Carnation Revolution

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Commemorative inscription of the revolution

The Carnation Revolution ( Portuguese Revolução dos Cravos ? / I or 25 de Abril ), internationally known as English (The) Carnation Revolution , was the military coup in Portugal on April 25, 1974 against the authoritarian dictatorship of the Estado Novo . The coup, which was led by the left-wing army group Movimento das Forças Armadas and supported by large parts of the population, went largely without resistance - four people died, however, when troops loyal to the regime fired at unarmed demonstrators. Audio file / audio sample

After a transition phase marked by political and social unrest, in which the military installed various provisional governments , the Carnation Revolution led to the first free and democratic elections , to the constitution and, in 1976, to the peaceful transfer of state power to the newly elected parliament and the newly elected president and thus to the Third Portuguese Republic .

The revolution owes its name to the red carnations that insurgent soldiers put in their gun barrels.

prehistory

The dictatorship of the Estado Novo

In Portugal, a military junta under General Carmona came to power in a coup in 1926 . Carmona's successor Salazar expanded his power from 1932 through a new constitution - the Estado Novo (German: New State) - and the abolition of parliamentarism . Accompanied by measures of repression such as press censorship and torture , Salazar tried to implement a system that was called a quinta (an estate closed against external influences). It was a static, closed society that was organized in a paternalistic , premodern corporate state model . The repression measures were implemented from 1933 onwards by setting up a State Security Police ( PVDE - Polícia de Vigilância e de Defesa do Estado ) based on the model and with the support of the Gestapo . The secret police organized special courts and built special prisons based on the example of the German concentration camps ( Tarrafal ). The successor organization of the PVDE was the PIDE ( Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado ) in 1945 . There were also no free trade unions , only professional organizations. The large mass of the population was deliberately kept in poverty, ignorance and backwardness in order to "spare the Portuguese the evils of modernity". This attitude of mind makes the defense against modern developments such as industrialization, tourism and education understandable. Salazar saw the four-year elementary school for the people as a concession. Over a third of the people under Salazar were illiterate .

Foreign policy of Portugal under the dictatorship

During the Second World War , Portugal allied with Spain under Franco to form Bloco Ibérico . Portugal under Salazar tried more than Spain to distance itself from Italian fascism and German National Socialism .

The authoritarian regime therefore remained untouched by the Allies and continued to exist. In 1949 Portugal became a founding member of NATO . With this, Portugal underlined its anti-communist stance in the Cold War .

The colonial war and the crisis of the dictatorship

Starting in 1961, Portugal waged the Portuguese colonial war against the struggle for independence in the two African colonies of Angola and Mozambique .

In 1968, Salazar was replaced by Marcelo Caetano after a stroke . Despite slight improvements, this changed little in the character of the dictatorship.

In February 1974 the Deputy Chief of Staff António de Spínola published his book Portugal eo Futuro (Portugal and the Future), which caused a sensation, especially in military circles. In it, Spínola analyzed Portugal's “systemic discrepancy ” compared to the other Western European states, which had brought it into economic and political isolation. The future of Portugal depends above all on the outcome of the colonial war , which cost too many lives and devour up to 50% of the state budget , but cannot be won militarily. Spínola proposed a “new national strategy” in which the participation of the people in the political decision-making process and the right of the colonies to self-determination should be guaranteed.

For the Movimento das Forças Armadas (MFA for short) (Movement of the Armed Forces ), this book was the signal to set off. It criticized the colonial policy of the Caetano regime by the second man in the military hierarchy. Only then did the MFA gain popularity among the population. The movement consisted primarily of young officers of the lower ranks, including Captain Salgueiro Maia . Since the beginning of the colonial wars in the African provinces (1961), common soldiers had also been trained to become officers.

At the beginning of March 1974, Caetano staged a rally of confidence from senior officers, which Spínola and Chief of Staff Francisco da Costa Gomes demonstratively stayed away from. They were then removed from their offices. Rumors of the planned arrest of 22 officers by the State Security Police (DGS) accelerated the MFA's preparations for a coup.

course

Mural

The signal: Grândola, Vila Morena

On April 24, 1974 at 10:55 p.m., the Portuguese radio played the love song E Depois do Adeus (“And after parting”) by Paulo de Carvalho . The song, the Portuguese contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 , was the first agreed secret signal to the insurgent troops at the beginning of the coup .

Another song became famous as a revolutionary song: Grândola, Vila Morena (Grândola, tanned city) , which had been banned because of the line of text "O povo é quem mais ordena" (German: "The people govern / commands"). At around 12:20 a.m. on April 25, the spokesman for the Catholic broadcaster Rádio Renascença , who had been left out of the occupation , read the first verse of the song forbidden by the dictatorship, after which the song itself was sung by the anti-fascist protest singer Zeca Afonso . The playing of the forbidden song was the agreed second secret sign for the definitive start of the movements of the MFA. This moved out to Lisbon in military vehicles to occupy ministries, radio and television stations and the airport. The secret action was spread all over the country. The majority of the advancing government troops defected to the insurgents.

Rifles and carnations

Demonstration in Porto in 1983 on the 25th of April remembrance day

The Santarém cavalry school played the most important role, namely the occupation of the Terreiro do Paço in Lisbon. The column headed by Captain Salgueiro Maia consisted of 10 tanks, 12 troop transport vehicles, two ambulances, a jeep and a civilian vehicle. It started at 3:30 a.m. and reached Lisbon, 70 kilometers away, at 5:55 a.m. Around 12 noon, Maia ordered some of his forces to the barracks of the armed police forces , the Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR), on Largo do Carmo , where the head of government Caetano had fled.

After several hours of siege, the dictator declared himself ready to abdicate that evening. However, he declared that he wanted to hand over power to General António de Spínola so that “power does not fall to the streets”. However, De Spínola was not part of the MFA and thus not the preferred candidate of the insurgents. The angry people demanded a full survey. Because of the bloodless handover, the MFA leaders around Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho accepted the offer. Caetano left the barracks and was brought to the Lisbon military airfield in a troop transport car . From there he first flew to Madeira and later into exile in Brazil .

The whole day before, thousands of Lisbon residents had lined the path of the columns, cheered the liberators, ran up next to the army vehicles and jumped up. The first red carnations, which were to give the revolution its name, appeared, shone on the soldiers' uniforms and from their gun barrels. The red carnation was an international symbol of the socialist labor movement , whose ideas significantly shaped the Portuguese revolution.

At the storming of the bases of the secret police PIDE / DGS by the population fell at 20:30 shots at the onrushing. Four people died in the process. Insurgents stayed in front of the building shouting “Morte à PIDE” and “Assassinos”. The next morning the police surrendered. The archives, the torture tools and the modern arsenal fell into the hands of the insurgents.

Next to the plaque with the street name “Rua António Maria Cardoso” the insurgents put up a second sign: “Avenida dos Mortos pela PIDE” (Street of the Victims of the PIDE), which referred to both the victims of the previous evening and the numerous murdered around the opposition General Humberto Delgado .

The insurgents tracked down many PIDE agents and informants in public institutions, universities and schools. The last chief of the secret police, Major Silva Pais , was arrested in his apartment.

On the night of April 27, the political prisoners were released from the PIDE dungeon in Caxias . Her relatives and friends met her on the street. For years, detainees there were subjected to torture, solitary confinement, and humiliation without trial.

The photo of the revolutionary evening newspaper República by Hermínio da Palma Inácio has become famous, as he raises both arms in a gesture of joy and triumph after the liberation. The founder of the resistance group Liga de Unidade e Acção Revolucionária (LUAR, German  League for Revolutionary Unity and Action ) was one of the most popular and feared resistance fighters by the regime. For example, in 1961 he hijacked an airplane to drop leaflets. The newspaper República no longer paid any attention to censorship and reported in detail. On the afternoon of April 26, a demonstration marched in front of the República building and thanked the editors by singing the national anthem for their tireless fight for freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

Before May 1st, many exiles and politically persecuted people returned from exile. Mário Soares (Socialist Party), who was with Willy Brandt in Germany on the day of the revolution , returned from Paris, as did Álvaro Cunhal from the Communist Party (PCP) . He had spent 13 years in PIDE prisons until he managed to escape from Peniche in 1960 . Since then he had lived in Moscow and Prague .

The well-known mathematician and Republican presidential candidate from 1951, Rui Luís Gomes , came from exile in Brazil, in which he had lived since 1958 . Two well-known and energetic resistance fighters came from Algeria, Fernando Piteira Santos and the poet Manuel Alegre , who co-founded the Patriotic Front for National Liberation (FPLN) and encouraged the anti-fascists in their homeland via the freedom broadcaster Voz da Liberdade (Voice of Freedom).

Mural

requirements

Immediate end to the colonial war - general amnesty for deserters and conscientious objectors the rally slogans included by associations for some 100,000 deserters and conscientious objectors saying that had often gone into exile. The amnesty law was passed on May 1, 1974, the end of the war was still a long time coming, but the first steps had been taken.

Memorial for the 25th of April in Lisbon
Monument to the Carnation Revolution by João Cutileiro in Lisbon

May 1st 1974 in Lisbon

During May 1st, the insurgents took control of the streets. A march went to the Lisbon sports stadium, which was later renamed “Estádio 1º de Maio”. More than 100,000 Portuguese wanted to celebrate the liberation there. After the trade unionists, Mário Soares spoke of the socialists and Álvaro Cunhal , the leader of the Communist Party, who demonstratively moved into the stadium together.

Soares emphasized that the Communist Party had to make the most sacrifices during the time of fascism and exclaimed: “Here and today we have finally defeated fascism. This victory is the victory of the people. ”Soares like Cunhal demanded a government from the center to the socialists to the communists.

Effects on the Portuguese colonial empire

The Carnation Revolution also marked an end to the Portuguese colonial wars in Guinea-Bissau , Angola and Mozambique . In quick succession, treaties were concluded with the respective independence movements, which contained an immediate armistice and the promise of an early end to colonial rule. In Guinea-Bissau, independence was implemented that same year. Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Cape Verde followed in 1975.

The end of Portuguese rule on Timor led to chaos. A civil war was triggered by Indonesian influence in 1975 , which served the neighboring state as a pretext for the occupation and annexation of Portuguese Timor . 24 years of war were the result.

Portuguese India was forcibly occupied and annexed by India in 1954 and 1961, respectively. Portugal now gave up its claims and normalized its relations with India.

Movies

While researching his film Outro País , director Sérgio Tréfaut came across around 40 international documentaries on the Carnation Revolution, not counting Portuguese productions. However, they rarely reached a large audience.

The following is a chronologically sorted selection of the most famous films and documentaries that deal with the Carnation Revolution:

literature

  • Offenbach Socialist Office : Portugal - On the Way to Socialism? Analyzes and documents. Verlag 2000, Offenbach 1975. (= International Solidarity Series , Issue 9)
  • Jaime Semprun : La Guerre sociale au Portugal , éditions Champ libre , 1975.
  • Charles Reeve, Claude Orsoni et al .: Portugal, l'autre combat , éditions Spartacus , 1975.
  • Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho : Prosecution and Defense. The trial against the Carnation Revolution. , Zambon-Verlag , 1989, ISBN 978-3-88975-028-0 .
  • Dominique de Roux : Le Cinquième Empire , éditions Belfond, 1977. Editions du Rocher, 1997.
  • Manuel von Rahden: Military and parties during the Carnation Revolution (1974-1975) . In: Marko Golder, Manuel von Rahden: Studies on the contemporary history of Portugal. Hamburger Ibero-Amerika Studien Vol. 10, LIT Verlag, 1998, pp. 107-218.
  • Charles Reeve: Les œillets sont coupés , Paris-Méditerranée, 1999.
  • Yves Léonard: La Révolution des œillets , éditions Chandeigne, 2003.
  • Svenja Schell: The causes and consequences of the Portuguese carnation revolution , GRIN Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-640-46692-4 .
  • Raquel Varela : The labor movement and the role of the soldiers in the Portuguese Carnation Revolution , in: Year Book for Research on the History of the Labor Movement , Volume III / 2011.
  • Klaus Steiniger : Portugal in April. Chronicler of the Carnation Revolution . Verlag Wiljo Heinen, Berlin, 2011, ISBN 978-3-939828-62-4 (466 pages, 60 black and white photos).
  • Willi Baer, ​​Karl-Heinz Dellwo: April 25, 1974 - The Carnation Revolution. The end of the dictatorship in Portugal. In: Willi Baer, ​​Karl-Heinz Dellwo (Ed.): Library of Resistance. Vol. 15, Laika-Verlag, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-942281-85-0 .
  • Ismail Küpeli: Carnation Revolution reloaded? Crisis and social struggles in Portugal , edition assemblage , 2013, ISBN 978-3-942885-27-0 .
  • Urte Sperling: The Carnation Revolution in Portugal. Basic knowledge of politics / history / economics. Papyrossa Verlag , Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-89438-541-5 .
  • Karl-Eckhard Carius (ed.), Viriato Soromenho-Marques: Walls of Freedom - Lisbon's forgotten images and the outcry today. Verlag Westfälisches Dampfboot , Münster 2014, ISBN 978-3-89691-957-1 .

Web links

Commons : Revolução dos Cravos  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Regine Warth: Carnation Revolution in Portugal. Stuttgarter Nachrichten , April 25, 2014, accessed April 25, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Claudia Kamke, Dina Khokhleva, Julia Hettler and Ulrike Nehls: The emergence of the Estado Novo. Chemnitz University of Technology, 2007, accessed on April 25, 2017 .
  3. ↑ On the role of the army, see Raquel Varela: The workers' movement and the role of the soldiers in the Portuguese Carnation Revolution. In: Year Book for Research on the History of the Labor Movement , Volume III / 2011.
  4. ^ Statement by the director in his film Outro País: Memórias, Sonhos, Ilusões… Portugal 1974/1975 , DVD, Alambique Filmverlag, Lisbon 2014