Page "Portuguese Mozambique" Paragraph 8

Between the modern urban and traditional rural sectors of the society was a steadily increasing group of Africans who were loosening their ties with the village and starting to participate in the money economy, to settle in suburbs, and to adopt new customs.

This transitional group included individuals who had acquired a modicum of education or skills and some of the aspirations associated with a modern European way of life.

Many of them, especially those who had an education beyond the primary level, were more alert politically than the majority of the population, who are either unaware of or uninterested in political issues.

It was members of this group, allied with forward-looking European leaders and intellectuals, who had shown the greatest interest in reforms and benefits for the African population.

Some among them left the country to become active participants in the independence movement.