Amilcar Cabral on Marxism

Tsenay Serequeberhan, the editor of the new edition of Return to the Source, speaks about Amilcar Cabral's classic collection of essays calling for decolonization through self-liberation... See Serequeberhan's full comments here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjtRC_pZK9g&t=222s Cabral on Marxism: "We cannot, from our experience, claim that Marxism-Leninism must be modified—that would be presumptuous. What we must do is to modify, to radically transform, the political, economic, social, and cultural conditions of our people. This doesn’t mean that we have no respect for all that Marxism and Leninism have contributed to the transformation of struggles throughout the world and over the years. But we are absolutely sure that we have to create and develop in our particular situation the solution for our country. We believe that the laws governing the evolution of all human societies are the same. Our society is developing in the same way as other societies in the world, according to the historical process; but we must understand clearly what stage our society has reached. Marx, when he created Marxism, was not a member of a tribal society; I think there’s no necessity for us to be more Marxist than Marx or more Leninist than Lenin in the application of their theories...." P. 38 "RETURN TO THE SOURCE: Selected Texts of Amilcar Cabral, New Expanded Edition" https://monthlyreview.org/product/return-to-the-source-new-expanded-edition/ * * * * Monthly Review magazine and Monthly Review Press have been leading publishers of left scholarship since 1949. The first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949) featured Albert Einstein's classic essay, "Why Socialism?" Our mission since then has been to offer readers a responsible platform for neglected and emerging scholarship grounded in critical analyses of capitalism, on a wide range of progressive issues. Monthly Review Press is an educational publisher, featuring a small and selected, but influential school of scholarly analysis which fills a demonstrable gap in the arena of socialist scholarship. Monthly Review’s distinctive contribution to the world of ideas has advanced an analysis that helps to explain the tendency of contemporary capitalism toward slow growth and stagnation, the growing environmental catastrophe, the continuing and deepening economic inequality between the rich and poor nations, and between the rich and poor everywhere.

Added 30 Mar 2026