Angola Popular Movement - Labor Party

MPLA was established in 1956 with the participation of Angolan Communists and adhered to Marxist ideology.

In 1958-1974 The USSR supplied the armed formations of the MPLA with weapons and equipment. MPLA also supported the supply of weapons and equipment to the People's Republic of China . On November 7, 1961, military specialists from Cuba arrived in Angola to train partisan detachments of the MPLA. Many MPLA rebels underwent military training in the USSR, Bulgaria , Czechoslovakia and Algeria . ^[1] The organization’s fighters were trained in the USSR at the 165th training center for the training of foreign military personnel . ^[2]

In 1961, MPLA leader Agostinho Neto , who was then under house arrest in Portugal , was able to illegally leave the country and immediately flew to Moscow .

Through the International Trade Union Fund for Assistance to Left Workers' Organizations in 1963, the MPLA was allocated 50 thousand dollars; by 1973, this amount had grown to 220 000 thousand dollars.

After the International Conference in Support of the Peoples of the Portuguese Colonies, held in Rome on June 27-29, 1970, A. Neto was invited to Sweden for the first time and the Swedish International Cooperation Agency guaranteed MPLA funding of SEK 500,000 for health and education, as well as purchase of vehicles. ^[3]

After the Portuguese Revolution of 1974, the new Portuguese authorities embarked on a decolonization process. According to preliminary agreements, in independent Angola it was supposed to create a coalition government of representatives of three national liberation movements - the MPLA, the FNLA, and UNITA . However, in the summer of 1975, the capital of Angola, Luanda was taken under military control of the MPLA. Since then, a civil war has erupted in the country, dragging on for more than a quarter of a century - until 2002 .

On November 11, 1975, Angola’s independence was proclaimed under the leadership of the MPLA. The government of President Neto appealed for military assistance to the USSR and Cuba. On the side of the FNLA and UNITA were South Africa and Zaire . In the active phase of the fighting - from November 1975 to March 1976 - the MPLA won. A pro-Soviet Marxist regime was established in Angola.

On May 27, 1977, the most radical Communists, led by Nito Alves , attempted a coup d'etat . The rebellion was crushed by the authorities with the decisive support of the Cuban troops. Tens of thousands of Angolans were targeted by DISA State Security .

In December 1977, the MPLA officially proclaimed Marxism-Leninism its ideology and sharply tightened its political course.

After the death of Agostinho Neto in September 1979, his successor at the head of the MPLA and NRA was Foreign Minister Jose Eduardo dos Santos , who played an important role in suppressing the 1977 rebellion. Serious changes are taking place in the party-state leadership. The closest associates of Neto, the historical leaders of the MPLA, Enrique Carreira (Minister of Defense of the NRA, the curator of power structures) and Lucio Lara (Secretary General, chief ideologist and head of the party organization system) are being removed from their posts. The founders of the party, war veterans of independence , ideologists of African Marxism are gradually being replaced by pragmatists close to President dos Santos. Typical figures are General Manuel Vieira Dias, aka Kopelipa , the current head of the presidential guard, and Julian Mateusz Paulo, aka Dinu Matrush .

In 1990 , under the influence of perestroika in the USSR, the MPLA abandoned the communist ideology and announced a program of transition to democracy and the market. In 1991, peace agreements were signed in Lisbon with UNITA (duplicated in Lusaka in 1994 ), foiled, however, by both parties.

In the 1992 election , the victory of the MPLA and President dos Santos was announced. UNITA and its leader Jonas Savimbi challenged the outcome, accusing the authorities of fraud. The result was the Halloween Massacre and the resumption of a full-blown civil war.

In 1998-1999, government forces launched a massive attack on the UNITA position. On February 22, 2002, Jonas Savimbi died in battle. The new UNITA leadership accepted the terms of the settlement dictated by the MPLA.

After the decommunization and transformation of 1990–2000, the MPLA regime is characterized as a “hydrocarbon dictatorship” ^[4] (the Angolan economy is based on oil production and oil export). Formally, the MPLA professes social democratic principles and is a member of the Socialist International .

The chairman of the MPLA from 1979 to 2018 was the second president of Angola, Jose Eduardo dos Santos]] successor to Agostinho Neto. At different times, the post of Secretary General was held by Juan Lawrence , Dina Matrush, Paulo Cassoma , Alvaro di Boavida Neto . (since 2003 ). A party organization in the capital from 2009 to 2014 was led by Bento Bento . Since August 2016, the Minister of Defense of Angola, Juan Lorenzou , has been the vice-chairman of the MPLA.

On December 2, 2016, the MPLA Central Committee approved the list of party candidates in the parliamentary elections coming in August 2017, with Juan Lorenzou being the first number ^[5] . Thus, Lawrence was declared the successor of President dos Santos. ^[6] Under the 2010 Angolan constitution , the leader of the party that won the parliamentary elections becomes the president of Angola .

In the elections of August 23, 2017 , according to official figures, more than 60% of voters voted for MPLA candidates. This provided the ruling party with 150 seats out of 220. On September 26, 2017, Juan Lorenzo officially took office as president, Bournita di Souza - vice president of Angola .

Since September 2018, Juan Lorenzo took the post of chairman (president) of the MPLA, replacing Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Soon, Lawrence began to sharply criticize his predecessor, accusing him of authoritarian rule and corruption ^[7] . Dos Santos left Angola, heading for treatment in Portugal. The new president made positive gestures regarding the opposition UNITA ^[8] , took a series of symbolic steps aimed at increasing his own popularity. Significant personnel changes were carried out: in particular, Dinu Matrush was removed from the secretary position in the MPLA Central Committee.

Since 2017, the internal party situation in the MPLA has been characterized by a sharp behind-the-scenes struggle between supporters of Juan Lawrence, who are considered reformers, and adherents of the conservative course of souls of Santos. A major success for Lawrence was his assumption of the post of chairman of the ruling party. At the same time, the conservatives' mouthpieces are Vice President Bornito di Souza and Politburo member Dinu Matrush. The Conservatives managed to hold their representative Paulo Pombolo ^[9] as the General Secretary of MPLA.

Since 1964, the flag of the MPLA has become a red-black flag with a large yellow star in the center, based on the red-black flag of the Cuban Movement on July 26 in the image of the flag of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam .

• Party official website