Return to the Source: Selected Speeches of Amilcar Cabral

Amilcar Cabral, who was the Secretary-General of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands (PAIGC), was assassinated by Portuguese agents on January 20, 1973. Under his leadership, the PAIGC liberated three-quarters of the countryside of Guinea in less than ten years of revolutionary struggle. Cabral distinguished himself among modern revolution­aries by the long and careful preparation, both theoretical and practical, which he undertook before launching the revolutionary struggle, and, in the course of this preparation, became one of the world's outstanding theoreticians of anti-imperialist struggle.
This volume contains some of the principal speeches Cabral delivered in his last years during visits to the United States. The first is his speech to the fourth Commission of the United Nations General Assembly on October 16, 1972, on "Questions of Terri­tories under Portuguese Administration." His brilliant speeches on "National Liberation and Culture" (1970) and "Identity and Dignity in the Context of the National Liberation Struggle" (1972) follow.
During his last visit to the United States, Cabral asked the Africa Information Service to organize an informal gathering of representatives from a variety of black organizations, and it took place on October 20, 1972. The vitality, warmth, and humor with which Cabral spoke to this gathering are evident in the transcript which appears here, and which includes his replies to questions as well as his opening remarks.
Finally, the New Year's Message of January 1973 is included. As his last written statement to the people of Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands, this constitutes the political testament of Amilcar Cabral.
Included as well are maps, photographs, and suggestions for further reading bearing on the struggles of the PAIGC and of the liberation movements in Angola and Mozambique.