Portugal 1974: The Carnation Revolution Remembered First-hand
Former Waterford Glass worker, Tommy Hogan, was part of organising a solidarity delegation in 1976 from the factory to understand more about how Portuguese workers overthrew the dictatorship. He recounts the lasting impressions of this revolution from below, and points to lessons we can learn today.
September 1, 1973, saw a US-sponsored coup defeat the democratically elected, Marxist-inspired government of Salvador Allende in Chile. The terror that followed sent shock waves through the international left. The idea of a parliamentary road to socialism lay buried beneath the body of Allende and the thousands of left-wing activists and sympathizers who were murdered by the military junta. Pinochet’s dictatorship would last until 1990. It so happened that a small number of Chilean refugees, part of the exodus fleeing the military dictatorship of General Pinochet, arrived and settled in Waterford.
Just nine months after this, on April 25th 1974, young army officers of the Portuguese MFA (Armed Forces Movement), staged a coup against the Caetano authoritarian regime and its handling of the colonial wars it was waging in Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. Not only were the professional officers unhappy with the fact that they could be overtaken in promotions by noncareer officers, but they believed victory in the colonial war was impossible. The war was taking a huge toll on the Portuguese economy. Almost half of the national budget went to the military at the expense of public services and the welfare of the working class. On that day, thousands of workers poured onto the streets. Women put carnations in the rifle barrels of the soldiers, giving it the name Carnation Revolution. Watching the events on television we had no idea how things would unfold.
The overthrow of the legacy of Salazar’s 50-year dictatorship in Portugal ignited a revolution that would unfold over 19 months. Massive workers’ struggles erupted. Strikes, occupations, tenants demanding rent caps and reductions, squatters occupying empty properties – with whole working class communities taking part – made it seem like a true festival of the oppressed. The revolution changed not only Portugal but had an impact on the fascist dictatorship in Spain, hastening its end, and also on the rule of the Greek Colonels.
Waterford socialist shopstewards
In February 1974 a number of us were shop stewards and members of the Socialist Workers Movement (SWM), which was the forerunner of the SWN today. We were active in the first all-out strike at Waterford Crystal. This action was led and directed entirely by the shop stewards. It was subsequently declared official by Matt Merrigan, the Irish District Secretary of the ATGWU. The four-day shut down involved over 2,000 workers.
Visits to our local Waterford branch by leading national comrades of the SWM, some of whom had traveled to Portugal, kept us informed of events unfolding there. One important analysis by revolutionary socialist Tony Cliff characterised the period as “Dual Powerlessness”, because neither side, at that juncture, had the political power to impose their will.
We saw the events in Portugal, mass mobilisations of tens of thousands of workers and peasants, on RTÉ news every night. Many of the demonstrations were organised by the influential Portuguese Communist Party and the far left. The Communist Party had deep roots in the trade unions. Revolutionary soldiers and their units who commanded great respect among the people for their role in initiating the revolution would also march in uniform with the people.
In the autumn of 1974, the cutters’ section at Waterford Crystal discussed a motion, put forward by the shop stewards, which proposed solidarity with the Portuguese workers. This provided the opportunity for us to share with our members, many of whom had little knowledge of the events in Portugal, the information gained from the socialist literature we were reading. But an older conservative layer of the Glass workers trivialised our efforts to contact workers in the Portuguese Glass industry. They said that what was happening there had nothing to do with us.
However, the motion was carried in the name of the five hundred members, the cutters’ section of the 11/64 branch of the ATGWU. We forwarded our motion to the workers of Atlantic Crystal located in Marinha Grande in Portugal. It would be 1976 when we got to meet with those workers at their factory.
International solidarity
Early in 1975 a number of us sought leave from the company to go to Portugal to “visit” the Glass works, at Atlantic Crystal. This was agreed, but later revoked, by the company personnel manager, on the grounds it was too dangerous. Calling us to his office he said “driving into work this morning I heard on the news there is big trouble in Portugal. I will not be responsible for anything that might happen to you; you can go wherever you like on your annual leave.” He was referring to an attempted coup by far right military officers and former President Spinola.
In early 1975, the SWM hosted a comrade from Portugal for a national speaking tour. Successful meetings were held in a number locations, both North and South. In Waterford, we attracted a good attendance of Glass workers and workers from other employments. At the time we were selling two hundred copies of the monthly SWM newspaper “The Worker” in the factory, and more copies across the pubs of Waterford and south Kilkenny.
In the summer of 1976, four local branch members of the SWM, three of whom were shop stewards at Waterford Crystal, set off by car for Lisbon. As we journeyed down through the North of Portugal, we saw small peasant holdings populated, in the main, by elderly men and women, dressed entirely in black, working on their holdings. There seemed to be an almost complete absence of young people there. Portugal, not unlike Ireland, endured high levels of emigration.
The large wealthy land owners and the Catholic church, had big holdings in the South and Center of the country. These large estates (Latifundia) were worked by landless labourers.
Following the April revolution, almost two and a half million acres of land was seized, much of it by landless labourers and small holders. After the November 1975 counter coup, which saw the defeat of the revolutionary left and the consolidation of power by the more moderate military and political factions, land owners began demanding the return of land which had been occupied. A land reform law in 1977/8 consolidated the return of this land, now deemed to be illegally occupied, to the former owners.
Lisbon
On reaching the outskirts of Lisbon we were taken aback to see the extent of the shanty towns. They were something outside our experience, only scenes that we had seen in Catholic magazines like the Far East with its pictures of the slums of Calcutta. The people there were literally living on the margin, with shelters made from cardboard and corrugated tin, all tightly packed together. Many were from the countryside looking for work and a better life in the city. Portugal in 1974 was one of the least developed countries in Europe and, for the majority of the population, the poorest. As the shanty towns grew so did the working class. We could only imagine what it would have been like to live there, summer or winter.
In Lisbon we made contact with members of the party of the revolutionary proletariat and revolutionary brigades, the PRP-BR. These were tough comrades prepared to take armed action against the fascist regime, and who understood that, if the revolution was to ultimately be successful, the workers would have to be armed and supported by the revolutionary soldiers. They said it would be bullets which would determine the final outcome. They were close to radical officers and the revolutionary soldiers on whom they put a strong emphasis. They had support and influence among some sections of workers and also with tenants and squatter groups.
Atlantis Crystal
We got the name of a worker from a factory – Atlantis Crystal – which was the famous centre of glass making in Portugal, located at Marinha Grande, a town north of Lisbon. We travelled there and were greeted with a warm welcome by comrades of the local PRP-BR, one of whom was a leading shop steward at the Glass works.
We were taken on a tour of the plant where we exchanged experiences of how work was organised, payment systems, the role of women in the factory (of whom there seemed to be few), union organisation, and the extent of control the workers had within the factory. Although the factory remained with the owners, the workers commission involved itself in operational and investment plans.
Inside the factory, there were posters in every section of Otelo Carvalho, a Presidential candidate and former army officer who was central to the 1974 coup. Although standing as an independent he was supported by the revolutionary left. He came second in the election, with not far-off a million votes. That evening we met with workers from the glass works and were introduced to a couple of local members of the PRP-BR.
They told us that on the morning of the revolution in 1974, they felled trees from the surrounding forest and placed them across the road, to disrupt the movement of army and police. They were armed, but the need for use of weapons did not arise. That day the inhabitants of the town and workers from the surrounding area struck work and gathered in the town center. The local police kept a low profile. There was a feeling of euphoria and excitement, the dictatorship was toppled, and now new possibilities were opening up.
They recounted how in the days following the coup and for some time afterwards, some managers and their underlings (who were in fact police informers) did not show up for work, some being driven out of their jobs by the workers taking strike action. According to official reports, in February 1975, 12,000 police informants had been removed or suspended from their jobs, despite appeals from the socialist and communist parties for restraint. 1
One of our comrades gave a brief talk on Ireland and again great interest was shown in the situation in Ireland, questioning us about our own organisation and the politics of the Irish republican movement. They had a number of shop stewards, members of their own organisation present and others, who were close to them.
During our brief stay in Portugal we met with many people in bars and restaurants with whom we spoke – sometimes with difficulty because of the language. With few tourists in the country, people were eager to engage in conversation. The topic was always the political situation. Once people knew we were from Ireland, we got a warm reception. It was surprising how well-informed many people were as regards the situation in Ireland. You could feel the atmosphere was still somewhat charged,and there was much discussion about what the future might hold. Concerns about the threat of a return to dictatorship had diminished.
When we sought hotel accommodation in Lisbon, there were no rooms available. We soon learned that hotels all over the city were taken over by the “Retornados”. With Portugal’s withdrawal from its colonies, very quickly over half a million many embittered and disillusioned right wingers returned to Portugal and had to be integrated into the population of 9 million. They included small business people, farmers, government officials, military personnel, administrators and their families etc.
Workers’ control
Within weeks of the overthrow of the regime strikes for higher wages had exploded. Occupations were commonplace in pursuit of wages and the dismissal of those who collaborated with the secret police. Over a period of 19 months, some banks were nationalised and almost a 1,000 workplaces were under workers’ control. These included not just factories but offices, hotels, clinics, nurseries, Lisbon airport, the giant Lisnave shipbuilding works and the Radio station.
Many of these were overseen by the workers commissions, while in some, workers assumed ownership, and became co-operatives. Many sectors of the economy were nationalised, partly due pressure from the workers in occupation of their workplaces, but also to save the economy from bankruptcy.
Private schools and hospitals were occupied by teachers and doctors, some of which are still in public ownership. By October 1974, it is estimated workers had set up several thousand Workers Commissions; where these combined, sometimes including tenants’ councils, they formed a kind of nascent soviet or workers’ council.
Occupation of empty houses had begun almost immediately and continued to expand despite threats from municipal authorities, and the newly installed Salvation junta. Radicalised soldiers had begun setting up structures similar to the workers’ councils. On a number of occasions, the soldiers refused orders to take action against the workers.
Reaction
There would be six provisional governments over the period 1974-6. There were several right wing coups to smother the revolution. In March 1975, one such by former President Antonio Spinola failed. The prospect of a return to fascism – the enemy that united all – saw massive numbers of workers and revolutionary soldiers mobilise against it, forcing Spinola to flee the country.
Radical officers with Communist Party backing launched a coup in November 1975, which was premature and quickly put down by the army loyalists. The Communist Party, supported by some sections of the far left, changed tack, abandoning some of their own officers. To what extent this was preplanned is still debated. More than a hundred officers were arrested, many of whom were the leaders of the revolutionary units. Revolutionary soldiers were demoted and relegated to the reserves. Left militants in the Lisbon area were arrested and jailed.
The ruling class had effectively recaptured a monopoly of the armed forces. The power of the state was restored. The new rulers quickly began to denationalise some of the bigger corporations. Surprisingly, resistance was low given the recent big demonstrations and protests outside the parliament. The 25th November coup would come to be seen as the end of the revolutionary period.
Reformism
This was not Chile of 1973. While the preparedness of the conservative officers within the army was underestimated, there was practically no bloodshed. However, the revolutionary groups tended to over-rely on the MFA and not focus enough on the economic struggles of the workers. This approach prevented the deepening and development of the nascent workers’ councils, which could have been rallied to oppose the coup.
The revolutionary left also tended to underestimate the capitalist elite’s ability to divert the revolutionary movement into delivering some reforms but which fell far short of what the movement was demanding. Also it underestimated the influence of the Socialist and Communist Parties within the working class.
The absence of an experienced revolutionary party embedded in every workplace and neighbourhood was a decisive factor in the defeat of the revolutionary forces. There was nothing comparable to the Bolsheviks in Portugal in 1975. Lacking sufficient penetration in the working class the revolutionary left was unable to call a general strike in support of the soldiers. Reformism in the shape of the Socialist Party, which Portuguese workers had no experience of, at the decisive moment of the struggle, became attractive to large sections of the working class and among radical army officers.
A glimpse of revolution in Portugal
During our brief visit the high point of the revolution had passed. Yet we could still feel the excitement felt by people on what they had achieved. It was an astonishing period when people ruled themselves, taking control of their own destiny. Short of taking power the working class made great gains, including a new constitution, democratic free elections, welfare state, workers rights. These were concessions the elite had to make in order to regain the stability of the state. Working people rightly considered they had achieved a great victory, something they were very proud of, and that after 50 years of authoritarian fascism they had endured.
Many of those who participated in those momentous and historic events, and those of us who were around at that time are now in their seventies and beyond. The story of the Portuguese workers revolution, although politically defeated, their dedication and heroism, their exercise of dual power and self-management of workplaces and communities, needs to be remembered. It needs to be passed on to the new, younger generation of revolutionary socialists, and remembered today just how close the Portuguese workers came to unlocking the door of history and creating a new world.
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