headquarters of the DGS (the new name given to PIDE, the Portuguese secret police) and in the US cultural
centre in Lisbon, and these caused extensive damage. Two trains carrying troops freshly returned from Guinea
were derailed in the outskirts of Lisbon.
At the same time demoralisation grows within the Portuguese army. Thousands of young Portuguese have
run away from Portugal, refusing to be recruited for the colonial war. Others desert. The number of deserters
is so high, even among officers, that the Portuguese Minister of Defence threatened to end the special consideration which has been given to university students concerning their recruitment «if the desertions continue)).
Obviously this will make military service even more unpopular among the Portuguese people. Faced with
defeats in Guinea, Angola and Mozambique and now with guerrillas who attack from within, confronted by
the complete demoralisation of his army and isolated on the international plane, Caetano's regime cannot last
much longer.
Caetano himself is well aware of this. As a result 1970 found him desperately seeking any remedies which he
thought could delay the final fall of colonialism. One of these was the «big offensive)). Another the attempted
invasion of Guinea. Still another the announcement of the «big reforms)). Yet so weak is his position that
these measures have backfired and his hopes have been frustrated.
For without question the attempted invasion of Guinea, like the Mozambique offensive, was another major
defeat for Portuguese colonialism. The reasons for the attack itself are very clear, of course. Threatened with
the loss of the last vestiges of control over Guinea-Bissau by the victories in that country of the fighters of
PAIGC, Caetano is unable or unwilling to recognise the real reasons for his defeat — the fact that the war in
Guinea-Bissau, like the struggles in Angola and Mozambique, is a people's war and a revolutionary war.
Instead he lays the blame on neighbouring countries. This is not a new attitude; Nixon also attacks North
Vietnam, alleging that the Democratic Republic of Vietnam is responsible for the defeats the nationalists of
South Vietnam inflict upon his troops. The failed Portuguese invasion had only one result, however, it convinced even those African countries who have been prepared to pursue a «dialogue)) with Portugal and South
Africa that there can be no security for them while the Portuguese presence continues in Africa and while the
white fascist minority regime continues to rule South Africa. Thus African unity against Portuguese colonialism and South African fascism has been reinforced.
Then as 1970 drew to a close, there came the promise of so-called «autonomy» for the colonies; Caetano
announced constitutional reforms which, according to him, will lead eventually to such a result for the
((Portuguese Overseas Territories)). Even a superficial analysis shows that any relation between these «reforms))
and real autonomy is pure coincidence. They are merely minor administrative adjustments aimed at facilitating the continued exploitation of the colonies while at the same time, as a publicity manouevre, bidding
for badly-needed international support. There is no other reality behind the word «autonomy)). Moreover, as
must be made perfectly clear, even »t there were more content to these reforms that would be irrelevant to us.
For we are fighting to regain our total independence. We fight so that our people will be able to freely choose
their leaders, to decide on their political orientation and on their social and economic structures. Anything
short of this is absolutely unacceptable. Therefore the fact that Caetano felt it necessary to talk of autonomy
at this moment is significant in only one respect: as evidence of the intense pressures to which he is now being
subjected.
Significantly these pressures are international as well as internal. In fact the year 1970 represented a decisive
step forward in the isolation of Portuguese colonialism and its widespread denunciation. We can mention only
a few of the most relevant facts here. Thus in February the Dutch Parliament passed a resolution condemning
the Dutch government for its support to Portuguese colonialism. In June an international Conference of Solidarity with the Peoples of the Portuguese Colonies was held in Rome with the participation of 350 delegates
representing 177 organisations from 64 countries. On the first day of July the Pope received the leaders of
PAIGC, FRELIMO and MPLA in a private audience. The World Council of Churches announced in September
its support to the liberation struggles, and granted a substantial amount of funds to several liberation movements, including FRELIMO. Another foreign company, this time from Italy, withdrew from the Cahora Bassa
project after diplomatic representations from President Kaunda of Zambia to convince the countries involved
in that imperialist scheme to desist from their participation. The Summit Conference of the OAU and of the
Non-Aligned countries pledged in stronger terms than in the past to step up the fight against Portuguese
colonialism. And finally, though in this case more routinely, Portugal was once again condemned at the
United Nations by an almost unanimous vote of the member states.
We see therefore that 1970 provided our struggle with new and important dimensions. All of them clearly
foreshadow the collapse of Portuguese colonialism. As the President of FRELIMO said in his New Year
message to the Mozambican people: «The days of Portuguese colonialism are numbered. We must intensify our struggle in order to hasten its fall)).