was minimal, it is occasionally cited in nationalist writing as the predecessor to the later nationalist movements. See Silva, Manuel Lopez da, ‘Statement…at the 50th Meeting of the Special Committee, held at Dakar, Senegal, on 12 June 1962’, in United Nations Special Committee on Territories under Portuguese Administration (New York, 1962), p. 16.Google Scholar

Page 376 note 1 For details of these developments, see Zartman, I. William, ‘Africa's Quiet War: Portuguese Guinea’, in Africa Report (Washington), IX, 02 1964;Google Scholar and Chaliland, Gérard, Guinée ‘Portugaise’ et Cap Vert en lutte pour leur independance (Paris, 1964), p. 50.Google Scholar

Page 377 note 1 Memorandum adressé au gouvernement portugais par le Partido Africano da Indepêndincia de Ia Guinée ‘Portugaise’ et des lies du Cap Vert (Conakry), 7 12 1960;Google Scholar and Note ouverte au gouvernement portugais (Conakry), 13 10 1961.Google Scholar

Page 378 note 1 Cabral, Amilcar, Communiqué (Conakry), 1966, pp. 1–2.Google Scholar

Page 378 note 2 Ibid. 1967, p. I.

Page 379 note 1 Cabral, Amilcar, ‘The War in “Portuguese” Guinea,’ in Révolution (Paris), I, 06 1963, pp. 104–5.Google Scholar

Page 380 note 1 Cabral, AmIlcar, Rapport général sur la lutte de libéeration nationale (Conakry, 1961), pp. 5–7.Google Scholar

Page 380 note 2 Cabral, AmIlcar, Statement made… at the th Meeting of the [U..W.] Special Committee [on Territories under Portuguese Administration] held at Conakry, Guinée, on 5 June 1962 (New York 1962), p. 25.Google Scholar

Page 380 note 3 Ibid. pp. 22–3. Cabral's programme for the Cape Verde Islands may be found in the P.A.I.G.C. publication: La Situation actuelle de la lutte de libération nationale (Conakry, 1966), pp. 14–16.Google Scholar

Page 381 note 1 For recent evidence of Cabral's concern for development, see Le Développement de Ia lutte de la liberation national en Guinée ‘Portugaise’ et aux ties de Cap Vert en 1964 (Conakry, 1965), pp. 1–6.Google Scholar In this document Cabral reviews the results of a party congress, held in Portuguese Guiné, which outlined three specific development plans—political and administrative, economic, and social. The party congress also decided to establish a popular army, thereby signifying the attainment of a new stage in the revolutionary struggle. Here his theory corresponds closely to the pattern suggested by Mao Tse-Tung on Guerrilla Warfare (New York, 1961),Google Scholar and Ché Guevara on Guerrilla Warfare (New York, 1961).Google Scholar

Page 381 note 2 Cabral, ‘The War in “Portuguese” Guinea,’ loc. cit. p. 104.

Page 381 note 3 Cabral, AmIlcar, Le Peuple de la Guinée ‘Portuguesa’ decant l'organisation des Nations Unies (Conakry, 1962), pp. 15–18.Google Scholar

Page 381 note 4 Cabral, Amilcar, Memorandum enviado ao governo português pelo Partido Africano da Independência (Conakry, 1960),Google Scholar reprinted in Portugal Democrático (São Paulo), 6.Google Scholar

Page 382 note 1 Quoted in Cabral’s, Statement…at Conakry…on 5 June 1962, p. 2.Google Scholar

Page 382 note 2 Cabral, , Le Développement de Ia lutte de Ia libération nationale, pp. 3–6.Google Scholar

Page 382 note 3 Zartman, op.cit. p. 10.

Page 383 note 1 Partido Africano de Independência de Guinè e Verde, Cabo, Stat uts etprogramme (Conakry, 1962), p. 19.Google Scholar

Page 383 note 2 Ibid. pp. 217.

Page 383 note 3 Ibid. pp. 23–4.

Page 384 note 1 Cabral, , Le Développement de la lutte de Ia libération nationale, p. 4.Google Scholar

Page 384 note 2 P.A.I.G.C., Statute etprogramme, pp. 25–6.Google Scholar

Page 384 note 3 Cabral, , Le Développement de la lutte de la libération nationale, pp. 4–5.Google Scholar

Page 384 note 4 P.A.I.G.C., Statute et programme, p. 8.Google Scholar

Page 385 note 1 See U.N.T.G., Estatutos (Conakry, 1962),Google Scholar and U.D.E.M.O., Estatutos (Conakry, n.d.).Google Scholar

Page 386 note 1 Cabral frequently attends international meetings, however. See his speeches: Discurso… A Tercera Conferencia dos Povos Africanos (Cairo, 25 a 31 de marco de 1961) (Conakry, 1961);Google ScholarDiscours… à la conference des juristes afro-asiatiques (Cortakry, 15–1910 de 1962) (Conakry, 1963);Google ScholarNous sommes les combattants anonymes de la cause de l'ONU (Conakry, 1962),Google Scholar extracts from his speech before the Fourth Committee of the United Nations on 12 December 1962; Message… à conference des chefs d'etat africains— Addis Ababa, May 1963 (Conakry, 1963); and Pourquoi nous avons pris les armes pour libérer notre pays (Conakry, 1963).Google Scholar

Page 387 note 1 Chilcote, Ronald H., Portuguese Africa (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1967), pp. 43–5.Google Scholar