Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
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The Popular or People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola - Party of Labour (Portuguese: Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola - Partido do Trabalho) is an Angolan political party that has ruled the country since independence in 1975.
MPLA was founded in December 1956, through the fusion of Party of the United Struggle for Africans in Angola (PLUA) and the Angolan Communist Party (PCA). Later other movements merged into MPLA, such as Movement for the National Independence of Angola (MINA) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Angola (FDLA).
The party was one of three movements advocating Angolan independence from Portugal. The other two were:
- the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), and
- the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).
The MPLA's core base includes the Mbundu ethnic group and the mixed-race intelligentsia of the capital city, Luanda. It formerly had links to European and Soviet Communist parties but is now a full-member of the Socialist International grouping of social democratic parties.
The armed wing of MPLA was FAPLA (Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola). FAPLA later became the national armed forces of the country.
In 1960, it joined with the PAIGC, fraternal party in Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde, to direct combat against the Portuguese empire in Africa. The following year, the expanded umbrella group CONCP replaced FRAIN, adding fellow Marxist-Leninists FRELIMO of Mozambique and the CLSTP, forerunner of the MLSTP of Sao Tome and Principe.
A 1974 Carnation Revolution in Portugal established a military government that promptly ceased pro-independence fighting in Angola and agreed to hand over power to a coalition of the three movements. The coalition quickly broke down and Angola broke into a state of civil war.
South Africa intervened militarily in favor of the conservative FNLA and UNITA, Zaire and the United States also heavily aided the two groups. Cuba deployed thousands of troops in 1975 to aid the MPLA, the Soviet Union aided both Cuba and the MPLA government during the war. In November 1980, the MPLA had all but crushed UNITA, and the South African forces withdrew. The United States Congress barred further U.S. military involvement in the country, fearing another Vietnam-style quagmire.
Maintaining control over Luanda and the lucrative oil fields of the Atlantic coastline, the MPLA declared Angola's independence on November 11, 1975, the day the Portuguese abandoned the capital. Poet and freedom fighter Agostinho Neto became the first president upon independence, and he was succeeded by José Eduardo dos Santos in 1979.
In 1976, MPLA adopted Marxism-Leninism as the party ideology. It maintained close ties with the Soviet Union and the Communist bloc, establishing similar socialist economic policies and a one-party state. Several thousand Cuban troops remained in the country to combat UNITA insurgents and bolster the regime's security.
In 1983, MPLA added Partido do Trabalho (Party of Labour) to its name.
Civil war with UNITA, which received varying degrees of support from the U.S. and South Africa in the '80s, continued until 2002, when UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi was killed. The two parties promptly agreed to a ceasefire, and a plan was laid out for UNITA to demobilize and become a peaceful political party.
In the 1992 elections, MPLA-PT won 53.74% of the votes, and 129 out of 227 members of parliament.
MPLA-PT is currently a member of the Socialist International.
Major mass organizations of MPLA-PT are:
- Organização da Mulher Angolana (Angolan Women's Organization)
- União Nacional dos Trabalhadores Angolanos (National Union of Angolan Workers)
- Organização dos Pioneiros de Agostinho Neto (Organization of Pioneers of Agostinho Neto)
- Juventude do MPLA (Youth of MPLA)
