Angola) at Lobito.
MPLA has been bestowed upon UNITA and FNLA. tor away with grudgingly given.
BENGUELA NAMIBIA (S.W. Africa VICTORIA FALLS MR HO 400 BOTSWANA Subscribe NAME... The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola has scored a victory striking deep into the heart of neo-colonial southern Africa. Following a series of victories in the north, east, and central regions, the MPLA has smashed the combined forces of FNLA (National Front for the Liberation of Angola) and UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of With the crisis within Portugal, the international bourgeoisie have been frustrated by the inability of the Portuguese to make an effective intervention in Angola; so the task of smashing the anti-imperialist mobilisations of the Angolan masses behind the But the fight for the control of Lobito was by no means a 'regional' struggle; Lobito, the second largest port in Angola, provides an important export route for Zaire and at least half the copper of Zambia (99 per cent of whose economy rests on copper). As such, the victory in Lobito effectively cripples the already crumbling economy of Zambia, and with the anti-working-class legislation in June which met with widespread resistance from Zambian workers, the present dilemma is likely to spark off further crises for the Kaunda regime. Moreover, since the Tan-Zam railway leading to the already inadequate Dar-es-Salaam port (Tanzania) is inconplete, the only route available is through Rhodesia, and thereby to Beira (Mozambique).
The political implications of this in the current developments in southern Africa are crucial coinciding as it does with the 'constitutional conference' at Victoria Falls where Kaunda is putting heavy pressure on the African National Council of Rhodesia to make some sort of deal with Smith. Imperialism's need for a rapid neo-colonial solution for Zimbabwe is now vital, and all-out pressures will be brought to bear on Mozambique to open up the route to the sea for Zambia - and naturally Rhodesia.
Since Zaire has already been forced to use the knodesian route, the victory or the MPLA at Lobito confronts imperialism with the dilemma of the collapsing economies of its neo-colonies - a dilemma that can only be solved by effectively smashing the MPLA and its base, and urgently restoring the Angolan road to neo-colonialism. The intervention of South African troops around the Cunene basin hydro-electric dam is therefore not to be taken lightly; nor the recent sales (in return for cheap copper etc.) of Mirage F-1 fighter bombers to Zaire by France. If a major interven tion within Angola is not possible, then certainly the oil-rich Cabinda enclave will be Lobito is an important prize for the African revolution; but a prize that will be TANZANIA TANZAM RAILWAY BLANTYRE Bulawaye Beira!
This map shows how Lobito controls tne Western export route SUBSCRIPTION RATES DOMESTIC: £6 per year E3 for six months FOREIGN: £9 per year surface mail £12 per year airmail Write to RED WEEKLY (distribution), 182 Pentonville Road, London N.i working people since the 25 April and the crushing of the most class-conscious sections of the working class in a Chile-style repression.
and urged such a solution would find himself up against the entire Portuguese working class, supported by the majority of the rank-and-file of the armed forces. The defenders of capitalism in Portugal have therefore to dress themselves up as "socialists and moderates.
sion among Portuguese working people by raising the hypocritical banner of defending freedom' while allying themselves with the most reactionary forces inside and outside the country. They have to try to drive the capitalist wedge in by the thin end, talking about the need to get aid from the capitalist Common Market to bail Portugal out of the straits that capitalism has got it into, and about the need to 'strengthen the state' in order to solve the political problems that the bankruptcy of the capitalist state has created.
erates' in the armed forces, backed by reactionary and imperialist allies, can sow chaos and violence the power to impose their pro-capitLONDON SOCIALIST FORUM TUESDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER 7.30pm
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WHERE IS THE REVOLUTION GOING?