crisis 1980s fall in the world oil price and World Bank. begun by the mid- Gorbachev's unwill- ingness make fur- level loans, sent Luanda the Paris Club while the US blocked its ap plication to join the The scurrying to high and IMF. ther revive nationalist lessons and to make the experiences of the class the of its While the left movement their benign neglect of inter- political develop- and the anti-apart- worldwide to working bedrock continue ment. ment these heid
source of 96% of war effort has consumed oil revenues. Oil is the export since production of cof- fee, sisal, cotton and sugar, as well as diamond and iron mining, have all slumped. Even more than in Stalinist Eastern Europe, market values have become absurdly distorted, with a crate of beer, for ex- Caught in a trap, the MPLA introduced the government's ample, worth a return air ticket to Rio. Angola's earings 60% The British labour movement has ignored the lessons of Mozambique and Angola militarily, the US has continued to increase its covert military aid to UNITA through Zaire, ing to capitalist economics. Despite South Africa's withdrawal from Namibia, which the MPLA hoped would help it defeat UNITA while the USSR has dramatically cut its arms da in Siberia during the early days of the Gulf Both superpowers have now agreed to elections in Angola. What are the politics of police a potential ceasefire and multi-party Washington's final onslaught on Luanda? 15- year proxy war in US Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Min- Eduard Shevardnadze put it high on their agen- Washington's Angola, crisis.
Saneamento Economic e Financiero (SEF) in 1988. This aims to increase the role of private capital and ownership in all markets of the economy through massive sell-offs of public property. It offers tax incentives to foreign in- currency devaluation, sidies on subsistence goods. The parallel credit, and for this a peasant union has been keep their members' belts tightened. Workers removal of price controls and an end to sub- markets, or 'kandonga', have been virtually Local 'entrepreneurs" are to be given easy set up while the trade unions have been told to Page 11 massive currency The fourth round of peace talks will resume in Portugal on October 22, and a ceasefire between the Soviet-backed MPLA government and the UNITA contras looks set to emerge soon. With the remaining 12,000 Cuban troops scheduled to leave by June 1991, Luanda is hoping for an early truce and a rapid integration of the armies, but hopes to delay the schedule for elections as it tries to peasantry, rural petty bourgeoisie and urban Peasants have been milked of their supplies to the MPLA from the 1987 level. rebuild support amongst an SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 28, November 1990 Over two thirds of the 50.000 Cuban rein- forcement troops have withdrawn from the oil-rich African state as part of the deal with Pretoria for Namibia's independence. In addi- tion, about a million Angolans are now threatened by famine. The UNITA 'contras' are spreading their attacks - most of which are terrorist killing and maiming of non-Ovim- bundu civilians - from the south east to the government has been forced to abandon its moribund one-party rule principle and is turn- In desperation, the Soviet-backed MPLA north near Luanda.
Party movement. The coalition of Labour Party Kinnockites, liberals, Stalinists and 'New hacks who make up the leader- Communist Times' FEATURES
an independent campaign called Stop the War Against Angola and Mozambique (SWAM) in the early 1980s just as it was ship of the British Anti-Apar- theid Movement (AAM) ac- down closed tually theid
and student Furthermore, the methods Vietnam, Angola campaigning in the by supporters of the and other socialist opponents of Stalinism, were squeezed to women's campaigns, direct ac- tion and civil disobedience campaigns were thwarted in favour of ANC Instead, AAM became the politics of the church, epitomised by the Bishop Huddleston and the Only by constantly breaking down sec- tarian opposition from the AAM bureaucrats, and especially the Stalinists in the leadership, did independent campaigns develop and sur- So, as the US and South African-backed war in Angola claimed another 100,000 lives in the late 1980s, with Thatcher lending a quiet hand, AAM's promise to campaign it- self to stop the war became a sick joke. It is SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 28, November 1990 solidarity transferred in part to the early Trotskyist Fourth International margins by the 1980s. Mass medical aid campaigns, up to a real socialist movement to change that. temational Viewpoint, 2 rue Richard Lenoir, 93108 Montreuil, Africa, North America 1 year 320FF, £31, $54. 6 months 170FF, £16, $28. Oceania 1 year 360 FF, £35, $60. 6 months 190FF, £18, Payment; French francs preferred. Cheques to PEC, send to In- • Renewal of existing subscription(please tick) • New sub- A fortnightly review of news and analysis published under the All surface Mail and EEC airmail; 1 year 220FF, £21, $38. 6 months 120FF, £11, $20. Airmail; Europe outside EEC 1 year 240FF, £23, $41 6 months 170FF, £16, $24.50. Middle East, North vive around Zimbabwe and, later, Namibia. INTERNATIONAL VIEWPOINT conservatism and respectability. auspices of the United Secretariat of the Fouth International over interational union Length of subscription.. ... First Name.... developed attracting SUBSCRIBE NOW support. 1970s cult of the Mandelas. the County... BLOCK LETTERS PLEASE • Renewal of existing Subscription rates: scription (please tick) enterprise and the incentives it must have." Elf-Aquitaine, Petrofina, Texaco and BP ing of UNITA, but recognise the huge gains to be made from opening up Angola's other riches. Portuguese and Brazilian capital have The MPLA - 'Workers Party', as it is properly known, is to hold a congress in December. The leadership will stage-manage acceptance of its austerity mesures and try to The 30,000 members have been told to recruit "religious followers and property owners" and to win the allegiance of tradional chiefs or would also agree judging by their recent in- vestment. They are irritated by US state fund- retain morale for the final battle with UNITA. understanding will be tempted to put Angolan socialists who tive once a ceasefire is another practice run for the ultimate US aim to been lost on Britain's But there are many held. For Washington, achieves more than a and defeat of any socialist pretentions in established and multi- blocking vote is secon- dary to the isolation Nicaragua, that will be been first off the mark. The ANC leadership must leam the lessons of the frontline states reconquer Havana. party elections developments recently admitted that 70,000 of the state's In truth, the nationalisation of thousands of Portuguese settlers rather than a conscious Now, the sudden jump in world oil prices and gas exploration and development areas for bureaucrats or police, and stories of torture are The MPLA's revolutionary nationalist past become entangled with bureaucratic privilege and corruption. President dos Santos and socialism in one country have depoliticised the war-weary population. farms and factories on independence in 1975- 5 was a result of their abandonment by fleeing socialist programme. Lack of skilled workers merely com- pounded the effects of contra war and South has brought some relief to Luanda, but the Gulf crisis has simply fuelled Washington's Admittedly, Angola is no Saudi Arabia, but leaving aside the Gulf states, it now sur- passes the production of some of the other 13 OPEC states, and it is not tied to the cartel. Angola also remains one of the most active oil Western capital because, as the major oil com- panies have increasingly had to compete with the largest OPEC state oil companies, they are less willing to invest vast sums into explora- The US already imports about 75% of An- golan crude, over half of which is pumped out sidiary of the Chevron Corporation. Protected by Cuban troops from UNITA sabotage, Chevron says it finds the MPLA government have been jailed for simply criticising party predatory eye on its oilfields and led to an up- by the Cabinda Gulf Oil Company, a sub- rife for those labelled as 'UNITA supporters'. ping of covert CIA military aid to UNITA. and international isolation African invasions.
1917 revolu- tion aroused great expecta- tions amongst the imprisoned awakening many to con- scious nation- very first "The February nations, al life for the time." Page 13 sphere the Provisional government did little more than annul some of the The voices of the oppressed nationalities grew louder as the months passed and these national movements con- of the regime. In this context the Bolsheviks' defence of the right of nations to self-determination con- tributed in no small degree to their question presented a number of problems to the new goverment. The national movements might have hastened the downfall of the February regime, and but this did not inevitably mean that they all supported the government of October. Social contradictions within were tributed to the increasing instability in many cases actively opposed it; generally less developed than in the In addition the "national archaic Tsarist laws. the oppressed nationalities