The Movement for Freedom in Mozambique - Page 16•
We shall return to this point later, meanwhile, let us continue
to present the rationalizations of the Portuguese government as
stated by its leading representatives.
As a result of these declarations the Portuguese government
passed a number of labovr laws to put into effect the above
mentioned policy.  In 1926, just before the Salazar regime was
established, a decree was issued declaring that forced labour
could be used in the public interest, which included private
projects, involving a small remuneration.  After a series of
attacks by international organizations which accused Portugal of
slavery, especially after the exposures made by Professor E. A.
Ross of Wisconsin, U.S.A. in 1928, the Indigenous Labour Code
was passed.  This Labour Code was intended to give protection
to African workers by defining a whole area of colonial labour
relations, and altering some of what it acknowledged as "excesses"
in the recruitment and treatment of African workers.  It was aimed
at guaranteeing to the African "full liberty to choose the work
which best suits him."  Since this Code never actually affected
the labour practices to v/hich the white settlers were accustomed,
and since the international criticism continued, the Portuguese
government felt compelled to issue another lav/, namely, the
Colonial Act of 1930.  This Act stated, inter alia, that "the
system of native contract labour rests en individual liberty and
on the natives' right to a just wage and assistance, public
authority intervening only for purposes of inspection."  Subsequently legislation on colonial matters included some labour
clauses reaffirming the above laws.  This v/as the case in the
Imperial Organic Charter of 1933, the Organic Overseas Law of
1953 and the 1954 Native Statutes for the Provinces of Guine,
Angola and Mozambique.  The Native Statutes declared, among
others, that the State would try to make the native recognize
that work constituted a indispensable element cf progress, but
that the authorities could only impose work upon him in cases
specifically covered by the law.  It went on to reaffirm what
had been said before in other legislations, namely, that the
Native may freely choose the work he want s to carry out, either
on his own account or for others.  Article 34 of the above
Statutes says that the use of native labour by non-Africans
rested on the Africans' freedom of contract and on his right
to a just wage and assistance, and must be inspected by the
State through its appropriate organs.
One peculiarity of Portuguese colonial practices is their