The ''Estado Novo'' (, lit. "New State") was the
corporatist
Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
state installed in 1933. It evolved from the ''
Ditadura Nacional'' ("National Dictatorship") formed after the
''coup d'état'' of 28 May 1926 against the
democratic but unstable
First Republic. Together, the ''Ditadura Nacional'' and the ''Estado Novo'' are recognised by historians as the Second Portuguese Republic ( pt, Segunda República Portuguesa). The ''Estado Novo'', greatly inspired by
conservative and
autocratic ideologies, was developed 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 ...
, who was
President of the Council of Ministers
The President of the Council of Ministers (sometimes titled Chairman of the Council of Ministers) is the most senior member of the cabinet in the executive branch of government in some countries. Some Presidents of the Council of Ministers are th ...
from 1932 until illness forced him out of office in 1968.
The ''Estado Novo'' was one of the longest-surviving authoritarian regimes in Europe in the 20th century. Opposed to
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
,
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
,
syndicalism
Syndicalism is a Revolutionary politics, revolutionary current within the Left-wing politics, left-wing of the Labour movement, labor movement that seeks to unionize workers Industrial unionism, according to industry and advance their demands t ...
,
anarchism
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...
,
liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
and
anti-colonialism, the regime was conservative,
corporatist
Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...
, and
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
in nature, defending
Portugal's traditional Catholicism. Its policy envisaged the perpetuation of Portugal as a
pluricontinental nation under the doctrine of
lusotropicalism
Lusotropicalism ( pt, Lusotropicalismo) is a term and "quasi-theory" developed by Brazilian sociologist Gilberto Freyre to describe the distinctive character of Portuguese imperialism overseas, proposing that the Portuguese were better colonizer ...
, with
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
,
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
, and other
Portuguese territories as extensions of Portugal itself, it being a supposed
source of civilization and stability to the overseas societies in the African and Asian possessions. Under the ''Estado Novo'', Portugal
tried to perpetuate a vast, centuries-old empire with a total area of , while other former colonial powers had, by this time, largely acceded to global calls for self-determination and independence of their overseas colonies.
Portugal joined the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
(UN) in 1955 and was a founding member of
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
(1949), the
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
(1961), and
EFTA (1960). In 1968,
Marcelo Caetano was appointed prime minister replacing an aged and debilitated Salazar; he continued to pave the way towards economic integration with Europe and an higher level of economic liberalization in the country, achieving the signing of an important free-trade agreement with the
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
(EEC) in 1972.
From 1950 until Salazar's death in 1970, Portugal saw its GDP per capita increase at an annual average rate of 5.7 per cent.
Despite the remarkable economic growth, and economic
convergence, by the fall of the ''Estado Novo'' in 1974, Portugal still had the lowest per capita income and the lowest literacy rate in Western Europe (although this also remained true following the fall, and continues to the present day). On 25 April 1974, the
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...
in
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, a military coup organized by left-wing Portuguese military officers – the
Armed Forces Movement
230px, A mural dedicated to the MFA, it reads: "Towards freedom. Long live the 25th of April!"
The Armed Forces Movement ( pt, Movimento das Forças Armadas; MFA) was an organization of lower-ranking, politically left-leaning officers in the Por ...
(MFA) – led to the end of the ''Estado Novo''.
Prelude
King
Carlos I of Portugal confirmed colonial treaties of the 19th century that stabilized the situation in
Portuguese Africa. These agreements were, however, unpopular in Portugal, where they were seen as being to the disadvantage of the country. In addition, Portugal was declared bankrupt twice—first on 14 June 1892 and again on 10 May 1902—causing industrial disturbances, socialist and republican antagonism, and press criticism of the monarchy. Carlos responded by appointing
João Franco
João Franco Ferreira Pinto Castelo-Branco, GCTE (; (14 February 1855 in Alcaide, Fundão – 4 April 1929 in Anadia) was a Portuguese politician, minister, 43rd Minister for Treasury Affairs (14 January 1890) and 47th Prime Minister (19 ...
as Prime Minister and subsequently accepting Parliament's dissolution. In 1908, Carlos I was
assassinated in Lisbon by anti-monarchists. The
Portuguese monarchy
This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution.
Through the nea ...
lasted until 1910 when, through the
5 October revolution, it was overthrown and Portugal was proclaimed a
republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
. The overthrow of the Portuguese monarchy in 1910 led to a 16-year struggle to sustain parliamentary democracy under republicanism – the Portuguese First Republic (1910–1926).
The 28 May 1926 ''coup d'état'' or, during the period of ''Estado Novo'', the National Revolution ( pt, Revolução Nacional), was a military action that put an end to the chaotic Portuguese First Republic and initiated the ''
Ditadura Nacional'' (National Dictatorship) (years later, renamed ''Estado Novo'').
With
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
organizations being popular and widely supported across many countries (like
Italian Fascism and
National Socialism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
) as an
antagonist
An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist.
Etymology
The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...
of
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
ideologies,
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 ...
developed the ''Estado Novo'', which can be described as a right-leaning
corporatist
Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...
government. The basis of his regime was a platform of stability, in direct contrast to the unstable environment of the
First Republic.
According to some Portuguese scholars like
Jaime Nogueira Pinto
Jaime Alexandre Nogueira Pinto (born 4 February 1946 in Porto, Santo Ildefonso) is a Portuguese writer and university professor, son of Jaime da Cunha Guimarães by Alda Branca Nogueira Pinto, who died in 2007.
A right-wing political thinker, he h ...
and Rui Ramos,
[História de Portugal. A luta de facções entre os salazaristas](_blank)
"Até os americanos já o tinham abandonado, temendo 'recriar o caos que existia em Portugal antes de Salazar tomar o poder'.", from História de Portugal (2009), Rui Ramos, Bernardo de Vasconcelos e Sousa, and Nuno Gonçalo Monteiro, Esfera dos Livros, cited in ionline.pt his early reforms and policies changed the whole nation by permitting political and financial stability and therefore a calm
social order
The term social order can be used in two senses: In the first sense, it refers to a particular system of social structures and institutions. Examples are the ancient, the feudal, and the capitalist social order. In the second sense, social order ...
and
economic growth
Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...
, after the politically unstable and financially chaotic years of the
Portuguese First Republic
The First Portuguese Republic ( pt, Primeira República Portuguesa; officially: ''República Portuguesa'', Portuguese Republic) spans a complex 16-year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy ...
(1910–1926). Following the First Republic, when not even public order had been achieved, this looked like an impressive breakthrough to most of the population; at this point, Salazar achieved the height of his popularity. This transformation of Portugal was then known as ''A Lição de Salazar'' – "Salazar's Lesson". Salazar's program was opposed to
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
,
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
, and
liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
. It was pro-
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
,
conservative, and
nationalistic
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
. Its policy envisaged the perpetuation of Portugal as a
pluricontinental empire, financially autonomous and politically independent from the dominating
superpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural s ...
s, and a
source of civilization and stability to the overseas societies in the African and Asian possessions.
To support his colonial policies, Salazar eventually adopted Brazilian historian
Gilberto Freyre
Gilberto de Mello Freyre (March 15, 1900 – July 18, 1987) was a Brazilian sociologist, anthropologist, historian, writer, painter, journalist, congressman born in Recife, Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. He is commonly associated with other m ...
's notion of
Lusotropicalism
Lusotropicalism ( pt, Lusotropicalismo) is a term and "quasi-theory" developed by Brazilian sociologist Gilberto Freyre to describe the distinctive character of Portuguese imperialism overseas, proposing that the Portuguese were better colonizer ...
by asserting that, since Portugal had been a multicultural, multiracial, and
pluricontinental nation since the 15th century, losing its overseas territories in Africa and Asia would dismember the country and end Portuguese independence. In geopolitical terms, losing these territories would decrease the Portuguese state's self-sufficiency.
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Salazar had strongly resisted Freyre's ideas, partly because Freyre claimed the Portuguese were more prone than other European nations to
miscegenation. Salazar adopted Lusotropicalism only after sponsoring Freyre on a visit to Portugal and some of its overseas territories in 1951 and 1952. Freyre's work, ''Aventura e Rotina'' (''Adventure and Routine'') resulted from this visit.
Under the Estado Novo regime, Portugal's most notable sports star,
Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, and the most decorated military officer of the Portuguese Armed Forces,
Marcelino da Mata
Marcelino da Mata (7 May 1940 – 11 February 2021) was a Portuguese Army officer, born in Portuguese Guinea.
Early life and education
Marcelino da Mata was born in Ponte Nova, Portuguese Guinea and studied until completing the entire secondary ...
, were both black Portuguese citizens born and raised in Portugal's African territories.
Regime
The Estado Novo based its political philosophy around a close interpretation of the
Catholic social doctrine
Catholic social teaching, commonly abbreviated CST, is an area of Catholic doctrine concerning matters of human dignity and the common good in society. The ideas address oppression, the role of the state, subsidiarity, social organization, con ...
, much like the contemporary regime of
Engelbert Dollfuss in Austria. The economic system, known as
corporatism, was based on similar interpretations of the papal encyclicals ''
Rerum novarum
''Rerum novarum'' (from its incipit, with the direct translation of the Latin meaning "of revolutionary change"), or ''Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor'', is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, pass ...
'' (
Leo XIII, 1891) and ''
Quadragesimo anno'' (
Pius XI
Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City from ...
, 1931), which were meant to prevent class struggle and transform economic concerns secondary to social values. ''
Rerum novarum
''Rerum novarum'' (from its incipit, with the direct translation of the Latin meaning "of revolutionary change"), or ''Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor'', is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, pass ...
'' argued that labour associations were part of the natural order, like the family. The right of men to organize into trade unions and to engage in labour activities was thus inherent and could not be denied by employers or the state. ''
Quadragesimo anno'' provided the
blueprint for the erection of the corporatist system.
A new constitution was drafted by a group of lawyers, businessmen, clerics, and university professors, with Salazar as the leading spirit and
Marcelo Caetano also playing a major role. The constitution created the ''Estado Novo'' ("New State"), in theory a corporatist state representing interest groups rather than individuals. The leaders wanted a system in which the people would be represented through corporations, rather than through divisive parties, and where national interest was given priority over sectional claims. Salazar thought that the party system had failed irretrievably in Portugal.
![Slazar 1939](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Slazar_1939.jpg)
Unlike Mussolini or
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
, Salazar never had the intention to create a party-state. Salazar was against the whole-party concept and in 1930 he created the
National Union a single-party, but he created it as a non-party. The National Union was set up to control and restrain public opinion rather than to mobilize it, the goal was to strengthen and preserve traditional values rather than to induce a new social order. Ministers, diplomats, and civil servants were never compelled to join the National Union.
The legislature, called the National Assembly, was restricted to members of the
National Union. It could initiate legislation, but only concerning matters that did not require government expenditures. The parallel
Corporative Chamber
The Corporative Chamber ( pt, Câmara Corporativa) was one of the two parliamentary chambers established under the Portuguese Constitution of 1933, the other being the National Assembly. Unlike the directly elected National Assembly, it had a pure ...
included representatives of municipalities, religious, cultural, and professional groups, and of the official workers' syndicates that replaced free trade unions.
According to Howard Wiarda, "the men who came to power in the Estado Novo were genuinely concerned with the poverty and backwardness of their nation, divorcing themselves from Anglo-American political influences while developing a new indigenous political model and alleviating the miserable living conditions of both rural and urban poor."
The new constitution introduced by Salazar established an anti-parliamentarian and authoritarian government that would last until 1974. The president was to be elected by popular vote for a period of seven years. On paper, the new document vested sweeping, almost dictatorial powers in the hands of the president, including the power to appoint and dismiss the prime minister. The president was elevated to a position of preeminence as the "balance wheel", the defender and ultimate arbiter of national politics. President Carmona, however, had allowed Salazar more or less a free hand since appointing him prime minister and continued to do so. Carmona and his successors would largely be figureheads as Salazar wielded the true power. Wiarda argues that Salazar achieved his position of power not just because of constitutional stipulations, but also because of his character: domineering, absolutist, ambitious, hardworking, and intellectually brilliant.
The corporatist constitution was approved in the national
Portuguese constitutional referendum of 19 March 1933. A draft had been published one year before, and the public was invited to state any objections in the press. These tended to stay in the realm of generalities and only a handful of people, less than 6,000, voted against the new constitution. The new constitution was approved with 99.5% of the vote, but with 488,840 abstentions (in a registered electorate of 1,330,258) counting as "yes".
[ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P. (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p. 1542 ] Hugh Kay points out that the large number of abstentions might be attributable to the fact that voters were presented with a package deal to which they had to say "yes" or "no" with no opportunity to accept one clause and reject another. In this referendum, women were allowed to vote for the first time in Portugal. Their right to vote had not been obtained during the First Republic, despite feminist efforts, and even in the referendum vote, secondary education was a requirement for female voters, whereas males only needed to be able to read and write. The right for women to vote was later broadened twice under the Estado Novo. The first time was in 1946 and the second time in 1968 under Marcelo Caetano, law 2137 proclaimed the equality of men and women for electoral purposes. The 1968 electoral law did not make any distinction between men and women.
The year 1933 marked a watershed of legislation in Portuguese history. Under Salazar's supervision,
Teotónio Pereira, the Sub-Secretary of State of Corporations and Social Welfare, reporting directly to Salazar, enacted extensive legislation that shaped the corporatist structure and initiated a comprehensive social welfare system. This system was equally anti-capitalist and anti-socialist. The corporatization of the working class was accompanied by strict legislation regulating business. Workers' organizations were subordinated to state control but granted a legitimacy that they had never before enjoyed and were made beneficiaries of a variety of new social programs. Nevertheless, it is important to note that even in the enthusiastic early years, corporatist agencies were not at the center of power and therefore corporatism was not the true base of the whole system.
In 1934, Portugal crushed the Portuguese Fascist Movement and exiled
Francisco Rolão Preto
Francisco de Barcelos Rolão Preto, GCIH (12 February 1893, Gavião – 18 December 1977, Hospital do Desterro, Lisbon) was a Portuguese politician, journalist, and leader of the Portuguese National Syndicalists Movement (MNS), a fascist or ...
as a part of a purge of the leadership of the
Portuguese National Syndicalists, also known as the ''camisas azuis'' ("Blue Shirts"). Salazar denounced the National Syndicalists as "inspired by certain foreign models" and condemned their "exaltation of youth, the cult of force through direct action, the principle of the superiority of state political power in social life,
ndthe propensity for organizing masses behind a single leader" as fundamental differences between fascism and the Catholic corporatism of the ''Estado Novo''. Salazar's own party, the
National Union, was formed as a subservient umbrella organization to support the regime itself, and therefore did not have its own philosophy. At the time, many European countries feared the destructive potential of communism. Many members of the National Syndicalist Movement eventually joined the National Union. One overriding criticism of his regime is that stability was bought and maintained at the expense of suppression of human rights and liberties.
The corporatist state had some similarities to
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
's Italian fascism, but considerable differences in its moral approach to governing. Although Salazar admired Mussolini and was influenced by his
Labour Charter of 1927
The Charter of Labour of 1927 ( it, Carta del Lavoro) was one of the main pieces of legislation Benito Mussolini, the Italian Fascist dictator from 1922–43, introduced in his attempts to modernise the Italian economy. The Charter was promulgate ...
, Salazar distanced himself from fascist dictatorship, which he considered a pagan
Caesarist political system that recognized neither legal nor moral limits. Salazar also viewed German Nazism as espousing pagan elements that he considered repugnant. Just before World War II, Salazar made this declaration: "We are opposed to all forms of Internationalism, Communism, Socialism, Syndicalism and everything that may divide or minimize, or break up the family. We are against class warfare, irreligion and disloyalty to one's country; against serfdom, a materialistic conception of life, and might over right." however the Estado Novo adopted many fascist characteristics with the
Legião Portuguesa,
Mocidade Portuguesa
The (, en, Portuguese Youth) was a Portuguese youth organisation founded in 1936 (dissolved in 1974) under the right-wing regime of Prime Minister Salazar's Estado Novo. Membership was compulsory between the ages of 7 and 14, and voluntary un ...
, and
Corporatism being the most prominent examples; after the end of World War II, Salazar distanced his regime from fascism.
World War II
Portugal was officially neutral in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
(1936–39), but quietly furnished help to the nationalists of
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...
. During World War II, 1939–1945,
Portugal remained officially neutral, giving its highest priority to avoiding a Nazi invasion of the sort that was so devastating in most other European countries. The regime at first showed some pro-
Axis sympathies; Salazar for example expressed approval for the
German invasion of the Soviet Union. This support, however, can be mainly attributed to Salazar's staunch anti-Communist position rather than actual support for Hitler, or the Nazi regime. From 1943 onward, Portugal favoured the Allies, leasing air bases in the
Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
. Portugal reluctantly leased the Azores as a direct result of being threatened with invasion should Portugal not cater to the requests of the Allies. As an official neutral, Portugal traded with both sides. It cut off vital shipments of
tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...
and rubber to Germany in 1944, after heavy pressure from the Allies. Lisbon was the base for International Red Cross operations aiding Allied POWs and was the main air transit point between Britain and the U.S.
In 1942, Australian troops briefly occupied
Portuguese Timor
Portuguese Timor ( pt, Timor Português) was a colonial possession of Portugal that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies.
The first Europeans to arrive in the ...
, but were soon overwhelmed by invading Japanese. Salazar worked to regain control of East Timor, which came about after the Japanese surrender in 1945.
In 1945, Portugal declared 2 days of mourning for the
death of Adolf Hitler.
Post-World War II
![Truman signing North Atlantic Treaty](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Truman_signing_North_Atlantic_Treaty.jpg)
After World War II (1939-1945), however, the corporatist economic model was less and less applicable. And after
decolonization in the 1950s and 1960s, the Portuguese regime became also a source of criticism and dissent by most of the international community. Nevertheless, Salazar clung to it, thereby slowing the nation's long-term economic development. Salazar's postwar policy allowed some liberalization in politics, in terms of organized opposition with more freedom of the press. Opposition parties were tolerated to an extent, but they were also controlled, limited, and manipulated, with the result that they split into factions and never formed a united opposition. He permitted the formation of
Movement of Democratic Unity (Movimento de Unidade Democrática) in 1945. It boycotted the
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
and Salazar won handily on 18 November 1945.
In 1949 Portugal became a
founding member of NATO.
President
Óscar Carmona
António Óscar de Fragoso Carmona (; 24 November 1869 – 18 April 1951) was a Portuguese Army officer and politician who served as prime minister of Portugal from 1926 to 1928 and as the 11th president of Portugal from 1926 until his death i ...
died in 1951 after 25 years in office and was succeeded by
Francisco Craveiro Lopes
Francisco Higino Craveiro Lopes (; 12 April 1894 – 2 September 1964) was a Portuguese Air Force officer and politician who served as the 12th president of Portugal from 1951 to 1958.
Early life and career
Born in Lisbon, he was a son of ...
. However, Lopes was not willing to give Salazar the free hand that Carmona had given him, and was forced to resign just before the end of his term in 1958. Naval Minister
Américo Tomás
Américo de Deus Rodrigues Tomás (; 19 November 1894 – 18 September 1987) was a Portuguese Navy officer and politician who served as the 13th president of Portugal from 1958 to 1974.
Biography Early life
Américo de Deus Rodrigues Tomá ...
, a staunch conservative, ran in the
1958 elections as the official candidate. General
Humberto Delgado was the opposition candidate. Delgado was credited with only around 25% of the votes with 52.6% in favour of Tomás. The election had initially been seen as little better than a pantomime of democracy before a reporter asked Delgado whether he would retain Salazar if elected. Delgado famously replied, "Obviamente, demito-o!" ("Obviously, I'll sack him!") He was well aware that the president's power to dismiss the prime minister was, on paper, the only check on Salazar's power. Delgado's rallies subsequently attracted vast crowds. Evidence later surfaced that the PIDE had stuffed the ballot boxes with votes for Tomás, leading many neutral observers to conclude that Delgado would have won had Salazar allowed an honest election.
After the elections, Delgado was expelled from the Portuguese Military and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy before going into exile, spending much of it in Brazil and later in Algeria. Not willing to chance an opposition victory in 1965, Salazar abolished the direct election of presidents in favour of election by the National Assembly—which was firmly controlled by the regime—serving as an
electoral college.
On 23 January 1961, military officer and politician
Henrique Galvão led the
hijacking of the Portuguese passenger ship ''Santa Maria''. The terrorist operation was successful as anti-regime propaganda but killed one man in the process. Galvão claimed that his intentions were to sail to the
Overseas Province of Angola
Overseas may refer to:
* ''Overseas'' (album), a 1957 album by pianist Tommy Flanagan and his trio
*Overseas (band), an American indie rock band
* "Overseas" (song), a 2018 song by American rappers Desiigner and Lil Pump
* "Overseas" (Tee Grizzley ...
to set up a renegade Portuguese Government in opposition to Salazar in
Luanda
Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...
. Galvão released the passengers in negotiation with Brazilian officials in exchange for
political asylum
The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...
in Brazil. Later that year hijackers forced an aircraft to circle
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
to drop leaflets against the dictatorship. After that, the six hijackers forced the crew to fly them back to Morocco.
![Marcelino da Mata](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Marcelino_da_Mata.jpg)
In 1962, the
Academic Crisis The Academic Crisis ( pt, Crise académica) is the name given to a Portugal, Portuguese governmental policy instigated in 1962 by the ''Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo'' entailing the boycott and closure of several student associations and organ ...
occurred. The regime, fearing the growing popularity of both purely democratic and Communist ideas among the students, carried out the boycott and closure of several student associations and organizations, including the important National Secretariat of Portuguese Students. Most members of this organization were opposition militants, among them many Communists. Anti-regime political activists were investigated and persecuted by
PIDE-DGS
The International and State Defense Police ( pt, Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado; PIDE) was a Portuguese security agency that existed during the '' Estado Novo'' regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. Formally, the main roles of the ...
(the secret police), and according to the gravity of the offence, were usually sent to jail or transferred from one university to another in order to destabilize oppositionist networks and its hierarchical organization. The students, with strong support from the clandestine
Portuguese Communist Party
The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portugue ...
, responded with demonstrations which culminated on 24 March with a huge student demonstration in Lisbon, which was vigorously suppressed by the riot police.
Marcelo Caetano, a distinguished member of the regime and the incumbent
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of the
University of Lisbon
The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...
, resigned.
![Luanda,desfilemilitar (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Luanda%2Cdesfilemilitar_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The reluctance of many young men to embrace the hardships of the
Portuguese Colonial War
The Portuguese Colonial War ( pt, Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence, ...
resulted in tens of thousands of Portuguese citizens each year leaving to seek economic opportunities abroad in order to escape conscription. In over 15 years, nearly one million emigrated to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, another million to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, many hundreds of thousands to
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
,
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
,
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, or
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Political parties, such as the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
, persecuted at home, were established in exile. The only party which managed to continue (illegally) operating in Portugal during all the dictatorship was the Portuguese Communist Party.
![Lisbon - Rossio at Night (2678755642)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Lisbon_-_Rossio_at_Night_%282678755642%29.jpg)
In 1964, Delgado founded the
Portuguese National Liberation Front in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, stating in public that the only way to end the ''Estado Novo'' would be by a
military coup, while many others advocated a ''national uprising'' approach.
Delgado and his Brazilian secretary, Arajaryr Moreira de Campos, were murdered on 13 February 1965 in Spain in an ambush by PIDE.
According to some Portuguese right-wing scholars like
Jaime Nogueira Pinto
Jaime Alexandre Nogueira Pinto (born 4 February 1946 in Porto, Santo Ildefonso) is a Portuguese writer and university professor, son of Jaime da Cunha Guimarães by Alda Branca Nogueira Pinto, who died in 2007.
A right-wing political thinker, he h ...
and
Rui Ramos, Salazar's early reforms and policies allowed political and financial stability and therefore social order and economic growth, after the politically unstable and financially chaotic years of the
Portuguese First Republic
The First Portuguese Republic ( pt, Primeira República Portuguesa; officially: ''República Portuguesa'', Portuguese Republic) spans a complex 16-year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy ...
(1910–1926).
Other historians, like left-wing politician
Fernando Rosas
Fernando José Mendes Rosas (born 18 April 1946, in Lisbon) is a Portuguese historian, professor, and politician.
Early life and education
Rosas was born on 18 April 1946. He studied at Pedro Nunes secondary school, and in 1961, he joined ...
, point out that Salazar's policies from the 1930s to the 1950s, led to economic and social stagnation and rampant emigration, turning Portugal into one of the poorest countries in Europe, that was also thwarted by scoring lower on literacy than its peers of the
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...
.
Salazar suffered a stroke in 1968. As it was thought that he did not have long to live, Tomás replaced him with Marcelo Caetano, former rector of the University of Lisbon and prominent scholar of its Law School, and despite his protest resignation in 1962, a supporter of the regime. Salazar was never informed of this decision, and reportedly died in 1970 still believing he was prime minister. Most of the people hoped Caetano would soften the edges of Salazar's authoritarian regime and modernize the already growing economy. Caetano moved on to foster economic growth and made important social improvements, such as the awarding of a monthly pension to rural workers who had never had the chance to pay
social security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
. Some large-scale investments were made at the national level, such as the building of a major oil processing center in
Sines
Sines () is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The municipality, divided into two parishes, has around 14,214 inhabitants (2021) in an area of . Sines holds an important oil refinery and several petrochemical industries. It is also a popular ...
. The economy reacted very well at first, but into the 1970s some serious problems began to show, due in part to two-digit inflation (from 1970 and on) and to the effects of the
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
.
![Eusebio_(1963)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Eusebio_%281963%29.jpg)
However, the 1973 oil crisis had a potentially beneficial effect on Portugal because the largely unexploited oil reserves that Portugal had in its overseas territories of
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
and
São Tomé and Príncipe
São Tomé and Príncipe (; pt, São Tomé e Príncipe (); English: " Saint Thomas and Prince"), officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe ( pt, República Democrática de São Tomé e Príncipe), is a Portuguese-speaking i ...
were being developed at a fast pace. Although Caetano was fundamentally authoritarian, he did make some efforts to open up the regime. Soon after taking power, he rebranded the regime as the "Social State", and slightly increased freedom of speech and the press. These measures did not go nearly far enough for a significant element of the population who had no memory of the instability which preceded Salazar. The people were also disappointed that Caetano was unwilling to open up the electoral system. The conduct of the
1969
This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon.
Events January
* January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco.
* January 5
**Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...
and
1973 elections was little different from past elections over the previous four decades. The National Union—renamed People's National Action—swept every seat, as before. Also as before, the opposition was still barely tolerated; opposition candidates were subjected to harsh repression. However, Caetano had to expend all of his political capital to wring even these meager reforms out of the hardliners in the regime—most notably Tomás, who was not nearly as willing to give Caetano the free rein that he gave Salazar. Caetano was thus in no position to resist when Tomás and the other hardliners forced the end of the reform experiment in 1973.
Economy
![Foto 3 Visita Salazar obras Ponte Coimbra015](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Foto_3_Visita_Salazar_obras_Ponte_Coimbra015.jpg)
Portugal's overriding problem in 1926 was its enormous public debt. Several times between 1926 and 1928, Salazar turned down appointments to the finance ministry. He pleaded ill-health, devotion to his aged parents and a preference for the academic cloisters. In 1927, under the ministry of
Sinel de Cordes, the public deficit kept on growing. The government tried to obtain loans from
Baring Brothers
Barings Bank was a British merchant bank based in London, and one of England's oldest merchant banks after Berenberg Bank, Barings' close collaborator and German representative. It was founded in 1762 by Francis Baring, a British-born member ...
under the auspices of the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
, but the conditions were considered unacceptable. With Portugal under the threat of an imminent financial collapse, Salazar finally agreed to become its 81st Finance Minister on 26 April 1928 after the republican and Freemason
Óscar Carmona
António Óscar de Fragoso Carmona (; 24 November 1869 – 18 April 1951) was a Portuguese Army officer and politician who served as prime minister of Portugal from 1926 to 1928 and as the 11th president of Portugal from 1926 until his death i ...
was elected president. However, before accepting the position, he personally secured from Carmona a categorical assurance that as finance minister he would have a free hand to veto expenditure in all government departments, not just his own. Salazar was the financial czar virtually from the day he took office.
Within one year, armed with special powers, Salazar balanced the budget and stabilized Portugal's currency. Restoring order to the national accounts, enforcing austerity, and red-penciling waste, Salazar produced the first of many budgetary surpluses, an unparalleled novelty in Portugal.
In July 1940, the American
''Life'' magazine featured an article on Portugal, and, referring to its recent chaotic history, asserted that "anyone who saw Portugal 15 years ago might well have said it deserved to die. It was atrociously governed, bankrupt, squalid, ridden with disease and poverty. It was such a mess that the League of Nations coined a word to describe the absolute low in national welfare: "Portuguese". Then the Army overthrew the Republic which had brought the country to this sorry pass". ''Life'' added that ruling Portugal was difficult and explained how Salazar "found a country in chaos and poverty" and then reformed it.
![EFTA AELE countries-1995](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/EFTA_AELE_countries-1995.svg)
From 1950 until Salazar's death in 1970, Portugal saw its GDP per capita increase at an annual average rate of 5.7 per cent. The rise of new technocrats in the early 1960s with a background in economics and technical-industrial expertise led to a new period of economic fostering, with Portugal as an attractive country for international investment. Industrial development and economic growth would continue throughout the 1960s. During Salazar's tenure, Portugal participated in the founding of the
European Free Trade Association
The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe, European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerlan ...
(EFTA) in 1960 and the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries ...
(OECD) in 1961. In the early 1960s, Portugal also added its membership in the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its pre ...
(GATT), the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
(IMF), and the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
. This marked the initiation of Salazar's more outward-looking economic policy. Portuguese foreign trade increased by 52 per cent in exports and 40 per cent in imports. The economic growth and levels of capital formation from 1960 to 1973 were characterized by unparalleled robust annual growth rates of GDP (6.9 per cent), industrial production (9 per cent), private consumption (6.5 per cent), and gross fixed capital formation (7.8 per cent).
In 1960, at the initiation of Salazar's more outward-looking economic policy, Portugal's per capita GDP was only 38 per cent of the European Community (EC-12) average; by the end of the Salazar period, in 1968, it had risen to 48 per cent; and in 1973, under the leadership of Marcelo Caetano, Portugal's per capita GDP had reached 56.4 per cent of the EC-12 average.
On a long term analysis, after a long period of economic divergence before 1914, and a period of chaos during the First Republic, the Portuguese economy recovered slightly until 1950, entering thereafter on a path of strong economic convergence with the wealthiest economies of Western Europe, until the Carnation Revolution in April 1974.
[Fundação da SEDES – As primeiras motivações]
, "Nos anos 60 e até 1973 teve lugar, provavelmente, o mais rápido período de crescimento económico da nossa História, traduzido na industrialização, na expansão do turismo, no comércio com a EFTA, no desenvolvimento dos sectores financeiros, investimento estrangeiro e grandes projectos de infra-estruturas. Em consequência, os indicadores de rendimentos e consumo acompanham essa evolução, reforçados ainda pelas remessas de emigrantes". SEDES
Sedes is Latin for seat.
Sedes may also refer to:
*a bishop's episcopal throne, also known as a cathedra
*SEDES, one of the oldest civic associations and think tanks of Portugal
*Sedes (band), a Polish punk rock band
*an administrative unit in the ...
Portuguese economic growth in the period 1960 to 1973 under the ''Estado Novo'' regime (and even with the effects of an expensive war effort in African territories against independentist guerrilla groups supported by the
Communist Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
and others), created an opportunity for real integration with the developed economies of Western Europe. Through emigration, trade, tourism and foreign investment, individuals and firms changed their patterns of production and consumption, bringing about a structural transformation. Simultaneously, the increasing complexity of a growing economy raised new technical and organizational challenges, stimulating the formation of modern professional and management teams.
![Nt-DE das FA e Estado](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Nt-DE_das_FA_e_Estado.png)
Regarding the overseas territories, beyond military measures, the official Portuguese response to the "
winds of change" in the African colonies was to integrate them administratively and economically more closely with the mainland. This was accomplished through the population and capital transfers, trade liberalization, and the creation of a common currency, the so-called Escudo Area. The integration program established in 1961 provided for the removal of Portugal's duties on imports from its overseas territories by January 1964. The latter, on the other hand, were permitted to continue to levy duties on goods imported from Portugal but at a preferential rate, in most cases, 50 per cent of the normal duties levied by the territories on goods originating outside the Escudo Area. The effect of this two-tier tariff system was to give Portugal's exports preferential access to its colonial markets. The economies of the overseas provinces, especially those of both the
Overseas Province of Angola
Overseas may refer to:
* ''Overseas'' (album), a 1957 album by pianist Tommy Flanagan and his trio
*Overseas (band), an American indie rock band
* "Overseas" (song), a 2018 song by American rappers Desiigner and Lil Pump
* "Overseas" (Tee Grizzley ...
and
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
, boomed.
Capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
in nature to some extent, although in a very conditioned way through industrial licensing requirements until the beginning of the final stage of Salazar's rule, in the 1960s, the very late and excruciatingly slow liberalization of the Portuguese economy gained a new impetus under Salazar's successor, Prime Minister
Marcello José das Neves Caetano (1968–1974), whose administration abolished industrial licensing requirements for firms in most sectors and in 1972 signed a free trade agreement with the newly enlarged
European Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...
. Under the agreement, which took effect at the beginning of 1973, Portugal was given until 1980 to abolish its restrictions on most community goods and until 1985 on certain sensitive products amounting to some 10 per cent of the EC's total exports to Portugal. Starting in 1960,
EFTA membership and a growing foreign investor presence contributed to Portugal's industrial modernization and export diversification between 1960 and 1973. Caetano moved on to foster economic growth and some social improvements, such as the awarding of a monthly pension to rural workers who had never had the chance to pay social security. Some large-scale investments were made at the national level, such as the building of a major oil processing center in
Sines
Sines () is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The municipality, divided into two parishes, has around 14,214 inhabitants (2021) in an area of . Sines holds an important oil refinery and several petrochemical industries. It is also a popular ...
.
Notwithstanding the concentration of the means of production in the hands of a small number of family-based financial-industrial groups, Portuguese business culture permitted a surprising upward mobility of university-educated individuals with middle-class backgrounds into professional management careers.
Before the 1974
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...
, the largest, most technologically advanced (and most recently organized) firms offered the greatest opportunity for management careers based on merit rather than by accident of birth.
By the early 1970s Portugal's fast economic growth with increasing
consumption and purchase of new automobiles set the priority for improvements in
transportation
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...
.
Brisa – Autoestradas de Portugal was founded in 1972 and the State granted the company a 30-year concession to design, build, manage, and maintain a modern network of express motorways.
The economy of Portugal and its overseas territories on the eve of the Carnation Revolution (a military coup on 25 April 1974) was growing well above the European average. Average family purchasing power was rising together with new consumption patterns and trends and this was promoting both investments in new
capital equipment and consumption expenditure for durable and nondurable
consumer goods
A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike a intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, but ...
.
The Estado Novo regime's economic policy encouraged and created conditions for the formation of large and successful business conglomerates. Economically, the Estado Novo regime maintained a policy of
corporatism that resulted in the placement of a big part of the Portuguese economy in the hands of a number of strong
conglomerates, including those founded by the families of
António Champalimaud (
Banco Pinto & Sotto Mayor,
Cimpor),
José Manuel de Mello
José Manuel de Mello (8 December 1927 – 16 September 2009) was a Portuguese businessman who founded the conglomerate Grupo José de Mello. He was the heir of an older industrial conglomerate, Companhia União Fabril (CUF), which had been founde ...
(CUF –
Companhia União Fabril The Companhia União Fabril (CUF) was one of the largest and oldest Portuguese conglomerates from the 1930s to 1974 and later a chemical corporation which was by then a part of Grupo José de Mello founded in 1988. After many acquisitions, mergers ...
,
Banco Totta & Açores),
Américo Amorim (
Corticeira Amorim
Corticeira Amorim S.G.P.S., S.A., is a Portuguese subholding company belonging to the Amorim Group and claims to have been the world leader in the cork industry for over 130 years, with operations in hundreds of countries all over the world. Co ...
) and the dos Santos family (
Jerónimo Martins). Those Portuguese conglomerates had a business model with similarities to
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese
keiretsu
A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. In the legal sense, it is a type of informal business group that are loosely organized alliances within the social world of Japan's business community. The ''ke ...
s and
zaibatsu
is a Japanese language, Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertical integration, vertically integrated business conglomerate (company), conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over signi ...
s or the South Korean
chaebol
A chaebol (, ; ) is a large industrial South Korean conglomerate run and controlled by an individual or family. A chaebol often consists of multiple diversified affiliates, controlled by a person or group whose power over the group often exc ...
s in terms of vision, mission and purpose. The Companhia União Fabril (CUF) was one of the largest and most diversified Portuguese conglomerates with its
core business
The core business of an organization is an idealized construct intended to express that organization's "main" or "essential" activity.
Core business process means that a business's success depends not only on how well each department performs its ...
es (
cement
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...
,
chemicals,
petrochemicals
Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sou ...
,
agrochemicals,
textiles
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
,
beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
,
beverages,
metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
,
naval engineering
Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and o ...
,
electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
,
insurance
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...
,
banking
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
,
paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...
,
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
,
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
, etc.) and corporate headquarters located in
mainland Portugal
Continental Portugal ( pt, Portugal continental, ) or mainland Portugal comprises the bulk of the Portuguese Republic, namely that part on the Iberian Peninsula and so in Continental Europe, having approximately 95% of the total population and 9 ...
, but also with branches, plants and several developing business projects all around the
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...
, especially in the Portuguese territories of
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
and
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
. Other medium-sized family companies specialized in textiles (for instance those located in the city of
Covilhã and the northwest), ceramics, porcelain, glass and crystal (like those of
Alcobaça,
Caldas da Rainha and
Marinha Grande), engineered wood (like
SONAE
Sonae is a multinational business group based in Maia, Porto District, Portugal. It is present in 90 countries, operating in several sectors, including retail, financial services, shopping centres management, software and information systems, me ...
near
Porto
Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
), motorcycle manufacturing (like
Casal
Metalurgia Casal was the largest Portuguese motorcycle manufacturer, based in Aveiro. It was founded in 1964 with João Casal as the managing director and Robert Zipprich and other ex-Zundapp engineers as the technical managers. Its first p ...
and
FAMEL in the
District of Aveiro
Aveiro District ( pt, Distrito de Aveiro, or ) is located in the central coastal region of Portugal. The capital of the district is the city of Aveiro, which also serves as the seat of Aveiro Municipality.
Aveiro District is bordered by the Po ...
), canned fish (like those of
Algarve
The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese).
The region has it ...
and the northwest which included
one of the oldest canned fish companies in continuous operation in the world), fishing, food and beverages (alcoholic beverages, from liqueurs like
Licor Beirão and
Ginjinha
Ginjinha or simply Ginja, is a Portuguese liqueur made by infusing ''ginja'' berries (sour cherry, ''Prunus cerasus austera'', the Morello cherry) in alcohol (aguardente) and adding sugar together with other ingredients, with cloves and/or cinn ...
, to beer like
Sagres, were produced across the entire country, but
Port Wine
Port wine (also known as vinho do Porto, , or simply port) is a Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro Valley of northern Portugal. It is typically a sweet red wine, often served with dessert, although it also comes in dry, semi- ...
was one of its most reputed and exported alcoholic beverages), tourism (well established in
Estoril/
Cascais
Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Portugal, tourist de ...
/
Sintra
Sintra (, ) is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 377,835, in an area of . Sintra is one of the most urbanized and densely populated ...
(the
Portuguese Riviera
The Portuguese Riviera (Portuguese: '' Riviera Portuguesa'') is a term used in the tourist industry for the affluent coastal region to the west of Lisbon, Portugal, centered on the coastal municipalities of Cascais (including Estoril), Oeiras ...
) and growing as an international attraction in the
Algarve
The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese).
The region has it ...
since the 1960s) and in agriculture (like the ones scattered around
Ribatejo
The Ribatejo () is the most central of the traditional provinces of Portugal, with no coastline or border with Spain. The region is crossed by the Tagus river (''Ribatejo'' translates to "upper Tagus", or more precisely, "up the Tagus" relative ...
and
Alentejo
Alentejo ( , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond () the Tagus river" (''Tejo'').
Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo and Baixo Alent ...
– known as the
breadbasket of Portugal) completed the panorama of the national economy by the early 1970s and included export-orienteed
foreign direct investment
A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct co ...
-funded businesses such as
an automotive assembly plant founded in 1962 by
Citroën
Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...
which began operations in 1964 in
Mangualde and a
Leica factory established in 1973 in
Vila Nova de Famalicão
Vila Nova de Famalicão () is a Portuguese town with a population of approximately 133,048 inhabitants () in an area of 201,59 km2, subdivided into 49 parishes (Administrative Division of 11 Unions of Parishes and 23 Parish Councils,). Insert ...
. In addition, the rural population was committed to
agrarianism
Agrarianism is a political and social philosophy that has promoted subsistence agriculture, smallholdings, and egalitarianism, with agrarian political parties normally supporting the rights and sustainability of small farmers and poor peasants ...
—greatly important for a majority of the total population, with many families living exclusively from agriculture or complementing their salaries with farming, husbandry and forestry yields.
Besides that, the overseas territories were also displaying impressive economic growth and development rates from the 1920s onwards. Even during the
Portuguese Colonial War
The Portuguese Colonial War ( pt, Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence, ...
(1961–1974), a
counterinsurgency war against independentist
guerrilla and
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
, the overseas territories of
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
and
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
(Portuguese overseas territories at the time) had continuous economic growth rates and several sectors of their local economies were booming. They were internationally notable centres of production of oil, coffee, cotton, cashew, coconut, timber, minerals (like diamonds), metals (like iron and aluminium), banana, citrus, tea, sisal, beer (
Cuca (Angola) and Laurentina (Mozambique) were successful beer brands produced locally), cement, fish and other sea products, beef and textiles. Tourism was also a fast developing activity in Portuguese Africa both by the growing development of and demand for beach resorts and wildlife reserves. While the counterinsurgency war was won in Angola, it was less than satisfactorily contained in Mozambique and dangerously stalemated in Portuguese Guinea from the Portuguese point of view, so the Portuguese Government decided to create
sustainability
Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...
policies in order to allow continuous sources of financing for the war effort in the long run.
![Autocarro 2a verde](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Autocarro_2a_verde.jpg)
On 13 November 1972, a
sovereign wealth fund
A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), sovereign investment fund, or social wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such ...
(''Fundo do Ultramar'' - The Overseas Fund) was enacted through the Decree Law ''Decreto-Lei n.º 448/ /72'' and the Ministry of Defense ordinance ''Portaria 696/72'', in order to finance the counterinsurgency effort in the Portuguese overseas territories. In addition, new Decree Laws (Decree Law: ''Decretos-Leis n.os 353, de 13 de Julho de 1973, e 409, de 20 de Agosto'') were enforced in order to cut down military expenses and increase the number of officers by incorporating irregular militia as if they were regular military academy officers.
[ Movimento das Forças Armadas (MFA). In Infopédia ]m linha
M, or m, is the thirteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabe ...
Porto: Porto Editora
Porto Editora is the largest Portuguese publisher with a consolidated turnover of more than 90M € in 2010. It is
the leading educational publisher in PortugalHerbert R. Lottman, "Publishing in Portugal", ''Publishers Weekly'', Volume 213, Issue ...
, 2003–2009. onsult. 2009-01-07 Disponível na www: URL: http://www.infopedia.pt/$movimento-das-forcas-armadas-(mfa).[A Guerra Colonial na Guine/Bissau (07 de 07)]
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho
Otelo Nuno Romão Saraiva de Carvalho, GCL (; 31 August 1936 – 25 July 2021) was a Portuguese military officer. He was the chief strategist of the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon. After the Revolution, Otelo assumed leadership roles in t ...
on the Decree Law, RTP 2
RTP2 (''RTP dois'') is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting cultural, ...
television, youtube.com
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most vis ...
.
Labour unions were not allowed and a
minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...
policy was not enforced. However, in a context of an expanding economy, bringing better living conditions for the Portuguese population in the 1960s, the outbreak of the colonial wars in Africa set off significant social changes, among them the rapid incorporation of more and more women into the labour market. Marcelo Caetano moved on to foster economic growth and some social improvements, such as the awarding of a monthly pension to rural workers who had never had the chance to pay social security. The objectives of Caetano's pension reform were threefold: enhancing equity, reducing fiscal and actuarial imbalance, and achieving more efficiency for the economy as a whole, for example, by establishing contributions less distortive to labour markets or by allowing the savings generated by pension funds to increase the investments in the economy. In 1969, with the replacement of Salazar by Marcelo Caetano, the Estado Novo-controlled nation got indeed a very slight taste of democracy and Caetano allowed the formation of the first democratic labour union movement since the 1920s.
Education
The first years (1933–1936)
![Elementos da escola salazarista](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Elementos_da_escola_salazarista.JPG)
With its founding 1933 political constitution, the Estado Novo would establish
compulsory education
Compulsory education refers to a period of education that is required of all people and is imposed by the government. This education may take place at a registered school or at other places.
Compulsory school attendance or compulsory schooling ...
at three years. Compulsory education was first introduced in Portugal during the
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...
(in 1844) with the duration of three years, then increased to five years during the First Republic, but it was never really enforced.
The political constitution defines public education as aiming for: "in addition to the physical reinvigoration and the improvement of intellectual faculties, the formation of character, professional value and all civic and moral virtues" (Constituição de 1933, Artigo 43).
![Assafora Escola Primária](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Assafora_Escola_Prim%C3%A1ria.jpg)
During the first three years of the Estado Novo, the then Ministry of Public Instruction, had a total of four different ministers.
The Ministry of Carneiro Pacheco (1936–1940)
In 1936, António Carneiro Pacheco (then Rector of the
University of Lisbon
The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...
)
is nominated as the Minister of the Public Instruction. In the same year, his Ministry issues a law that alters the Ministry's name to Ministry of National Education, and includes a National Board of Education (''Junta Nacional da Educação''). This National Board of Education aimed to study and inform the Minister in all matters of both education and culture. Parents and educators were to be represented in all sections of this Board, except for the cultural relations and scientific research section.
[ Lei n.º 1941, de 11 de Abril de 1936] This Board would replace the Superior Council for Public Instruction, which had existed since 1835,
[PORTUGAL; Secretaria-Geral do Ministério da Educação. ''Reformas do Ensino em Portugal: 1835-1869'', Tomo I, Volume I. Lisboa, Secretaria-Geral do Ministério da Educação, 1989.] along with other consulting boards, such as the National Board of Excavations and Antiques.
Further events of note during Carneiro Pacheco's mandate were the creation of the
Mocidade Portuguesa
The (, en, Portuguese Youth) was a Portuguese youth organisation founded in 1936 (dissolved in 1974) under the right-wing regime of Prime Minister Salazar's Estado Novo. Membership was compulsory between the ages of 7 and 14, and voluntary un ...
, the Plan of the Centennials (''Plano dos Centenários''), and the adoption of a single, national
textbook
A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...
for each grade.
The Mocidade Portuguesa would be established in 1936, defined as a "national and pre-military organization that is able to stimulate the integral development of
he youth'sphysical capacities, the formation of
heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...
character and devotion to the Fatherland and put
hemin conditions to be able to compete effectively for its defense" (Law 1941, Base XI).
The Plan of the Centennials aimed to build a network of schools, uniformed by region, that would obey the pedagogical and hygienic criteria of the time. The buildings would be adapted to reflect the differences in climate, material resources, and processes of construction of each region. The plan was officially approved in 1939, but due to
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 ...
, would only start its first phase in 1944. It would extend well beyond Carneiro Pacheco's mandate, with its VI phase in 1959. It is replaced in 1961 by the "New Plan of Constructions".
Between 1930 and 1940, the number of primary schools grew from 27 000 to 40 000.
Between Carneiro Pacheco and Veiga Simão (1940–1970)
![Pavilhão central do IST](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Pavilh%C3%A3o_central_do_IST.JPG)
In 1952, while 81.4% of the children aged 10 to 11 were literate, only 6.3% of them had finished the three years of compulsory education.
In this same year, a vast multi-pronged Plan for Popular Education was launched with the intent of reducing adolescent and adult illiteracy and put into school every child of school age.
This plan included fines for parents who did not comply, and these were strictly enforced.
In 1956, compulsory education for boys (and girls in 1960) was raised from three to four years.
By the late 1950s, Portugal had succeed in pulling itself out of the educational abyss in which it had long found itself: illiteracy among children of school age virtually disappeared.
![UC-GeneralLibrary](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/UC-GeneralLibrary.jpg)
In 1959, the Education Minister Leite Pinto promotes the first conversations between Portugal and
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
, that would lead to Portugal being included in an OECD project (DEEB, Development and Economy in Educational Building) to help mediterranean countries in 1963.
In 1962, the
Overseas Ministry, then headed by
Adriano Moreira
Adriano José Alves Moreira, ComC GCC GOIH GCSE (6 September 1922 – 23 October 2022) was a Portuguese lawyer, professor and a leading political figure in Portugal throughout the second half of the 20th century.
Education
Adriano Moreira ...
, founded universities in the overseas provinces of Angola (
University of Luanda
The University of Luanda (UniLuanda; pt, Universidade de Luanda) is an Angolan public university based in the city of Luanda.
The university emerged from the merger of the Higher Institute for Information and Communication Technologies and the Hi ...
) and Mozambique (
University of Lourenço Marques
The Eduardo Mondlane University ( pt, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane; UEM) is the oldest and largest university in Mozambique. The UEM is located in Maputo and has about 40,000 students enrolled.
History
The institution was set up as a center for ...
). In addition, the long established Lisbon and Coimbra universities were highly expanded and modernized in this decade. New buildings and campuses were constructed, like the ''Cidade Universitária'' (Lisbon) and the ''Alta Universitária'' (Coimbra).
In 1964, compulsory education is raised from four to six years.
In 1965, an
instructional television program is created ("Telescola"), filmed in
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) is the public service broadcasting organisation of Portugal. It operates four national television channels and three national radio stations, as well as several satellite and cable offerings.
The current co ...
's studios in
Porto
Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
to support isolated rural areas and overcrowded suburban schools.
The Veiga Simão Reforms (1970–1974)
In 1970, during the
Marcelist Spring,
José Veiga Simão (then Rector of
Universidade de Lourenço Marques)
becomes the last Minister of Education of the Estado Novo. In 1971, Veiga Simão would go on TV to present two projects, one aimed at reforming the school system, the other aimed at reforming higher education.
In that same year, his ministry would recognize the
Portuguese Catholic University
The Catholic University of Portugal (Portuguese: ''Universidade Católica Portuguesa'', pronounced nivɨɾsiˈðad(ɨ) kɐˈtɔlikɐ puɾtuˈɣezɐ, also referred to as Católica or UCP for short, is a concordat university (non-state-run univers ...
. In July 1973, after ample social discussion of his projects,
Veiga Simão would launch a "Basic Law of Education", which aimed to democratize education in Portugal and, in August of that year, would also launch a decree that would create the
Nova de Lisboa,
Aveiro and
Minho Universities,
the Instituto Universitário de Évora, several politechnical schools (e.g., Covilhã, Faro, Leiria, Setúbal, Tomar, Vila Real) and superior schools (e.g., Beja, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Funchal, Ponta Delgada). Less than a year later, the
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...
would take place, ending the Estado Novo.
End of the regime
![Coat of arms of Portuguese India (1951-1974)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Coat_of_arms_of_Portuguese_India_%281951%E2%80%931974%29.svg)
After
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
achieved independence in 1947 under the
Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 t ...
government, pro-Indian residents of the Portuguese overseas territory of
Dadra and Nagar Haveli, with the support of the Indian government and the help of pro-independence organizations,
liberated Dadra and Nagar Haveli from Portuguese rule in 1954.
[P S Lele, Dadra and Nagar Haveli: past and present, Published by Usha P. Lele, 1987,] In 1961, the
Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá
The Forte de São João Baptista de Ajudá (in English: ''Fort St. John the Baptist of Ouidah'') is a small restored fort in Ouidah, Benin. Built in 1721, it was the last of three European forts built in that town to tap the slave trade of the ...
's annexation by the
Republic of Dahomey
The Republic of Dahomey (french: République du Dahomey; ), simply known as Dahomey, was established on 4 December 1958, as a self-governing colony within the French Community. Prior to attaining autonomy, it had been French Dahomey, part of ...
was the start of a process that led to the final dissolution of the centuries-old
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...
. According to the census of 1921 São João Baptista de Ajudá had 5 inhabitants and, at the moment of the ultimatum by the Dahomey Government, it had only 2 inhabitants representing Portuguese Sovereignty. Another forcible retreat from overseas territories occurred in December 1961 when Portugal refused to relinquish the territories of
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
,
Daman and Diu. As a result, the Portuguese army and navy were involved in armed conflict in its colony of
Portuguese India
The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a se ...
against the
Indian Armed Forces. The
operations resulted in the defeat of the limited Portuguese defensive garrison, which was forced to surrender to a much larger military force. The outcome was the loss of the remaining Portuguese territories in the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
. The Portuguese regime refused to recognize Indian sovereignty over the annexed territories, which continued to be represented in
Portugal's National Assembly. The so-called "
Winds of Change" concerning historical colonization in Europe-ruled overseas territories, started to have influence over the centuries-old empire. The end of the Estado Novo effectively began with the uprisings in the overseas territories in Africa during the 1960s. The independence movements active in
Portuguese Angola
Portuguese Angola refers to Angola during the historic period when it was a territory under Portuguese rule in southwestern Africa. In the same context, it was known until 1951 as Portuguese West Africa (officially the State of West Africa).
I ...
,
Portuguese Mozambique
Portuguese Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (''África Oriental Portuguesa'') were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colony. Portuguese Moz ...
and Portuguese Guinea were supported by both the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and the Soviet Union, which both wanted to end all colonial empires and expand their own spheres of influence.
For the Portuguese ruling regime, the centuries-old overseas empire was a matter of national interest. The criticism against some kinds of racial discrimination in the Portuguese African territories were refuted on the grounds that all Portuguese Africans would be Westernized and Cultural assimilation, assimilated in due time, through a process called civilizing mission. The wars had the same effects in Portugal as the Vietnam War in the United States, or the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Afghanistan War in the Soviet Union; they were unpopular and expensive lengthy wars which were isolating Portugal's diplomacy, leading many to question the continuation of the war and, by extension, the government. Although Portugal was able to maintain some superiority in the colonies by its use of elite paratroopers and special operations troops, the foreign support to the guerrillas, including arms embargoes and other sanctions against the Portuguese, made them more manoeuvrable, allowing them to inflict losses on the Portuguese army. The international community isolated Portugal due to the long-lasting Portuguese Colonial War, Colonial War. The situation was aggravated by the illness of Salazar, the strong man of the regime, in 1968. His replacement was one of his closest advisors,
Marcelo Caetano, who tried to slowly democratize the country, but could not hide the obvious dictatorship that oppressed Portugal. Salazar died in 1970.
After spending the early years of his priesthood in Africa, the British priest Adrian Hastings created a storm in 1973 with an article in ''The Times'' about the "Wiriyamu Massacre" in Mozambique, revealing that the Portuguese Army had massacred some 400 villagers at the village of Wiriyamu, near Tete, Mozambique, Tete, in December 1972. His report was printed a week before the Portuguese prime minister, Marcelo Caetano, was due to visit Britain to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance. Portugal's growing isolation following Hastings's claims has often been cited as a factor that helped to bring about the "carnation revolution" coup which deposed the Caetano regime in 1974.
The various conflicts forced the Salazar and subsequent Caetano governments to spend more of the country's budget on colonial administration and military expenditures, and Portugal soon found itself increasingly isolated from the rest of the world. After Caetano succeeded to the prime ministership, the colonial war became a major cause of dissent and a focus for anti-government forces in Portuguese society. Many young dissidents, such as left-wing students and anti-war activists, were forced to leave the country so they could escape imprisonment or conscription. However, between 1945 and 1974, there were also three generations of militants of the radical right at the Portuguese universities and schools, guided by a revolutionary nationalism partly influenced by the political sub-culture of European neofascism. The core of the struggle of these radical students lay in an uncompromising defence of the
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...
in the days of the authoritarian regime.
By the early 1970s, the
Portuguese Colonial War
The Portuguese Colonial War ( pt, Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence, ...
continued to rage on, requiring a steadily increasing budget. The Portuguese military was overstretched and there was no political solution or end in sight. While the human losses were relatively small, the war as a whole had already entered its second decade. The Portuguese ruling regime of Estado Novo faced criticism from the international community and was becoming increasingly isolated. It had a profound impact on Portugal – thousands of young men avoided conscription by emigrating illegally, mainly to France and the US.
The war in the colonies was increasingly unpopular in Portugal itself as the people became weary of war and balked at its ever-rising expense. Many ethnic Portuguese of the African overseas territories were also increasingly willing to accept independence if their economic status could be preserved. However, despite the guerrillas' unpredictable and sporadic attacks against targets all over the countryside of the Portuguese African territories, the economies of both Portuguese Angola and Mozambique were booming, cities and towns were expanding and prospering steadily over time, new transportation networks were being opened to link the well-developed and highly urbanized coastal strip with the more remote inland regions, and the number of ethnic European Portuguese migrants from mainland Portugal (the ''metrópole'') increased rapidly since the 1950s (although always as a small minority of each territory's total population).
Suddenly, after some failed attempts of military rebellion, in April 1974 the
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...
in
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, organized by left-wing Portuguese military officers – the
Armed Forces Movement
230px, A mural dedicated to the MFA, it reads: "Towards freedom. Long live the 25th of April!"
The Armed Forces Movement ( pt, Movimento das Forças Armadas; MFA) was an organization of lower-ranking, politically left-leaning officers in the Por ...
(MFA), overthrew the Estado Novo regime. The military-led coup can be described as the necessary means of bringing back democracy to Portugal, ending the unpopular Portuguese Colonial War, Colonial War where thousands of Portuguese soldiers had been commissioned, and replacing the authoritarian ''Estado Novo'' (New State) regime and its secret police which repressed elemental civil liberties and political freedoms. However, the military coup's organization started as a professional class protest of Portuguese Armed Forces captain (land), captains against a decree law: the ''Dec. Lei nº 353/73'' of 1973. Younger military academy graduates resented a program introduced by Marcello Caetano whereby militia officers who completed a brief training program and had served in the overseas territories' defensive campaigns, could be commissioned at the same rank as military academy graduates. Caetano's Portuguese Government had begun the program (which included several other reforms) in order to increase the number of officials employed against the African insurgencies, and at the same time cut down military costs to alleviate an already overburdened government budget. After the coup, the Movimento das Forças Armadas, MFA-led National Salvation Junta, a military junta, took power. Caetano resigned, and was flown under custody to the Madeira Islands where he stayed for a few days. He then flew to exile in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. By 1975 the
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...
had all but collapsed.
Aftermath
After the ''Estado Novo'' the country would then experience a turbulent period of provisional governments and a nearly disintegrated state reminiscent of the First Republic, a condition that the ''Estado Novo'' had with great care and perseverance attempted to avoid. These provisional governments also briefly censored newspapers and detained oppositionists. Historian Kenneth Maxwell considers that, for many reasons, Portugal, in its transition from authoritarian rule to a more democratic government, resembled Nicaragua more than any other among the South American nations. During the final months of the Francoist State, which had survived to this point, Spain considered invading Portugal to check the perceived threat of communism caused by the Carnation Revolution.
After a period of social unrest, factionalism, and uncertainty in Portuguese politics, between 1974 and 1976, neither far left nor far right radicalism prevailed. However, pro-communist and socialist elements retained control of the country for several months before elections. Álvaro Cunhal's
Portuguese Communist Party
The Portuguese Communist Party ( pt, Partido Comunista Português, , PCP) is a communist, Marxist–Leninist political party in Portugal based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself patriotic and internationalist,Portugue ...
(PCP) remained Stalinist in outlook and unsympathetic to the sort of reforms that were emerging as "Euro-Communism" in other countries in Western Europe.
The retreat from the colonies and the acceptance of its independence terms which would create newly independent communist states in 1975 (most notably the People's Republic of Angola and the People's Republic of Mozambique) prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens from Portugal's African territories (mostly from Portuguese Overseas Province of Angola, Angola and
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
), creating over a million destitute Portuguese refugees — the ''White African#Portuguese in Africa, retornados''. By 1975, all the Portuguese African territories were independent and Portugal held its first 1975 Portuguese Constituent Assembly election, democratic elections in 50 years. However, the country continued to be governed by a Junta de Salvação Nacional, military-civilian provisional administration until the 1976 Portuguese legislative election, Portuguese legislative election of 1976.
For the Portuguese and their former colonies, this was a very difficult period, but many felt that the short-term effects of the Carnation Revolution were well worth the trouble when civil rights and political freedoms were achieved. The Portuguese celebrate Freedom Day (Portugal), Freedom Day on 25 April every year, and the day is a national holiday in Portugal. By refusing to grant independence to its overseas territories in Africa, the Portuguese ruling regime of Estado Novo was criticized by most of the international community, and its leaders António de Oliveira Salazar, Salazar and Marcelo Caetano, Caetano were accused of being blind to the "
Winds of Change". After the Carnation revolution in 1974 and the fall of the incumbent Portuguese authoritarian regime, almost all the Portugal-ruled territories outside Europe became independent. For the regime, the retention of those overseas possessions had been a matter of national interest. Many previously successful Portuguese exporters (i.e. Companhia União Fabril, CUF and others) didn't survive the far-left politics, labour movement-inspired Processo Revolucionário Em Curso, PREC (1975) and its influence over the Portuguese economy, society and government policies, including the newly written Portuguese Constitution adopted in 1976. In the following decades, Portugal remained a net beneficiary of European Union Structural and Cohesion Funds and didn't avoid three IMF-led Economic Adjustment Programme for Portugal, bailouts as a bankrupt country between the late 1970s and the early 2010s. In 2011, during the 2010–14 Portuguese financial crisis, Portuguese financial crisis when the country was nearing the end of the center-left government of José Socrates and had to request international financial assistance,
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho
Otelo Nuno Romão Saraiva de Carvalho, GCL (; 31 August 1936 – 25 July 2021) was a Portuguese military officer. He was the chief strategist of the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon. After the Revolution, Otelo assumed leadership roles in t ...
, the Portuguese military officer who was the chief strategist of the 1974
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...
in Lisbon, stated that he wouldn't have started the revolution if he had known what the country would become after it. He also stated that the country would need a man as honest as António de Oliveira Salazar, Salazar to deal with the crisis, but from a non-fascist perspective.
["Otelo: precisamos de um homem honesto como Salazar"]
in Diário de Notícias (21 April 2011)
See also
* Jacques Ploncard, a French Philippe Pétain, Petainist, counsellor of Salazar
* Portuguese Legion (Estado Novo)
* Yves Guérin-Sérac
Notes
References
Sources
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Further reading
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* Graham, Lawrence S., and Harry M. Makler. ''Contemporary Portugal: the revolution and its antecedents'' (U of Texas Press, 1979)
*
* de Meneses, Filipe. ''Salazar: A Political Biography'' (2009)
* Payne, Stanley G. ''A History of Spain and Portugal'' (2 vol 1973
full text online vol 2 after 1700 standard scholarly history; chapter 27 pp 663–83
*
* Pitcher, M. Anne. ''Politics in the Portuguese Empire: the State, industry, and cotton, 1926-1974'' ( Oxford University Press, 1993)
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