Mozambique's main strategic communications and was the chief area for the
FRELI MO President Samora Machel speaks to people in a liberated village.
a step toward independence vast white settlement projected after the successful completion of the Cabora Bassa dam project. Rail communications with the dam site, with the Moatize coal mines, and with Rhodesia were continually disrupted by a series of detonations. In Lourenço Marques and Beira, FRELIMO demonstrations mushroomed, clearly showing that the movement whose main focus of military activity had been the rural areas of the north and west had not neglected the necessary political preparations among the urban African proletariat. In face of this onslaught, the maneuvers projected by Spinola never got off the ground. In August COREMO, a group led by ex-members of FRELIMO who seceded during the internal crisis of 1969-70, announced the formation of an alternative coalition consisting of five small parties with tenuous roots in the urban African petty-bourgeoisie. Nothing more has been heard of this grouping, while FRELIMO has been capable of organizing rallies numbering thousands of people in the urban areas. Moreover, significant sections of the quarter million strong white population, notably the students and members of the Mozambique Democrats, aligned themselves publicly with FRELIMO. In this situation Spínola had no alternative but to negotiate directly with the liberation fighters who were gaining such strength throughout the territory. The announcement of the Lusaka agreement was greeted by a last-ditch backlash among sections of the white population centered in Lourenço Marques. The news brought an immediate occupation of Mozambique's main radio station by whites terming themselves the "Movement for a Free Mozambique. " Their aim was a declaration of the independence of the territory
29
MOZAMBIQUE "without FRELIMO. " But two things led to the total collapse of this movement by the middle of the following week. First, it met with no response whatsoever from whites outside of Lourenço Marques. Second, the reaction of the black population of that city was immediate and violent, making it impossible for the whites to consider control evan of the port a possibility. The battle of Lourenço Marques cost 100 lives, mainly of Africans. But it demonstrated unequivocally to Mozambique's whites that a Rhodesian-type solution is an unattainable dream. There should be no surprise if the thousand or so "refugees" who have already arrived in Johannesburg are the source of as many horror stories for the world's press in the coming months as emerged ten years ago from what was then the Congo. But there can be no doubt that there will be no comeback for the small group of white racists now scurrying out of Mozambique. Prospects for the future What are the longer term prospects for FRELIMO rule in the new state? The first crucial question for the new government will be its relations with the white racist states of Rhodesia and South Africa. If total economic sanctions were applied to Rhodesia, this would immediately block the outlet via Beira for 90 percent of Rhodesia's trade. The Smith regime, however, has just announced the completion of the rail link via Beit Bridge with South Africa which should enable it to somewhat reduce its dependence on the Mozambique route. South Africa is also dependent on Mozambique in a number of ways. The port of Lourenço Marques carries a large part of the trade for the Transvaal industrial heartland of the Republic. The gold mines of South Africa are dependent on Mozambique for about 100,000 contract laborers every year, which constitute 25 percent of their total workforce. The Cabora Bassa dam on the Zambezi in Tete province is to be linked by high level cables to the South African power system to which it will export a large part of its output. The problem for FRELIMO is that this dependence works both ways. Undoubtedly the loss of income involved in the simultaneous severing of all these
30 links would have grave temporary economic effects on the new state. It remains one of the clearest indictments of the leaderships of the African states further to the north that they cannot be relied upon to compensate adequately for the losses involved in such actions. The second big question mark hangs over the class nature of the new regime. Undoubtedly the FRELIMO leadership and fighting units have represented, especially since the split in 196970, one of the most explicitly anti-imperialist and popularly based movements on the continent. FRELIMO has consistently outmaneuvered the forces based among the aspiring African petty-bourgeoisie and has built a firm base among the urban proletariat and rural peasantry of the country. Nevertheless, one disturbing feature of the statements following the Lusaka talks has been the lack of any firm commitment by FRELIMO to thoroughgoing change of the social and economic system. There is no doubt that the peace agreement will be the signal for an all-out offensive by imperialist interests to ensure their continuing stake in the territory. This will take many subtle forms and will constitute a severe test of the FRELIMO leadership's ability and willingness to live up to the socialist phraseology which it has increasingly utilized in recent years. The extensive degree of mass mobilization which FRELIMO has encouraged during the course of the struggle will act as an important factor in the situation. The imposition of a simple neocolonialist solution will be by no means easy in a territory whose population has such a long history of struggle. In this respect the advent of independence for Mozambique stands in marked contrast to the experience of the majority of African territories to its north. Nor is it possible to ignore the effect which this event will have on blacks in Rhodesia and South Africa. Already in Rhodesia the ZAPU-ZANU guerrilla alliance has scored some notable advances in the northwestern part of the territory. In South Africa the wave of strikes by the black proletariat which began in early 1973 and continues unabated to the present day marks the revival of the movement temporarily squashed after Sharpeville and the severe repressions of the early 1960s. The impending independence of Mozambique will undoubtedly act as a rallying point for the masses of southern Africa as a whole. Perhaps the most important result of FRELIMO's victory will be the stimulus it provides to the unfolding struggle against the remaining white racist regimes of southern Africa. •
mandel tours australia mobilizations for chile news and the fourth international AUSTRALIA Comrade Ernest Mandel, a member of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, made a public speaking tour of Australia September 10-20. The trip was made possible by the Labour government's lifting of the travel ban that had been decreed against