‘Poetry is not an art object but a useful object’: Mário Pinto de Andrade, Literary Activism and International Solidarity in Angola’s Liberation Struggle

Abstract

This article investigates the role of poetry and literary publications as tools for building international solidarity during the early phases of the Angolan liberation struggle. It identifies Mário Pinto de Andrade – founding member and first president of the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) – as a pivotal figure in advancing this strategy. Drawing on personal correspondence, archival sources, interviews and memoirs, the article retraces Andrade’s early writings and his political and intellectual trajectory, showing how he leveraged his extensive networks to circulate lusophone African poetry and establish transnational alliances across Europe, Africa, the Soviet Union and beyond. While focused on poetry and literary interventions, the article also highlights how Andrade made broader use of the social capital he had acquired, notably through the creation of humanitarian initiatives such as the Corpo Voluntário Angolano de Assistência aos Refugiados, which doubled as platforms for political mobilisation. Focusing on the period from the mid 1950s to 1962, the article contributes to scholarship on anti-colonialism and liberation struggles by revealing how cultural exchange and literary production played a central role in shaping solidarity networks. It argues that these networks not only amplified African voices but also laid the groundwork for the eventual dismantling of Portuguese colonial rule.