The Movement of National Antifascist Unity ( pt, Movimento de Unidade Nacional Antifascista or MUNAF) was a political platform of democratic organizations which fought against the Portuguese

authoritarian regime Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic votin ...

( led by

António de Oliveira Salazar António de Oliveira Salazar (, , ; 28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese dictator who served as President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1968. Having come to power under the ("National Dictatorship"), he reframed the re ...

). The Movement of National Antifascist Unity was founded in December 1943, shortly after the 3rd Congress of the Portuguese Communist Party, that strongly influenced its creation. Inside the MUNAF, several tendencies of the democratic resistance were joined together, along with the communists, it also congregated socialists, republicans, Catholics, liberals and monarchists. Several prominent figures of the resistance made part of its leadership, such as

Bento de Jesus Caraça Bento de Jesus Caraça, GCSE, GOL (18 April 1901 – 25 June 1948) was an influential Portuguese mathematician, economist and statistician. Caraça was also a member of the Portuguese Communist Party and so, he became one of the most famous pe ...

Mário Soares Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, GColTE, GCC, GColL (; 7 December 1924 – 7 January 2017) was a Portuguese politician, who served as prime minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th presid ...

and

Norton de Matos Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada * Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan * Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, ...

. The MUNAF ended when, in 1945, with a whole new international panorama created by the defeat of the major fascist regimes in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Salazar was forced to fake some democratic changes in order to keep its image at the eyes of the western allies. Thus, in October 1945, the democratic resistance was legally authorized to form a platform. That platform, originated in the MUNAF, was named

Movement of Democratic Unity The Movement of Democratic Unity ( pt, Movimento de Unidade Democrática or MUD) was a quasi-legal platform of Portuguese democratic organizations that opposed the authoritarian regime of António de Oliveira Salazar and was founded in October 1945 ...

(Portuguese: Movimento de Unidade Democrática, or MUD) and replaced the MUNAF as the major platform of democratic organizations.

References

MUDJ - Cronologia
Retrieved 2006-06-24 20th century in Portugal 1943 establishments in Portugal 1945 disestablishments in Portugal Portuguese Communist Party Portuguese anti-fascists {{Portugal-poli-stub