Zimbabwe's Guerrilla War
Peasant Voices

In this study of Zimbabwe's rural-based war of independence, Norma Kriger is interested in the extent to which ZANU guerrillas were able to mobilize peasant support.

Norma J. Kriger (Author)

9780521070676, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 July 2008

316 pages
23 x 15.1 x 2 cm, 0.3 kg

Studies of revolution generally regard peasant popular support as a prerequisite for success. In this study of political mobilization and organization in Zimbabwe's recent rural-based war of independence, Norma Kriger is interested in the extent to which ZANU guerrillas were able to mobilize peasant support, the reasons why peasants participated, and in the links between the post-war outcomes for peasants and the mobilization process. Hers is an unusual study of revolution in that she interviews peasants and other participants about their experiences, and she is able to produce fresh insights into village politics during a revolution. In particular, Zimbabwean peasant accounts direct our attention to the ZANU guerrillas' ultimate political victory despite the lack of peasant popular support, and to the importance that peasants attached to gender, generational and other struggles with one another. Her findings raise questions about theories of revolution.

1. Peasant revolutions: theories and methods
2. Inequalities and peasant grievances
3. Strategies, goals and appeals: continuity and change
4. Guerrilla - civilian relations: the issue of popular support
5. Struggles in the struggle
6. Legacies of the war for peasants
7. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP]