Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

100th Anniversary of the Portugues Communist Party

In the years of the New State its estimated that around 30,000 were jailed for political activity or for offences against the state sometimes for the most trivial acts or on hearsay by the activities of PIDE the secret Police .

The fascist prisons (Aljube, PIDE do Porto, Peniche, Caxias, Angra do Heroísmo, Tarrafal) and the prison regime were designed and maintained for the purpose of a slow annihilation of political prisoners - cells less than 2 meters by 2.5 meters and without windows for incommunicado prisoners, the “secret”, the systematic isolation of prisoners, permanent surveillance and provocations, an exhausting diet, deprivation of physical exercise, arbitrary restrictions on contact with family, constant threats, beatings , punishments and ill-treatment, censored correspondence.

Torture was the "investigation method" most used by PIDE. Through the beatings, the "statue", the sleep torture and the incommunicability, the torturers tried to break, humiliate and win. They beat with clubs, with boards, with punch and kick. They force the prisoner to stand for days and weeks on end, preventing him from sleeping. Sometimes hallucinations, exhaustion, faintness arrive. Sometimes supporters kill. But many, many are the ones that don't break.
Click to expand...

The escape from Peniche Fortress on the 3rd of January 1960 was one of the most spectacular escapes in the history of fascism. Leaders and cadres of the PCP . Key members of the PCP central committee including Álvaro Cunhal later to be a prominent actor in the 1974 revolution managed to escape from one of the safest fascist prisons, the Forte de Peniche. Cunhal had been jailed in 1949 , oddly enough whilst in prison, he wrote a series of novels under the pen name Manuel Tiago, fled to Russia . The Salazar regime claimed that a Russian submarine had been waiting for him in the harbour at Peniche.

Another audacious escape took place on December 4, 1961, from Forte de Caxias, from where Francisco Miguel, José Magro and Guilherme da Costa Carvalho, from the Central Committee, and other prominent militants such as António Gervásio, Domingos Abrantes, Ilídio Esteves, António Tereso and Rolando Verdial . Megro was prominet in the 1st of May Demonstrations in Lisbon , Gervásio one of the main organizers of the great struggles of the Alentejo agricultural proletariat for the 8-hour day, in 1962.

Francisco Miguel, in addition to having participated in the escapes from Caxias and Peniche, escaped two more times: in March 1939, from Caxias, and in November 1950, from Peniche. Jaime Serra, in addition to having participated in the escape from Peniche, escaped twice more: once from Peniche in 1950 and once from Caxias in 1956. Pedro Soares and Joaquim Gomes fled the PIDE prison in Porto in October 1954. to open a hole in the ceiling of the room, jump to the ceiling and from there to the roof, after breaking the skylight windows. Then they walked across the rooftops, jumped into a yard and escaped through a cemetery.

In May 1957, several communist militants fled the Aljube jail. Blanqui Teixeira escaped in February 1958 from the Hospital de S. José where he had been taken for treatment similar to what Joaquim Pires Jorge had done years before. In 1950, he escaped from the Hospital dos Capuchos, where he was under arrest, Geogette Ferreira; in 1959 Diniz Miranda fled the Penal Colony of Paços de Ferreira. António Dias Lourenço escaped Peniche's “se gredo” on 13 May 1943 in a spectacular and dangerous escape.
Lourenço after fleeing the Fort and reaching a fishermen's beach, declared himself a communist and a fugitive from the Fort, and found the help he needed with local people: he was transported away from Peniche in a distribution van. of fish. The escape from Peniche was witnessed by several people but not even a mouth was opened to warn the guards.
Click to expand...




1615556437998.png 1615556494914.png 1615556531477.png

Prisons at Ajube, Caxias and Perniche
 
What was the international reaction to Salazar-ism like? I know a bit about post-war anti-Francoism, Stuart Christie and all that, but very little about post-WWII Portugal (or Greece, although I suppose their dictatorship was a fair bit shorter).
 



Por teu livre pensamento / Foram-te longe encerrar / Tão longe que o meu lamento / Não te consegue alcançar… [For your free thinking / They imprisoned you far away / So far that my lament / Is unable to reach you]…

Soon forbidden by the dictatorship for its evident references to the prisoners in the infamous coastal fortress, it became popular as Fado de Peniche, and a symbol of resistance.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
There's a quite remarkable film by a woman named Susana de Sousa Dias called 48 . 48 as in 48 years of the fascist New State She used some prison photographs taken by PIDE ( the Secret and State Police ) and then interviewed the subjects . Here's a short clip of one:

 
hitmouse said:
What was the international reaction to Salazar-ism like? I know a bit about post-war anti-Francoism, Stuart Christie and all that, but very little about post-WWII Portugal (or Greece, although I suppose their dictatorship was a fair bit shorter).
Click to expand...
International reaction was mixed tbh , nearest ally politically was Franco. However, NATO asked Portugal to join them and they had a trade agreement in the 1960s with the CommonMarket /EEC or whatever but weren't allowed to join until after the revolution. The latter has been seen by some as an attempt by countries like Germany to keep them on the right path rather than move left.Salazar's Portugal had one of the last Empires in Africa , Kennedy in the USA was critical of Salazar mainly or to a degree anyway that he wanted to undermine Russia support for liberation struggles within the Portuguese Empire. Of course, it was the long war against rebels in the Empire that exhausted the Salazar, and his successor, Caetano , regime which led to the revolution. For the PCP the strategy was to support an insurrection by the armed forces and then to push for people's power

Salazar has had a small revival within far right conservative circles, being appraised as a more acceptable fascist mainly due to his partial success on profits for big business and his acceptance of non whites as equal Portuguese citizens ( albeit in a society where the majority citizens had very few rights only duty)
 
If we’re including the colonies as part of Portugal (independence came as a result of events in 1974) then Lara Pawson’s book on Angola deserves a mention.

www.dailymaverick.co.za

In the Name of the People: A book review

Lara Pawson has written an African non-fiction classic on a brutal day in Angola’s history. Her book isn’t an answer, it is the Answer. By RICHARD POPLAK.
www.dailymaverick.co.za www.dailymaverick.co.za
www.redeangola.info

Lara Pawson - Rede Angola - Notícias independentes sobre Angola

"Falar em versões definitivas do 27 Maio é disparatado", diz a autora de "Em Nome do Povo", um livro que viaja pelas memórias de Maio de 77.
www.redeangola.info www.redeangola.info
 
Last edited:
hitmouse said:
What was the international reaction to Salazar-ism like? I know a bit about post-war anti-Francoism, Stuart Christie and all that, but very little about post-WWII Portugal (or Greece, although I suppose their dictatorship was a fair bit shorter).
Click to expand...
Britain was very friendly. Apparently Salazar had a portrait of Queen Liz(ard) on his desk. Once it was a portrait of Hitler.
 
zahir said:
Thames TV report, 2 May 1974

Click to expand...

The Thames TV report was in two/three episodes. There's some good footage but it also has a tendency to reflect the Labour government and FCO line of promoting Soares the Socialist Party leader and later a candidate for the Constituent Assembly. The Labour Government required the BBC's World Service Portugal to have their content 'supervised' In the second ITV episode, there is lengthy footage of the anti PCP demonstrations in the North and an attack on a PCP Workers Centre. There is also an amusing interview with Cunhal the PCP leader about the imprisonment of bankers where he states that people have nothing to fear from the PCP apart from bandits.
 
Serge Forward said:
Britain was very friendly. Apparently Salazar had a portrait of Queen Liz(ard) on his desk. Once it was a portrait of Hitler.
Click to expand...
The UK, under both Labour and Tory post war governments was overall friendly whilst not enthusiastic, turning a blind eye to Salazar's brutality. This was probably underpinned by Portugal being the UKs longest ally ( the wartime agreement of access to the Azores was strategically important) , trade where 25% of Portugals imports were from the UK and 13% of UK imports were from Portugal, and the Cold War where Salazar was seen as an anti communist ally. This pretty much went on up to Smiths declaration of UDI in what was then Rhodesia where Portugal supported Smith ( thinking this would help keep a hold on their own colonies) and agreed to a trade agreement with Smith rather than go through the UK government. This provoked a rebuke from the UK. The UKs strategy of a managed transition from colonial control to independence was perceived to be threatened by the bloody wars of independence in Portugals Angola and Mozambique in which the USSR had supported and the rebels Despite a trade deal with the EEC and being a member of NATO the New Sate was tolerated rather than integrated within Europe and therefore saw their empire as key to their economy. The election of the Wilson government (a couple of years after Salazar had stepped down when Caetano his successor was in office.) saw another shift after the massacre of 400 in fighting in Mozambique which again threatened the 'peace' of the UKs own decolonisation process. Labour supported Soares the exiled Socialist Party leader to the point where at one time they threatened to lobby for Portugal's expulsion from NATO , mainly over the massacre, and cancel Caetanos visit to the UK for the 600th anniversary of the UK/Portugal alliance. Caetano's visit went ahead but faced demonstrations in London including the exiled Portuguese Socialist Party.
 
The39thStep said:
The Thames TV report was in two/three episodes. There's some good footage but it also has a tendency to reflect the Labour government and FCO line of promoting Soares the Socialist Party leader and later a candidate for the Constituent Assembly. The Labour Government required the BBC's World Service Portugal to have their content 'supervised' In the second ITV episode, there is lengthy footage of the anti PCP demonstrations in the North and an attack on a PCP Workers Centre. There is also an amusing interview with Cunhal the PCP leader about the imprisonment of bankers where he states that people have nothing to fear from the PCP apart from bandits.
Click to expand...


A couple of reports that I haven't watched yet:

20 March 1975



24 July 1975
 
The 1960s also saw a number incidents that had attracted attention outside Portugal the assault on the Portuguese ocean liner Santa Maria in 1961, the assault on the military quarter of Beja in 1962 and, in the same year, the diversion of the TAP aircraft responsible for the connection Casablanca-Lisbon, which flew at low altitude over Portugal, dropping leaflets denouncing the atrocities of the regime. The regime was now in a long drawn out military battle that would last for well over a decade to try and crush armed opposition in its colonies. The colonies were vital for the Portuguese economy which despite some trade agreements within Europe and later with the EEC could not , unlike other European states not relinquish its dependency on the colonies.

The mid 1960s saw the PCP develop its position on how to overthrow the Salazar regime:

In the present conditions, the mass uprising of the Nation for the overthrow of the fascist dictatorship is the perspective for which the broad masses of the Portuguese people must be won. The national uprising, in which the general political strike can play an important role, will have to become an armed action, with the participation or neutralization of a large part of the military forces, if the fascist government continues to resist violence and terror against popular action.
Click to expand...

Its programme was :

1. Destroy the fascist state and establish a democratic regime.
2. Liquidate the power of monopolies and promote general economic development.
3. Carry out Agrarian Reform, handing over the land to those who work it.
4. To raise the standard of living of the working classes and the people in general.
5. Democratize education and culture.
6. Liberate Portugal from imperialism.
7. Recognize and ensure the people of the Portuguese colonies the right to immediate independence.
8. Follow a policy of peace and friendship with all peoples.

The late 60s see significant strikes and demonstrations against the regime on the railways, by fishing ports, peasants and by students

1615892257027.png

1615892294766.png


The crisis of the fascist regime is manifested in the worsening of the economic situation, in the inability to find a way out of the colonial war, in its growing national and international isolation.
The economic situation worsens with the decline in the growth rate, the increase in the rate of inflation, the worsening of unemployment, the decline in real wages, stock market speculation, the growth of emigration, budget deficits, and the trade and balance of payments deficits. payments.



Unexpectedly the New State was offered an opportunity to try to revive its flagging fortunes when Salazar suffered a brain hemorrhage .in 1968. Marcelo Caetano, chosen by the monopolies to succeed him, tries to avoid the total collapse of the regime by launching some modest 'liberal' reforms. Basically, he intended to broaden the bases of support for the regime and international support, to show that fascists could give a new direction to national life and to attract the most hesitant sectors of the Opposition,. It was hoped that this would isolate the PCP , stop the development of popular struggles, and for some on the left ( ie what was to become the Socialist Party and the misnamed Social Democratic Party ) it wa seen as a step towards the end of fascism and the way to Parliamentary elections. I'll come back to this point later as it reflects a vital difference in how the end game of the 1974 revolution is viewed ie was the aim of parliamentary elections and modern capitalism or was it the overthrow of fascism and a new economy with new democratic functions that would transform class rule.

Salazar by the way was never actually told that he had resigned and due to his mental and physical state spent the remaining few years living with staff who humoured him that he was still in charge.

Caetano's 'liberalisation' had little effct on restoring control, more strikes and demonstration followed and the years of conscription into the military fighting the colonial wars saw the formation of various camps opposed to the war, both on the right and left. The PCP built on its clandestine base within the military . the regime is now spending 40% of its budget fighting against MPLA, FRELIMO and PAIGC . In 1973, Amílcar Cabral, the pro Marxist leader of the nationalists in Guinea-Bissau. is assassinated in January but by September the Republic of Guinea-Bissau is unilaterally proclaimed, with wide recognition throughout the world. Defeats in the African colonies were followed by massacres, followed by more defeats.

The Armed Revolutionary Action (ARA) was created, at the initiative of the PCP, which carried out important sabotage actions against the military apparatus of the colonial war. Among them, some of great importance, such as the destruction of dozens of helicopters and airplanes at the Tancos base on March 8, 1971, the same year a sabotage action immobilized the Cunene ship in Lisbon, which was supposed to transport arms to the colonies.

It's also worth noting that there are the development of revolutionary groups outside of the PCP . The split in the Communist international saw the development of groups influence by Maoism , League of Unity and Armed Revolution and the PRP-BR ( Revolutionary Party of the Proleteriat- Revolutionary Brigades. The latter was formed by young former members of the PCP ( two of the leaders were medical students) and were supported in the 1974 revolution by the International Socilaists ( later SWP ) in the UK.

1972 and 1973 see yet more strikes, the consolidation of opposition in the military with the growth of the Captains Movement. It is the latter that on the dawn of April 25th, 1974 , prompted by the playing of the song Grandola, Vila Morena on the radio , overthrows the fascist dictatorship, an action quickly followed by an uncountable popular uprising.

 
Funnily enough, I'm not going to spend too much time on the revolution. I think there's enough been written out there, I and other posters have made recommendations about articles and books I'll add in Tony Cliffs book Tony Cliff: Portugal at the Crossroads (1975) as from a Trotskyist/ Lenninist view its sharp analysis, its also short and to the point and I read it before I went to Portugal a couple of years after the revolutionary period. Posters can read them and make up their own mind .

I'll also post up what I think are the two of best ( and in english ) short videos about the revolutionary period as they illustrate what the potential was.






and for a bit of light relief a clip of a conversation on a recently formed land coopertaive ( ignore the title and summary)





The potential was a fundamental change in not just political democracy but economic democracy. The narrative in Portugal and worldwide from the 1980s onward about the Carnation Revolution was that fascism was defeated and that free elections ie its antithesis/cure was ushered in. That in itself is more than commendable. German and Italian fascism wasn't removed by a revolution, neither was Franco. The PCP pride themselves on the introduction of free elections and the constitution, they frequently stress their contribution and role in this achievement. However the glass is half empty, the reforms that were passed in terms of nationalisation, workers rights, the working class and peasant actions of workers control, land reform, even the setting up alternative justice system based on mass participation were eased back by the Socialist Party and its allies who won the constituent assembly elections. Later in the 1990s /2000s another narrative is formed which actually blames 'revolutionary excesses and madness' for the state of the Portuguese economy which requires neoliberalism as a cure in itself. This lasted until around the early 2000s when some writers and the left started to make headway in two areas firstly examing the myth that the Salazar regime and its monopoly and reactionary backers just disappeared into thin air and secondly,later a movement against the long period of austerity of 2000- 20014 which partially revived the left and led to an unlikely Socialist Party/ PCP/ Left Bloc agreement for government in 2015. ( The agreement was called geringonça, meaning “an odd contraption” ).

I want to spend a little time on the first issue as it provides some counterbalance to the narrative that explains that the potential of the revolution was simply halted by the PCP not having the right tactics and line. In this, I am not excusing the PCP but want to put more context into the events after the coup in 1974.

There is no doubt that the landowning and capitalist classes saw in most parts that the Salazar/Caetano regime was finished and that Portugal's economic future lay outside its reliance on the colonies. That model was obsolete, new markets needed to be developed especially within the EEC that would not have them as members. They may have had regrets but the military coup in itself may have been more than adequate compensation for them. The problem for them was that the Carnation revolution unleashed unprecedented working class expectations and even worse huge working class activity in factory occupations, seizure of land etc rather than a business led liberal/social democratic reform of the economy. It is also fair to say that not only did the working class have ambition it also had guns and sections of the armed forces which supported a revolutionary change. Their popular view was that Portugal would become the European Czechoslovakia with a Communist takeover. It was in some ways easy to portray , Cunhal the PCP leader had in fact uncritically supported the Soviet line over Czechoslovakia, sections of the armed forces movement were sympathetic to the CP, and sections of the army had distributed weapons. ( I remember speakers from the International Socialists/SWP who had returned from Portugal being impressed at the firearms capacity of the PRP-BR, I have to admit I was as well) .

The ruling classes had two responses the less hawkish was to rally around the Soares's Socialist Party and the Socialist Democratic Party ( which ironically suffered a deficit of both socialism and democracy) and was in fact a liberal conservative party) . The more hawkish section's reaction was to take the armed fight to the communists and their supporters. Although not financially linked Soares Socialist Party added fuel to the fire alleging PCP violence against his party and supporters, whipping up the tension and warning of a PCP takeover.

I'll deal with this in my next post
 
The North was the base for the far right counter revolutionary forces. The MFA (the military organisation that led the Carnation Revolution) had different factions covering the whole range from monarchist, conservatives, liberal democrats, socilaists , PCP supporters all united in ending Caetanos regime and the war in the colonies. The balance between them as in any volatile revolutionary situation shifted continually. The right were mainly grouped around General Spinola , a central democratic group around General Atunes which was anti communist. The PCP spent an inordinate amount of energy trying to build within MFA and at the same time manouvre into alliances with different factions to reduce the influence of the right.

Spinolas MDLP ( Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Portugal ), ELP ( Portugal’s Liberation Army ), and Plano Maria da Fonte (Maria da Fonte Plan) were the backbone of the armed far right in an arrangement with almost three dozen other minor organisations . They integrated the broad Portuguese anti-communist front, which included moderate parties, Catholic hierarchies, and the anti-Marxist military faction of the MFA. This front was also supported by Western countries, such as the USA and Great Britain, which started as staunch supporters of the armed resistance but gradually turned to Mário Soares and his Socialist Party as the pillars of the anti-communist movement. The British press, most of the documentaries made by ITV and the BBC reflected this anti PCP view which portrayed both the right wing political parties and the Socialist party as being victims of a Moscow controlled PCP imposing its will on the defenders of democracy. The political reality was although the Soviet Union gave political support to the PCP it was hardly going to risk anything in making Cunhal , the Portuguese PCP leader some sort of Castro in Southern Europe.

The right wing operated with the full backing of the Catholic church

The northern Catholic landowners did not readily accept the socialist proposals of the Council of the Revolution in power. This predisposed them to respond to the call of anti-communist organisations to show their dissatisfaction by attacking left-wing parties’ headquarters after the Sunday mass or after political rallies. Thus, the preferred strategy of the proponents of the Maria da Fonte Plan was to mobilise the crowds. They used to infiltrate packed places, such as markets, and incite the people to attack the headquarters of left-wing parties, placing bombs, throwing Molotov cocktails and starting fires, as explained by one extreme right former militant: “We especially encouraged uprisings of the population in the various villages, towns, and cities, against the headquarters of the Communist Party. When there were markets and fairs, we took advantage and carried out armed break-ins, destroying the premises, papers, and so on.”
Click to expand...

Fascists from Spain, far right operatives from Germany, the Franco seceret service are all involved with the far right, its activist base is reinforced by hundreds of those who had been forced to return from the colonies due to the success of the African liberation movement, the alliance has links to armed criminal gangs in Porto., ex-PIDE and Legion agents, and mercenaries. Despite the defeat of Spinolas' attempt at a right wing coup , between May 1975 and April 1977, 566 violent actions were committed by this alliance which resulted in more than a dozen deaths. All against the left and its supporters mainly against the PCP. This included tyhe fatal bombing of a priest close to the PCP, the bombing of the Cuban Embassy (two dead), the bomb in a car next to the PCP Work Center (CT) on Avenida da Liberdade, in Lisbon (one dead person, the assault on the PCP's CT in Aveiro (one dead person) . 60 attacks on PCP workers centres in the North, assaults, beatings arsons. In Porto the armed right wing criminal gangs patrolled bars and cafes looking for PCP supporters.

1616063587998.png

After the failed 1975 insurrection attempt by left members of the MFA ( Cliff in his book makes a decent point that at times the left soldiers were more advanced than the workers due to the failure of the left outside of the PCP to build in the factories and point of production) the ruling Socialist party and rightwing Social Democrats appeal for a 'peace' and arrests of the right wing bombing network are made. The trials are a farce, a few convenient footsoldiers are jailed but there is no upward investigation into the key backers, the financiers simply because to do so would have revealed the extent of the conspiracy that reached not just into the MFA but those right wing conservative parties who claimed they led the fight for 'democracy' and the Constituent Assembly. Ramiro Moreira was sentenced to 20 years for murders, bombing, and having a collection of weapons described as a small arsenal but somehow managed to travel to Spain where he lived. He was pardoned on his return by Soares the Socialist Party leader in 1991.

In 2017 a journalist Miguel Carvalho released a book called When Portugal Burned. It was a long overdue exposure of the war that had been removed from the post revolutionary narrative.
 
Libertarian Struggle paper for February 1976 has a story titled "Portugal: the Bourgeoisie Crawl Out of the Woodwork":

archive.org

Libertarian Struggle #24 : AWA Anarchist Workers Association : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

From the collections of the Sparrows' Nest Library and Archive. Libertarian Struggle #24 For Workers' Power - Paper of the Anarchist Workers...
archive.org

The Portugese Revolution probably got as far as it could reasonably go. If the country had genuinely broken with capitalism it would have been zapped harder than Chile was. Somewhere on the hard drive I have a few relevant papers etc. I'll post those up over the weekend if I get the chance. Also some pics of Lisbon in 2019, including the museum in what was once the PIDE HQ (I was supposed to meet my sister there, but her cancer flared up just before she would have got on the flight. . . by then I was already airborne, so . . . ).
 
The39thStep said:
I think it's fair to say that the establishment of Communist Parties inspired by the Russian revolution did have a negative impact on anarchism and syndicalism as an influence in many countries. The early CP ( formed in 1921) and the anarchist influenced CGT couldn't come to an agreement as to how to fight fascism ( the first fascist organisation in Portugal appeared in 1924 and by 1926 with Salazars seizure of power the PCP, the anarchists and the CGT were banned .

I'm not sure what happened to anarchism as a movement in Portugal tbh during the years of the New State. I know there was an assassination attempt on Salazar by an anarchist but by the time we get to 1974 and the revolution I haven't come across many references. Whereas the PCP despite having its leadership and membership jailed and tortured ( the central committee of the PCP when it was legalised in the 1974 revolution had 300 years of jail sentences between them ) survived and played a key ( for better or worse) role.
Click to expand...
The anarchist movement in Portugal experienced horrific repression under Salazar. Many were sent to the penal colonies in Africa, and the appalling conditions there caused the deaths of many of them.
 
chilango said:
Yeah.

The UDP and the MDP.

The MRRP are sorta still around right?

(well 20 years ago in Porto they were..:()

My fave book on the revolution:

libcom.org

Portugal: the impossible revolution? - Phil Mailer

Phil Mailer of Solidarity's excellent history and analysis of the Portuguese Revolution from 1974-1976.
libcom.org libcom.org
Click to expand...
Yes, I think Phil Mailer's book is the best one on the Portuguese Revolution. Apparently he's been living on the Iberian peninsula for the last few decades. Actually, looking into it, spending his time between Ireland and Portugal:Phil Mailer - PM Press
 
Idris2002 said:
Libertarian Struggle paper for February 1976 has a story titled "Portugal: the Bourgeoisie Crawl Out of the Woodwork":

archive.org

Libertarian Struggle #24 : AWA Anarchist Workers Association : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

From the collections of the Sparrows' Nest Library and Archive. Libertarian Struggle #24 For Workers' Power - Paper of the Anarchist Workers...
archive.org

The Portugese Revolution probably got as far as it could reasonably go. If the country had genuinely broken with capitalism it would have been zapped harder than Chile was. Somewhere on the hard drive I have a few relevant papers etc. I'll post those up over the weekend if I get the chance. Also some pics of Lisbon in 2019, including the museum in what was once the PIDE HQ (I was supposed to meet my sister there, but her cancer flared up just before she would have got on the flight. . . by then I was already airborne, so . . . ).
Click to expand...
Blimey, I'd forgotten that I wrote that article in Libertarian Struggle!!! well, it was 44 years ago.
 
The short revolutionary period in Portugal in which hundreds of thousands occupied land, set collectives up, occupied workplaces, collectively ran som media radio and newspapers, an attempt at a right wing counter coup , a failed left wing counter coup ended in the election of a Socialist Party and Social Democratic victory . The years after see the capitalist class hegemonise behind those forces. It now has no use for the right wing terrorists and armed reaction . A long line of Liberal conservative governments follow The entry into the EU was portrayed by the ruling class and business as 'we have finally arrived' Bucket loads of money came from the EU , the country was awash with loans . In the new shopping malls in Lisbon people came for days out to ride the escalators and window shop , some even brought fish to barbecue. Of course, the money had to be paid back the The Euro crisis allowed the 'modernisation' of the economy where living standards fell, working conditions were attacked (wages from 200-2015 fell by 25%, a loss of union density with millions without contracts in the burgeoning tourist and hospitality industry and small workplaces.

The narrative on the revolution became one as Portuguese historian Rui Bebiano described it in 2008 as “unmemory” . Rather than different than “forgetfulness”, because while the latter involves “carelessness, accident, a casual blur of past reminiscences”, the former involves “a voluntary erasure of memory, a lack of knowledge or even a lack of interest in certain areas of living, considered irrelevant and not instrumental”. In the mid 2000s there was a TV debate about the revolution which involved a former senior PIDE official discussing events with Conservative and Socialist Party representatives. The PCP described it as 'an evening with Klaus Barbie , prison guards and victims' One government 'celebration' of the anniversary of the revolution marketed it as 'Portugals evolution' as if unwittingly the historical period from the New State to the present was just a line of gradual progression. There was a softening of the portrayal of the Salazar years into 'of course there were unnecessary features but he did quite a bit that was good and don't forget Portugal could have been a communist state. in one TV poll, Salazar won the most votes as the most famous Portuguese figure. This was not to say that Portugal was moving to a fascist trajectory, quite the opposite it was a fully democratic neo liberal state which occasionally had to remind its population that the unreal and unreasonable aspirations of the left were the real threat.

Very sad to see when following revolution this is in fact what happened to memorials like the Bridge of Salazar across the Tagus in Lisbon when it was renamed the Ponte 25 de Abril



It was not until the fightback against austerity in the 2010s that there was a challenge to this and the fightback which involved demonstrations and strikes of thousands partially revived memories of another view of the revolution even from some unlikely sources on this clip




During the Socialist Party/PCP and Left Block arrangement, elements of the progressive side of the revolution began to be remembered and the role of the left and the working class inside that. Not a flood but a trickle and the celebrations of the anniversary of the revolution began to change, even in covid last year there were celebrations




More books were published, some former activists spoke. Although most participants in the armed struggle of the left are hesitant to publish some have and events of resistance by the PCP and others to the Salazar regime are occasionally reported in the mainstream press, mainly it must be said in obituaries. The PCPs 100th anniversary celebrations and their 100 actions programme have received reasonable coverage in the media here and provoked some debate, some hostile and some unexpectedly positive. Unlike the UK ( don't know whether its in some constitutional guidelines on media/press access ) both the PCP and Left Bloc get decent coverage in their statements in Parliament on the news. For a foreigner like me, it's unusual to see this. At elections, PCP posters are everywhere and they are in the Presidential and general election debates on TV.

The PCP ran on its site and Twitter feed a series of very short clips about why people had joined the PCP and probably more importantly this was followed by a further series of short clips about what the PCP meant to non members of the PCP. This has opened up a little debate about the PCPs contribution to the revolution and the relevance of the revolution. Even Costa the Socialist Party Prime minister ( who personally I wouldn't let even near the tea money) congratulated the PCP on its 100th anniversary and noted the contribution the PCP had made in the fight against Salazar. Daniel Oiveria a writer for the Espresso , a Guardian like paper but with some backbone, did a column that had the following headline

"In my house there was a red flag of twill. Hand sewn, a scythe and a hammer. It was woven in the urgency of the days of liberation and is the memory of a debt."
Click to expand...

In the bigger scene of things, these are small issues, a PCP revival is not around the corner but neither is its imminent demise. One one hand it is fossil like a relic of the3rd International still celebrating the Russian Revolution, pasting red flags and the hammer and sickle around cities and towns ( causing some sections of the Conservative press to say Lisbon looked like North Korea). On the other hand, it has far more trade union depth than the Left Bloc, it controls several councils and has an excellent social media strategy and website page ( its Avante newspaper site though is terribly dated) . It has a very working class composition, is very strong on women's rights , anti racism and has a strong identity and reputation, in its own words, as 'Patriotic and Left' . Its rival , Left Block, for example, polled in the last election a little better is more metropolitan, fights on a wider range of issues coming across as a mixture of Counterfire and Momentum. . The PCP has an ageing membership and leadership, this itself is both a strength and a weakness, however through its Avante Festival, one of the biggest festivals in Portugal and its promotion of art and culture as vital to the populations well being it has an unlikely presence outside of just the traditional working class. I'll cover the Avante Festival in my penultimate post in this thread.

As an anecdote: I live in a small village just north of Albufeira , there are three local bars , its quiet. One night I'm in a bar watching the football and an older chap, portuguese, comes in for a coffee. He asks if he can read the Portuguese newspaper that has been left on the table next to me and puts down some small folder of papers that he has. He is joined shortly by some friends they chat ask me what the score is and then accidentally spill a coffee on their table. the man picks up the papers to avoid the coffee damaging them but there is nowhere to put them so I offer space on my table for the papers whilst they get a cloth. Being a nosey cunt I glace at the papers, they are in Portuguese but I can pick out some words and sentences and realise that they are an article by Álvaro Cunhal , the PCP leader during the revolution, on democratic centralism. Having had a beer I summon up the courage in my appalling Portuguese and ask him are you PCP? God knows why I asked because unless they speak a bit of English I'm fucked in having a conversation. they don't speak English but he says ' Yes I am a member and asks me if I like the communists. I say a little bit but I like communism without Russia. He looks puzzled and I think perhaps I haven't said that right in Portuguese but he replies politely in Portuguese 'Without the Soviet Union communism is impossible.'
 
The Avante Festival

Its big , its popular attracting up to 100,000. Dexys Midnight Runners played it. it covers everything from politics, science, food, classical music, jazz, traditional portuguese, soul rap and hip hop , heavy rock, over three days on a huge site Even in the pandemic at attracted 30000. The PCP bought a permanent site in and volunteers spend months building the structures stalls etc. Its cultural impact is way beyond the PCPs size.

(I think the subtitles are in English , if not if you press setting on the bottom right of the video you can generate English sub)




line ups at some of the festivals








This band, Xutos and Pontapes are huge, easily the biggest in Portugal

 
I've gone I think as far as I can go. What started as a good idea for a niche lockdown project has meant that if I ever meet an English speaker here and they mention anything vaguely left I'll end up boring them to death about this or failing that I'll end up on Mastermind .

Here's me two years after the revolution in Lisbon with PCP graffiti

1616154603036.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

not-bono-ever
100 years of the Chinese Communist Party
Replies
10
Views
628
PTK
PTK
tim
Over 100 crushed to death at a Korean Halloween street party (30 October 2022).
Replies
24
Views
1K
kenny g
kenny g
P
How the UK incited the mass murder of Indonesian Communists in the 1960s.
Replies
14
Views
1K
Pickman's model
Pickman's model
Yuwipi Woman
Class, Economics, Inflation, and the Democratic Party's Awful Messaging
Replies
22
Views
1K
SpackleFrog
SpackleFrog
Jeff Robinson
The People's Iron Fist vs Imperialist Jackboots: Revolutionaries and Anti-Communists Clash in Cuba
2 3 4 5
Replies
132
Views
6K
hitmouse
hitmouse
Back
Top Bottom