Unity and Struggle: Speeches and Writings of Amilcar Cabral

by Amílcar Cabral, Basil Davidson (Introduction)

How was it possible for Guinea-Bissau, with no access to modern technology, ideas, or organizational forms, its population suffering under one of the most repressive of all colonial regimes, to build a victorious movement for revolutionary change? A key to understanding this process lies in the writings of Amilcar Cabral, one of the great revolutionary leaders produced by the long and arduous campaign for the liberation of Portuguese-dominated Africa — of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé. Cabral launched the Partido Africano da Independência de Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC) in 1956, and, by 1973, when he was assassinated, his movement had effectively defeated the Portuguese colonialists. As Basil Davidson states in his introduction, "Cabral can be recognized even now as being among the great figures of our time. We do not need to wait for history's judgment to tell us that. The evidence is available. Among this evidence are the texts that follow here."

Genres: Africa, Politics, Nonfiction, History, Guinea Bissau, Race, Essays

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

On ne va pas se mentir. Ce livre n'est pas toujours aisé à lire et comprendre, tant à cause de son style hybride (à mi-chemin entre le journal de bord, le manifesto du PAIGC et l'autobiographie) qu'a cause des sujets abordé. On y découvre un Cabral stratège, autodidacte et fin analyste. L'émancipation de son peuple, sa liberté totale, son indépendance complète étaient des sujets qui lui collaient viscéralement au corps. Son analyse du colonialisme et du néocolonialisme est juste époustouflante. L'homme était visionnaire, il avait prédit tant de catastrophes que nous vivons aujourd'hui, dessiné un portrait trop juste de ce que deviendraient les pays décolonisé tout en peignant sans fausse note le visage des larbins qui se retrouveraient un jour au sommet des pays prétendument libre pour oppresser le peuple. Les comptes rendu des operations militaires n'étaient aucunement mes passages préférés, mais je respecte et admire cette tache qu'il accomplissait comme une dette, un du à son peuple. Lire à haute voix à été la solution magique pour moi, il était plus parlant, plus proche de moi avec cette méthode.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the African revolutionaries I've read and learned about (including Nkrumah, Sankara and Lumumba), Amilcar Cabral is closest to my heart. I don't know exactly how to explain it but it's some combination of his scientific background, his amazing success over a decade-plus after starting basically from scratch, the comprehensiveness of his strategic vision and the extreme clarity (and informality) of his written and verbal communication. After Lenin, Mao and Castro he is imo the all-around greatest revolutionary of the 20th century.

This book is a very good supplement to the incisive Resistance and Decolonization. It is a mixture of writings and speeches, and it has Cabral's typically articulate communication which he tailors to each audience. I'm not sure if it's exhaustive in terms of all his revolutionary theory and praxis, but it feels like it.

My only complaint about it is the organization is not intuitive. Even within sections it jumps around chronologically, when I would have strongly preferred each entry remain in chronological order. I'd recommend that a reader pick their way through it chronologically, just because for me it's always preferable to trace the development of a person's thought over time.

But it's a small complaint in the grand scheme of things. Cabral is a man that everyone should read, no matter your political stripe. I would recommend starting with Resistance and Decolonization since it is shorter and more accessible, but if you liked that then it's a no-brainer to move onto this one.

Not Bad Reviews

[Themba · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of speeches and writings authored by Amilcar Cabral, the founding father of Guinea-Bissau and the terror of Portuguese colonialism. Cabral led Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, all their tribes united, against Portugal in a war of independence that lasted just over a decade. Under his command, the PAIGC—which is still the ruling party of Guinea-Bissau (its other branch ruling Cape Verde)—carried out an armed struggle to oust Portugal’s brutally repressive colonial regime and establish sovereignty, dignity, freedom, and true democracy. Despite Portugal’s commission of innumerable war crimes—burning Africans alive, torturing them to death, chopping them to death with pickaxes, shelling, bombing, and dropping napalm on schools, villages, hospitals killing African women and children by the thousands—and employment of propaganda campaigns to engender contradictions and division amongst the ranks of the Africans of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, and agitating for and leveraging support from its NATO allies for political and material support—Portugal lost. They got their colonizing asses kicked, point blank. It was not a “stalemate.” Portugal was defeated by some small backwater of “inferior savages.”

Although the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence is often characterized as a guerilla struggle, this is a misrepresentation. While that was a significant part of their strategy, this was all out war. Guinea-Bissau’s military was sophisticated, strategically, tactically, and logistically, comprised of a Regular Army, a Guerilla Army, and a People’s Militia (clearly, they knew Mao’s book on guerilla warfare quite well). Cabral also understood and executed their campaign against Portugal on political grounds, endeavoring to instill a revolutionary, anticolonialist belief system and consciousness into the general public as well as the military and Party members (this extended to their campaigns for international support, more on this later).

The speeches and letters (the book actually begins with a highly detailed agronomic survey that Cabral carried out on behalf of Portuguese government prior to his launch of the armed liberation struggle) are mostly arranged chronologically. Cabral addresses various audiences, including the PAIGC, the Portuguese army, Portuguese citizens, the United Nations, etc. Cabral’s speeches spare no detail on the inhumanity of Portuguese colonialism, which appears even more ridiculous given the context of its retrograde state. Portugal had a 50% illiteracy rate and on various measures ranked at the bottom versus other European states generally, much less those with colonial presences (and pretenses). Their employment of the tired, inane “civilizing mission” justification is ludicrous given the inability of the fascist Portuguese regime to manage its domestic affairs. As far as Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde and Portugal’s other African colonies, like Mozambique and Angola, the ineptness of their “civilizing mission” was quite remarkable. In the case of Guinea-Bissau, the illiteracy rate was 99%. The presence of schools, hospitals, and doctors was scant. Malaria, sleeping sickness, and other preventable diseases were rife. What “civilizing” was going on?

What of the “civilizing” intentions and attitudes of the Portuguese? I’ll just say if you know anything about South African apartheid, it was basically identical (and hence it’s unsurprising South Africa was one of Portugal’s biggest supporters in its war against PAIGC). Cabral cites numerous statements illustrating the depth of the racism and oppressiveness of the Portuguese ruling regime and settler population. The 99% illiteracy rate of Guinea-Bissau was no mistake; this dovetails with 1% of the African demographic being deemed “evolved,” meaning educated and employed in the civil service and often serving as lackeys and collaborators with the genocidal (Cabral’s words—and mine) Portuguese regime. This 1% phenomenon was Portuguese colonial policy—1% and no more. Cabral quotes a top official attesting to the fact that “we do not want too many evolved blacks.” This was not just a matter of education but outright population control, as Cabral also cites statements of officials devising plans to impose birth control on large segments of the population (partly to make way for mass Portuguese settlement). In another quotation, a top Portuguese official throws cold water on the idea of a successful PAIGC war effort. Why? He basically says blacks are too stupid to fight this type of a war. I, for one, rather enjoy it when eugenicists get their baseless ideologies diced and served back up to them. Don’t you?

Cabral’s speeches walk us through the PAIGC’s response to the 1959 Pidjiguiti Massacre, where Portuguese state police mowed down 59 Africans striking against racist treatment, low pay, and abysmal working conditions. This was the last straw. In cooperation with allies Senegal and the Republic of Guinea, the PAIGC began raising and training an army, devising a military strategy, and petitioning for international support while concomitantly seeking a diplomatic solution—the end of Portuguese foreign occupation—directly from Portugal and from the UN. Portugal refused to acquiesce and the UN proved unwilling to intercede, so the PAIGC launched its War of Independence in January of 1963. This was to be “Portugal’s Vietnam.”

The Africans here were not playing games. Guinea-Bissau acquired artillery, anti-aircraft weapons, machine guns, grenades…everything they could get their hands on to go toe to toe with their oppressor. They repaid Portuguese savagery and criminality with ferocity in the interest of their dignity, right to self-development, and sovereignty, all of which of course had been completely denied under the Portuguese colonial yoke. As one top Portuguese official said dismissively, “There is no Africa.” He was to find out otherwise as the number of Portuguese corpses returning to Lisbon mounted over the course of the revolution. Cabral makes it clear—he does not love war or enjoy it. He would prefer to have peace. But not at the expense of subjection, therefore he does not flinch in the face of war. Cabral does not hesitate to chant, “Death to the Portuguese imperialists!” among other strident strains of rhetoric littered throughout immaculate speeches. He backed it up. Well, everything except his threat to invade Portugal!

The speeches give a clear sense of the military and political strategy and execution by the PAIGC cadres. We also enjoy abundant detail on the structure of the government which they were installing and operating throughout the course of the war as they liberated various parts of Guinea-Bissau. The PAIGC understood that the entire point of revolution is to establish and protect dignity and self-determination AND raise and improve the standards of living and quality of life of those for whom they are fighting. So the business of governing could not wait until some eventual or putative victorious conclusion; it had to commence immediately and in a fulsome manner. We receive much detail on the PAIGC’s policies for education, economics (growing, raising, and procuring adequate food and other essentials to the public), healthcare, and beyond, where they were already light years ahead of the “civilizers'' in terms of impact in a short period of time. By the early 70s, as the war was still raging, the PAIGC also moved arduously to carry out elections in liberated areas and set up a robust system to carry this out in a most equitable fashion.

Cabral’s reputation transcends that of commander and politician—he is a theorist. As Cabral sees it, praxis is the concept overarching the execution of the liberation struggle, not just on military and political (propagandization) fronts, but also in geographic, economic, social, and cultural dimensions. Cabral understood that, despite their wholly justified, righteous indignation, it is not sufficient to just give disgruntled, oppressed subjects weapons and order them to seek and destroy the enemy. Rather, the effectuation of an entirely revolutionary consciousness must be induced as an antecedent to revolutionary action in order for such action to be effective—liberating. It is, however, also a consequent, as the action of violent revolution itself reifies heightened political awareness by rebirthing, nourishing, and affirming the humanity and dignity of the “wretched.” After all, the most odious aspects of colonialism and other modes of oppression are their dispiriting effects—crushing one’s dignity and fervently employing all measures and instruments to stop its reincarnation.

Toward that end, Cabral places great emphasis on the waging of ideological and psychological warfare on the cultural and social fronts. Culturally, it’s about resurrecting and employing the most effective aspects of African culture toward the end of dignity and revolution. Socially, it’s about having an acute awareness of the different forms of exploitation corollary of colonialist structures, both on the individual (personal) and societal level. Geographically, the significance pertains to adopting tactics of warfare to Guinea-Bisseau’s specific geographic reality (topographical, demographic, etc.) Economically, it’s about reckoning with the backwardness of Guinea-Bisseau resulting both from Portuguese ineptitude and racial hatred and the need to improvise and create ways to manufacture and procure the necessary materials for military and citizen needs. Politically, it’s not just about imparting Party ideology and directives and propagandization (he’s very detailed on various methods here), but establishing unity and thwarting attempts by the oppressor to foment division along lines of class, tribe, geography, etc.

Cabral details inspirations of Marxist theory, such as the right of a population to economic self-development and progression through its natural stages, how colonialism and imperialism interrupt and seize this process for the benefit of colonial and imperial power. This, as well as the argument that because the processes of carrying out and sustaining colonization and imperialism are inherently violent, the process of reversing or eradicating their systems and structures must necessarily be violent. Whether or not you agree with all aspects of these theories, you can tell Cabral was extremely well-versed in Fanon, Marx, Sartre, and other theorists and philosophers who assay and distill the impetuses and perspective takeaways for effective revolutionary action. Guinea-Bissau, Algeria, and other examples demonstrate the success of such ideas in the face of traditional colonialist edifices.

Again, the theoretical aspect emphasizing the elevation and strengthening of revolutionary consciousness is crucial—it is ongoing, it is sacred, it both underlies and overarches all reflections and actions. It is effectuated not just through Party structures or education but in any and all forms of social life and must be tirelessly and ardently advanced IN TANDEM with military action in order to carry the people to the point of victory. For Cabral, these aspects are interrelated and mutually reinforcing and affirming. What’s the point of any aspect of society IF it bears no utility toward the end of liberation? Much like with imperialism and colonialism, Cabral’s attitude is that if any aspect of cultural, social, political, or economic life does not bear good fruit, it must be hewed down and cast into the fire (I hope you see what I did here).

As the war raged on and the PAIGC took control over greater stretches of territory—eventually liberating two-thirds from Portuguese control and effectively imposing control over about three-quarters of this space—the political and propagandization strategies of Cabral bore fruit, as the UN and its related organizations finally turned against Portugal and the PAIGC’s international support expanded, even among Portuguese denizens (actual, not residents of the “overseas territory”). Support was forthcoming from Sweden and other nations as well as NGOs. Although Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (the struggle was carried out here in earnest at a later stage) fought the war all on their own strength, the aid was helpful for their refugees and for the famine in Cape Verde (for which Portugal was response and which Portugal used as a pretext for depopulating the islands for cheap wage labor imported to Portugal).

The PAIGC defeated the Kingdom of Portugal in 1974, the government of Portugal collapsed in the Carnation Revolution, and Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde at last became free and independent nations. Portugal also lost its other African colonies, bringing an end to the Portuguese Empire founded in 1415.

That’s what Amilcar Cabral brought about. What did that one guy say about black intelligence again, remind me?

But not before he was assassinated, likely as a result of machinations of Portugal’s secret service, in 1973. Yet another martyr in the ongoing, global struggle for African liberation.

This book is rich. Amilcar Cabral absolutely must, by any measure, rank among the most effective and influential world leaders of the 20th century. Mao was on a bigger stage, Ho Chi Minh had a larger adversary, Stalin was in charge of a country that was already a global power when he took the reins. Amilcar Cabral did a great deal with a lot less and quite possibly had mastered Marxist and revolutionary theory and praxis more than these men (in any case, it’s not that I have warm and fuzzy feelings for Stalin or Mao). So I think there’s a real case for Cabral as the MVP, but of course you can probably guess why he does not and will not get his due and why he’s gotten so little acclaim and recognition that even someone as “woke” and well-read as me has heard little of him until now (being just out of the stage of young adulthood). Imagine if you can start out teaching marginalized students these lessons, in basic form, at 5 years old and raise them up?

There is just so much in this one book, in these speeches, in Amilcar Cabral’s own words that no review can do justice. Building theoretical competency and mastery, setting up and deploying an army, setting up and operating a government, promoting ideological growth and dignity in a downtrodden population, raising political support on an international scale. And on and on and on. His statements and philosophy are so deep, the book is the sort of thing you read and come back to multiple times, maybe even forever. Definitely indispensable in the African revolutionary canon.

A few questions loom. For one, was Cabral truly a Marxist/socialist or was this an instrument toward securing international support from Russia, China, and other socialist states? There’s a similar, famous question about Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, as one of Stalin’s gripes about Minh and the Vietnamese Communist Party was that they seemed far too preoccupied with nationalism and fairly (or relatively) disinterested in Communism (although as the Nazi threat grew, Stalin’s stance here changed, as he saw nationalism as necessary for thwarting the emerging axis powers). I ask this because, to the extent this text serves as an inspiration for future movements of different forms (not only armed), we’re taken back to the question of whether Marxism is a “fit” for African states and cultures. I am not someone who identifies as a Marxist, however I find its critiques of capitalism and elitism sound. But there are also compelling criticisms. So to the extent one wants to follow Cabral’s lead in applying lessons and strategies in an adaptive, contextually aware manner, it helps to know was this really his belief and is it a component indispensable to a sort of “Cabralism,” if you will.

The other question is extraneous to the book, but pertains to his assassination. Obviously Portugal would want him killed, so I do not doubt they had a hand in it. But I have read elsewhere that the person or people who killed him were PAIGC members who had been engaged in some type of corruption or malfeasance and he had pardoned them. Why was this the case? The PAIGC did not hesitate in court martialing and executing traitors (unfortunately there is no shortage of examples of this). So why, then, were these eventual assassins forgiven, especially if their malfeasance was suggestive of betrayal? I suppose you cannot just purge everyone wantonly. Moreover, narratives and rumors surrounding these types of tragedies are always murky and abundant. Still, like with Lumumba and Sankara it shows that despite their bravery this kind of leadership oftentimes has to be a little tougher. We do not need martyrs, we need these types of leaders alive and breathing and keeping the oppressor awake at night.

This is the type of book you could form a study group for—literally, just for this book. To dissect, examine, internalize, distill, and apply its lessons in a modern context. Because what we are dealing with today is neocolonialism (which Cabral vociferously cautions against and commits to thwarting) and neoimperialism. These systems basically just represent restructurings of the social order—the office or apparent location of power changes (nominal executives and governments, see Confessions of an Economic Hitman), but the true location of power remains constant and becomes enshrouded. Basically, the folks who ruled yesterday are ruling today, behind the scenes. You do not need to be in the government to govern, and in fact it’s a lot more effective for the sake of political capital and leverage if you are not (then you have a visible actor to blame—hello, South Africa). That’s why we have the same disparate socioeconomic outcomes, the same organization and distribution of wealth and property, the same hierarchy legitimating myths and racist beliefs about “civilizing” and how “blacks are criminal” and “can’t run a country” and “are monkeys” in conjunction with and apparent contradiction to the bogus narrative of “liberation” which, despite the power and success in stories such as that of Cabral, the PAIGC, and Guinea-Bissau, has not been realized. Yet.

The big question is, how do you apply the ideas and lessons promulgated by Cabral in the modern, restructured, neocolonialist and neoimperialist paradigm?

Study group, anyone?

[Ben S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cabral and the PAIGC were organizing in very different conditions from the US, but Cabral's thinking around Organization and imperialism strike me as universal. The essay "The weapon of theory" has one of the most succinct analyses of colonialism and neo-colonialism I've ever read.

"An outside force denying people their history"

The party watch words and principles are also important, providing interesting examples of working through differences among the people while carrying out a successful anti-colonial revolution.

[Derek Fenner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't sleep on Cabral!

"To have ideology doesn't necessarily mean that you have to define whether you are communist, socialist, or something like this. Ideology is know what you want in your own condition." p.88

[David Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories."
-Amílcar Cabral

Unity and Struggle: Speeches and Writings of Amilcar Cabral ** Read in Bissau and Bubaque Island, Bijagos Archipelago, Guinea-Bissau (Nov 2023)

[Brian Mcquaid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cabral details how to organize a party that is not only capable of ridding colonialism from its homeland, but building a economic and political system that advances the needs to the working people of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. There are countless lessons in these texts for revolutionaries on how to relate to the masses, how to constantly improve work and how to relate to international forces. There are a couple essays that go into details only intelligible to those privy to the conditions and geography of Guinea-Bissau but do not let this deter you from grappling with the theory, strategies, and tactics offered by Cabral.

[Julia P · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as part of the Read Around the World Challenge. While I loved learning about a part of Guine-Bissau's and Cape Verde's history, the speeches/writings were rather dull. I'm sure he gave them with a lot of charisma, but yeah ~300 pages of them still is pretty dull.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

🔥🔥🔥

[brenda tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

so goated

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guinea-Bissau

"Environment, they say, is formative of culture."

"Practice comes before theory."

The certainty that the black man is in the process of awakening throughout the world"It had not been easy to convince the peasantry that they had an objective interest in joining the national liberation struggle, when their outbreak was limited to a simple understanding of the difference between the price and value of their produce."

"Island: your mountains and your valleys did not sense the times pass, and stayed in the world of your dreams."

"The old structure of African political life was totally destroyed by Portuguese colonialism."

"Unity is also a means, not an end."

"It is essential for us to achieve the greatest possible unity of the forces of the different classes."

"Islam is able to understand this, to tolerate the culture of others, whereas Catholics want to put a quick finish to all of this."

"Our struggle is based on our culture, because culture is the fruit of history and it is a strength."

"All this might seem very simple, but it is difficult, it is very complex to find the right answer for this."

"A woman has the right to advance, to be taught, to go to school like any other human being, to do any work of which she is capable."

"So long as imperialism is in existence, an independent African state must be a liberation movement in power, or it will not be independent."

[Donelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best political works I’ve ever read

I highly recommend this for socialist activists and organizers, or for anyone fighting against colonialism in this time of solidarity with the Palestinian people. A “must read”.

[Leonardo]

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