ABSTRACT
All colonialisms have used some measure of constraint to pitch-fork Africans into the labour force, particularly during the initial stages of colonial rule. Despite some real costs, the ugly and anachronistic use of systematic violence to shore up racism and colonialism continued in Portugal's African colonies and, from the African perspective, seemed likely to do so until the perpetrators of that violence were forceably driven from the field. As Anderson has noted, the most notorious single feature of the Portuguese African colonies is their systematic use of forced labour. In an admirably clear, if somewhat abbreviated form William Minter's Portuguese Africa and the West provides an exemplary overview of the situation which made Portuguese Africa a forcing-house for revolution. An African could become an "assimilado" by passing the requisite language examination, earning a certain income, paying a fee.
