The international and domestic fabrics of an ideological illusion

The Socialist MPLA

Bibliographic Data

ID13051113
AuthorsNuno Fragoso Vidal (0000-0002-5921-6311, Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume13
Issue34
Pagese0102-e0102
Publication date2021-11-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRevista Tempo e Argumento (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2175-1803 • E-ISSN: 2175-1803
PublisherUniversidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (PUBLISHER • BR)
DOI10.5965/2175180313342021e0102
OpenAlexW3212121127
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited19

The political-ideological characterization and analysis of Angolan nationalist movements and the conflicts between them, has always been subject of major and passionate political-academic discussion, which became an important component of the nationalist movements’ international and domestic characterization and definition. The MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) rapidly acquired the epithet of leftist, Socialist and Marxist since the anti-colonial struggle through the independence and afterwards. However, during the so-called founding period of an officially proclaimed Socialist MPLA, in an apparent contradiction, the MPLA’s governing practice went objectively in an opposite direction, while still reinforcing that unquestioned epithet of Socialist. It is here argued that foreign attributed classifications (political and academic), influenced by the passionate political-idological struggles of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, the civil war and the Cold War, ended up diplomatically-politically assumed (instrumentalised) by the movement itself, whereby an illusive characterization/identification prevailed, hampering a more objective analysis of the post-independence political practice. Our paper will focus on the contrast between the academic discussion on the political-ideological characterization of the MPLA (part I) and the governing practice of the party during the administration of the first President of the Republic, which was the founding period of the MPLA as a so-called Marxist-Leninist Socialist party (part II). Keywords: Angola; MPLA; Socialism; Agostinho Neto administration; political orientation

Communism · Economic history · Ideology · Independence (probability theory · Marxist philosophy · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Socialism · Sociology · African history and culture studies · History · Law

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