'They can kill us but we won't go to the communal villages!' Peasants and the policy of 'socialisation of the countryside' in Zambezia

• Main Author: Sérgio Chichava
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of the Western Cape, Centre for Humanities Research and the History Department
• Series: Kronos
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-01902013000100005&lng=en&tlng=en

After its ascent to power in June 1975, the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) adopted socialism as a model for development. This led to the implementation of many policies, one of which was the 'socialisation and modernisation of the countryside'. More concretely, it involved the implantation of communal villages, collective machambas [farm, plot] cooperatives, the prohibition of initiation rites and the abolition of traditional authorities. In the province of Zambezia Frelimo faced innumerable obstacles to putting the policy of 'socialisation of the countryside' into practice. This happened to such a degree that, according to the government of Zambezia in that era, the population of other provinces like Nampula, where this policy was more highly prioritised, fled to Zambezia because they knew that there were no communal villages. The objective of this article is to analyse the 'socialisation of the countryside' campaign in Zambezia and the different forms of resistance to this policy on the part of the Zambezian peasants.