: ''For the city named Bento Gonçalves in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, see

Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul Bento Gonçalves () is a municipality located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Created in 1875, it is one of the centers of the Italian Brazilian, Italian immigration in Brazil. It is also known as the 'wine capital of Brazil' due to i ...

'' Bento António Gonçalves, GOL (2 March 1902 – 11 September 1942) was the second General Secretary of the

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...

. He was born in

Montalegre Montalegre (), officially the Town of Montalegre (), is a municipality in northern Portugal, located in the district of Vila Real, along the border with Spain. The population in 2011 was 10,537, in an area of 805.46 km². History Early con ...

Vila Real District The District of Vila Real ( ) is a district of northern Portugal. With an area of , the district is located east of the port city of Porto and north of the Douro, Douro River. Vila Real has always belonged to the historical province of Trás- ...

, in the North of Portugal. Not much is known about his childhood. In 1915 he became an apprentice mechanical turner in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. Four years later, in 1919 he started doing the same work in the arsenal of the

Portuguese navy The Portuguese Navy (), also known as the Portuguese War Navy (''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'') or as the Portuguese Armada (''Armada Portuguesa''), is the navy of the Portuguese Armed Forces. Chartered in 1317 by King Dinis of Portugal, it is ...

in Alfeite. In 1922 he joined the navy and one year later he started the elementary pilot course. In 1924 he was sent to the Portuguese colony of Angola and started to work as a mechanical turner in the

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

railroad company. He became there an activist, trying to organize the ''Union of the Luanda's Workers''. In 1926 he returned to Lisbon, where he became a member of the ''Navy Workers Labor Union'', in the next year he traveled to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, in the Portuguese delegation to the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was led by Vladimir L ...

. In September 1928 he joined the Portuguese Communist Party and became a member of the cell of the Arsenal of Alfeite. In 1929 he participated in the reorganizative conference of the Communist Party and was elected to the provisional Central Commission. Soon after, he became Secretary General. In 1930 he was arrested by the political police of the Estado Novo regime and was forced to live in the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

. One year later he was transferred to

Portuguese Cape Verde Cape Verde was a colony of the Portuguese Empire from the initial settlement of the Cape Verde Islands in 1462 until the independence of Cape Verde in 1975. History 15th century The islands of Cape Verde were discovered in 1460-62 by Pri ...

. In 1933 he returned to Portugal and went underground. In November of the same year he traveled to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

where he established contacts with the

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

and the

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain (; PCE) is a communist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is currently part of Sumar. Two of its politicians are Spanish government ministers: Yolanda Díaz (Minister of L ...

. In 1935, Bento Gonçalves participated in the 7th Congress of the Comintern. Soon after returning to Portugal he was arrested again by the political police. After that he was transferred to a prison in the Azores where he was put on trial by a military court for his communist activities. In the end of the year he was transferred to the prison camp in Tarrafal, where he died of sickness in 1942. In the Avante! Festival of 2002, the Communist Party carried out an exposition in the central pavilion about his work and life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goncalves, Bento Antonio 1902 births 1942 deaths People from Montalegre Portuguese Communist Party politicians Portuguese anti-fascists 20th-century Portuguese politicians