Avante!
Avante! [a'vɒ̃tə] , in German Forward! , is the official newspaper of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP). It first appeared in 1931, the newspaper's motto is workers of all countries, unite! .
At first the newspaper appeared irregularly, only since the Carnation Revolution in 1974 did Avante appear! weekly and had a great influence on the Portuguese workforce in general in the first few years. However, in recent years this influence has waned and the Avante! still in southern Portugal, mainly in Lisbon, Setúbal and in the Alentejo.
history
The Avante! first appeared on February 15, 1931 as a call for the Portuguese proletariat to join the Communist Party. Nevertheless, the newspaper appeared only irregularly, the Portuguese fascist authorities significantly obstructed the printing, so that the Avante! had to be printed in unknown, secret places. The authorities followed those responsible and reacted with raids and arrests to every new issue that appeared.
After the extensive reorganization of the Communist Party in August 1941, the newspaper appeared at least once a month. Now the editorial team could also count on more letters from other parts of the country and, in turn, report more comprehensively on what was happening in all of Portugal. In the 1940s, the Avante! one of the few newspapers that was not affected by the official censorship, so that it could report independently on the Second World War , the role of the National Socialists and that of the Allies.
In the early 1950s, the Salazar dictatorship intensified the rigid crackdown on the communists. Supported by the western allies in NATO, the latter was able to continue the dictatorship without any problems, and numerous communist party members such as Álvaro Cunhal were imprisoned. The Avante! documented the fascist approach during this time and, for example, supported the opposition candidate Humberto Delgado in the 1958 presidential election, who was unable to win due to the massive election manipulation by the authorities.
From 1961, the colonial wars rocked Portugal, which first began in the colony of Angola and gradually spread to Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. The Avante! During this time it was a platform for anti-colonialist voices, and it continued to document protests against the fascist dictatorship, such as the student riots ( Crise Académica ). At the end of the 1960s, the number of imprisonments for criticizing the regime increased sharply, the Avante! showed solidarity with them and took a stand as an organ of the PCP.
After the abolition of the dictatorship with the Carnation Revolution in 1974, the first regular, free and legage edition of Avante! appear, the communists of the PCP were already participating in the first Provisional Government under Adelino da Palma Carlos . At the time, the Avante! Maximum editions.
In 1976 the Festa do Avante! at the Lisbon Exhibition Center (FIL) , which brings together numerous cultural events such as concerts, readings, etc. It has taken place annually since then, at different locations until 1990. In addition to the exhibition grounds, the venues were Ajuda, Loures and the like. a. Since the acquisition of the property of "Quinta da Atalaia" in Amora (Seixal) on the other side of the Tejo, the festa has been taking place there.
In the 1980s, the right-wing conservative parties in Portugal won the elections and thus formed the government for the first time since the Carnation Revolution and repealed some of the laws of the previous governments that were regarded as socialist achievements. The Communist Party saw this policy as illegitimate and shouted in the Avante! to numerous strikes and demonstrations against the policies of Aníbal Cavaco Silva and Francisco Pinto Balsemão .
With the collapse of the Soviet Union , the election results and the importance of the Communist Party in general, the numbers of the Avante! behaved similarly. Nevertheless, the region around Lisbon and the entire Alentejo are still the stronghold of the communists, and the Avante is particularly popular there ! high sales. In 2000 there were numerous changes to the layout, so that the front page of the newspaper appeared in color for the first time. At the same time, the Avante! an online presence where the entire content of the newspaper is available. Nevertheless, the Avante! continue regularly every Thursday.