FOR EIGHT whole years the Patriotic Front waged unremitting armed "gainst the settler Robert Mugabe's Despite the propaganda of the South African, Rhodesian, British media, the support for the freedom fighters continued increase. The black preferred to put their faith in the guns of the Patriotic Front rather than the promises of Muzorewa •ог leaders. And events have proved them right.
It was the armed struggle which forced lan Smith : House. It was the eight-year which convinced imperialism that a black government was necessary disasters. But different things expected from the Lancaster House agreements by the yarious powers The South Africans white supporters Front thought that sufficient money could buy votes for their favourite pawn, Bishop Muzorewa. , they auxiliaries could be hired to engage in acts of intimidation then a combination of repression, patronage and money misht do the all struggle leencos for and multinationals.
to Frontline population Robert were not in the Bishop political hinterland for fighters. lancaster wall Anglo-American • ZaCCLCI:
stave off bigger of large-scale were intimidation. the and their Rhodesia seem.
revealed hundreds of reasoned, if his and thuggery Bishop's. paid trick. This view fitted in well with their overall conception of Africans.and the British understood that Muzorewa was a bad bet and staked their cards on Joshua Nkomo. The aim was that he could become the Kenyatta of the new Zimbabwe, and keep the country sate imperialist investment and the (tl Mugabe's main backers final West, but in the frontline states of Mozambique and tanzania. I nelr inniucnce was duc lo the fact that they had provided a vital the ZANU guerilla It was they who pressed Mugabe not to boycott the Lancaster House it was tnev wno were most concerned about the likelihood election rigging and event, everyone was surprised by the scale of the victory. Writers in our pages had visualised a different scenatio. They had thought that there would be a massacre of the guerillas in the assembly points. This was not as foolish as it might now All the reports during the tense weeks which preceded the elections provocations and acts of violence by the white Rhodesian security forces and the hoodlums. Ten thousand members of ZANU were arrested during the campaign itself. The Selous Scouts (a semi-fascist special militia) tried to assassinațe NugaDe. But ZANU won despite all the harassment. This victory was triumph .for the black liberation struggle in Zimbabwe. The disbelief on the crestfallen face of white Rhodesia must have brought joy to the majority Zimbabwe.
The public jubilation delirious celebrations which we saw television screens gave the lie to the imperialistorchestrated metla spearheaded by the BBC for the past eight years.
It was shown that the 'terrorists' had mass popular support. ZANU's victory was the final outcome of the civil war. Zimbabwe defeated Rhodesia and, there was no such thing as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. Only the most dead-end left sectarians could fai to be moved by what had taken place in Zimbabwe. Victory We have no hesitation in greeting the victory of Robert Mugabe as a giant first step forward for babwe. This is regardless of what may or may not follow the victory. What we are seeing is the birth of black power in Zimbabwe, and for a country which has been dominated for countless decades by a smali banc of white settlers this is no small achievement.
Regardless of any.
concessions (Walls as army chief, white settler ZANU aim is to achieve a completé decolonisation and visible precipitating a lead to further loss of life and invite South African intervention! of black Cheer-leaders However, it is not sufficient for revolutionary Marxists to act simply as cheer-leaders. eno wiln nanora. iоеpепис.cс. campaign social and economic transformation of Zimbabwe is vital for the process of liberation to be completed Land in particular question for 80% of the population Through the Land Apportionment had Act and other settlers have occupied for decades the best farming land in the country.
Sooner will demand
Zimbabwe will uprooters themselves are uprooted; that the handed back to those from whom it was stolen.
The ZANU combination of populism. It states that 'in as much as Zim- the country belongs to the whole of our People or to our People as a whole, the resources of our country such as land, the rivers, the minerals, the forests the beasts, the birds and even insects are ours together...' the divided. The rast tacțical peasants. As the ZANU DrONI the cabinet) still exercise total confliet that could conflict British-based Our fight cannot The fraternal and is a burning levers of devices, the white take people that the becore clearer victory which they stole despite the programme is bationatism and the appressed treat it as mountains, of the ZANT fek.
Deople theazschves art ajarit) from cray sid admits: "Today, most agriculture is European agriculture? And tomorrow? Clearly the majority will demand ifs economic rights, General Walls notwithstanding.
UPYC LIECHL capital another important arena of potentia!
The country's industry totally dominated by the settlers and multinationals. To what extent will they determine th economic and foreign policies new government? What are the options open to the new governn pose these questions comradely the struggle for socialism is a corsy •tortuous process. Bur questions must be posed, orber Robert Mugabe will find that the DOWCI WIl DO hands of ZANU The direction in which ZANU Zimbabwe into the every month and year. But the impar should be in ultra-careful firse ments of its leader The victory of ZANU bas i ed the noose around the neck Africa SWAPO freedom celebrating in the 1 ZANU victory, # Souts 407Pare 15
Socialist Challenge By Redmond O Neill That also means throwing out all the latest 'compromise proposals for settlement of the steel dispute. The latest issue of Steel Workers' Banner, ISTC CASES explains why. 'Practically all of the important principles demanded by the Corporation have been conceded, it explains, negotiating away many jobs' clearly mean
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guerillas bearing the brunt of the fighting.
Thuggery After all,
state power. Who can deny them the urge to complete this process without