Angola MPLA

[Kamil]

Sorry if this has been done to death and I missed it, but what's up with Angola? Last time I checked the MPLA is still there, you never hear about Africa when people talk about Communism these days. Thoughts?

[Sankara1983]

The MPLA is just another corrupt ruling party. While Africa had many committed revolutionaries, many of the "Marxist" governments chose that label mainly as an ideological façade to defy the ex-colonial powers and secure assistance from the Eastern bloc.

[Red Future]

A lot of the old Marxist Leninist parties such as The Derg Party in Ethiopia , FRELIMNO in Mozambique and the MPLA have abandoned Marxist ideology after the fall of the Soviet Union ,most now are Democratic socialist or Social Democratic parties.The end of the cold war has also seen arise in ethnic based parties in some parts of Africa representing a particular tribal group

The MPLA is still a member of the WFDY and part of the international socialist current i believe , its presence is a little better than the right wing FNLA or UNITA in power but there is nothing revolutionary left in it.

[Kamil]

thats lame dude, but reminds me of north korea a little bit, Kim Jong Il's "juche is an original revolutinoary philosophy distinct from marxism" deal.

[Return to the Source]

Red Future is right about everything except the Derg in Ethiopia embracing social democracy after the fall of the USSR. The Derg was forcibly dismantled and its leadership was tried in absentia by an imperialist kangaroo court. Comrade-President Mugabe gave President Mengistu and other Derg leaders sanctuary in Zimbabwe.

[Tommy4ever]

Comrade President Mugabe. :laugh::laugh::laugh:

Sometimes Revleft just makes you laugh so hard you cry.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

Yes! Comrade President Mugabe! Some wise words from his Little Red Book


"I find it extremely outrageous and repugnant to my human conscience that such immoral and repulsive organizations, like those of homosexuals, who offend both against the law of nature and the morals of religious beliefs espoused by our society, should have any advocates in our midst and elsewhere in the world."

""It degrades human dignity. It's unnatural, and there is no question ever of allowing these people to behave worse than dogs and pigs. If dogs and pigs do not do it, why must human beings? We have our own culture, and we must re-dedicate ourselves to our traditional values that make us human beings. … What we are being persuaded to accept is sub-animal behavior and we will never allow it here. If you see people parading themselves as Lesbians and Gays, arrest them and hand them over to the police!"" Long Live the glorious chairman, the butcher of the Ndebele, the defeater of Tony Blair's "Gay Conspiracy from the Gay United Kingdom" (http://www.slate.com/id/81386/) and the torturer of the political opposition! May his words of wisdom continue to guide our homophobic, racist, corrupt march on to a glorious unsocialist future!



As for the MPLA-while their government seems bourgeois socialist, not communist, it does seem better than most other governments in Africa at generating growth and ensuring that at least *some* of that growth gets out to the people (granted, I think most of it remains in the hands of corrupt officials, but it seems that less does than in other parts of Africa like Nigeria or Equatorial Guinea). They also do seem to be "internationalist" in that their government retains close ties to Cuba, China and Venezuela. But I don't know if it is really "socialist" in the way that a real Leftist would define it.

[redhotpoker]

Considering that China backed UNITA I'm not sure if they would have good relations with China.

The MPLA was a good national liberation movement in the fight against first Portuguese colonialism and later South African Imperialism, after that they largely exhausted their revolutionary potential.

[Kamil]

What lessons are there to be learned, if any, from the drama of the Angolan revolution and what are its implications for movements today?

[Reznov]

What lessons are there to be learned, if any, from the drama of the Angolan revolution and what are its implications for movements today?

That regardless of how much armed fighting that brings about Revolution, post-war is even harder to maintain and push on towards Socalism and can easily be co-opted by reactionaries.

[Ismail]

For what it's worth Mengistu still claims to be a "socialist." He said in a 1998 interview that Gorbachev destroyed the "international socialist movement," that the DPRK is a wonderful country (he actually used the word), that Castro is awesome, etc. He's a Brezhnevite.

As for the MPLA itself, I think Enver Hoxha said it best: "Agostinho Neto is playing the game of the Soviets. In the struggle against the other faction, in order to seize power for himself, he called in the Soviets to help him. The struggle between the two opposing Angolan clans did not have anything of a people's revolutionary character. The fight between them was a struggle of cliques for power." (Imperialism and the Revolution, p. 207.) Nito Alves, who opposed Neto on ideological grounds, was said to have admired Hoxha, though at the same time Alves also sought stronger ties with the Soviets as opposed to Neto's attempts to conciliate with U.S. imperialism.


Yes! Comrade President Mugabe! Some wise words from his Little Red BookFor what it's worth, Mugabe did actually claim to be a "communist" at one point. He didn't look out of place with the MPLA, FRELIMO, ANC, SWAPO, etc. back in the 70's when ZANU was engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Rhodesian regime. In terms of actual administration, of course, he's generally a reactionary. He was also decidedly non-radical (either in appearance or in actual administration) during the 1980's and 1990's. He adopted the same stand as Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia: "Oh, yeah, socialism is cool and all, but we don't want to annoy South Africa because then they might screw with our economy." Still, Mugabe had a pretty high reputation back then, and he still nominally claims socialism.


Considering that China backed UNITA I'm not sure if they would have good relations with China.They didn't. UNITA being backed by China wasn't too surprising though. Savimbi claimed to be a Maoist at the time of Angolan independence (though at the time China also publicly said that all 3 movements; MPLA, FNLA and UNITA, were progressive.) By the time he turned around, accepted South African aid and praised capitalism China was under the leadership of the right-wing Hua Guofeng, who made way for the obvious rightist Deng Xiaoping, who promptly threw ideology out the window for good. This was the culmination of a process that begun under Mao in the early 70's after his rapprochement with the USA.

[Red Future]

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