Festivities of Portugal #1

25 April: A Revolução dos Cravos (The Carnation Revolution), a revolution with flowers in the air

On 25 April, the Avenida da Liberdade (Avenue of Freedom) is very busy. No, today it's not the endless stream of vehicles but the people of Lisbon who are pounding the pavement with a red carnation in their hands! 

 

And for good reason: every year on the same date, 25 April, Portugal commemorates the 1974 Revolution that brought down the dictatorship founded in 1933 by António de Oliveira Salazar, the Estado Novo. So to understand everything, let's do a little history...

What is the Estado Novo?

The Estado Novo was founded in 1933 by António de Oliveira Salazar, a former professor of economics at the University of Coimbra, the most prestigious university in Portugal. In 1910, when Salazar joined the university, there were no more than 500 students. They all knew each other and would become part of the nation’s elite. A conservative and practising Catholic, he gradually took a stand against the then very anti-clerical Portuguese Republic. But he was more critical of the country’s financial situation than of anticlericalism. 

 

In 1926, the military took power and put an end to the first Portuguese republic. They sought to put the Portuguese economy back on its feet. To do this, they called on an economic specialist: Salazar! But he resigned after a few days, arguing that the country was on the verge of bankruptcy and that he did not have the necessary means to deal with it. 

 

The military was then forced to ask for international help. In the country, this was very unpopular and more and more people asked for Salazar’s return. Salazar returned in 1928 and set conditions: every penny spent by the government had to be approved by him. It worked: a year later the Portuguese economy was under control and the escudo, the country’s currency, was stabilised.

 

On 25 June 1932, General Óscar Carmona, then President of Portugal, appointed Salazar as head of government. The former economics professor then created a political party, the National Union. In 1933, a new constitution came into being: the Estado Novo. With this new constitution, Salazar simply gave himself full power and the National Union became the country’s only party. 

 

The Estado Novo was characterised by the union of three forces in Portugal: the state, the Catholic religion and the trade guilds. Very frugal, Salazar did not establish a cult of personality, as in other dictatorships of the time. However, he muzzled the opposition, especially the communist party, as well as the press and the unions. In the country’s prisons, torture was commonplace… On the international scene, Portugal remained neutral, a position it kept during the Second World War. 

 

After a stroke in 1968, Salazar handed over power to Marcelo Caetano and died two years later on 27 July 1970.

The beginning of the end of the dictatorship...

In 1974, after 41 years of dictatorship, Portugal was in a bad way. The government was struggling to develop the country, which was still one of the poorest in Europe. Many Portuguese people had to leave the country to work in northern Europe, particularly in France. The large Portuguese community in certain Parisian neighbourhoods is proof of this. 

 

In addition, the Portuguese army became embroiled in the wars of independence of the Portuguese colonies in Africa (Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe). For the Estado Novo, it was unthinkable to grant its colonies their independence. It preferred to fight the war to the end, in order to maintain its position as a strong state. But these wars are long, in Angola they have been going on for 13 years. They were also very costly and isolated Portugal on the international scene. Indeed, in 1974, most European countries had already granted independence to most of their colonies. And, in the middle of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviets supported the independence movements.

 

In addition, many young Portuguese people unfortunately lost their lives. Many Portuguese families were bereaved by these never-ending wars of « pacification ». Portugal lost more than 8,000 soldiers and many others returned wounded and traumatised. 

 

It was in this difficult context that the country’s top brass, in particular General Spinola, began to express their disagreement with the regime. Little by little, the protest grew and led straight to the revolution.

This is the Revolução!

On 25 April, it was the big day! At 12.15am, Renascença radio broadcast the famous song « Grândola, Vila Morena », banned by the regime. The Revolution was underway and that same evening Caetano, the head of the regime, was deposed. The date of 25 April was not chosen at random: on 25 April 1945, the Nazi and fascist armies capitulated in Italy.

 

But let’s go back to that day… The broadcasting of Grândola, Vila Morena is a rallying sign. The rebel troops therefore moved towards the strategic points of the country. By the end of the night, the main radio stations, Lisbon airport and the Commerce square, where some of the country’s institutions, such as the Bank of Portugal, were occupied. All this was done with very little resistance from the regime, which, without the army, did not have much room for manoeuvre. 

Why red carnations?

The inhabitants, who had to stay at home, defied the ban and gradually mixed with the military. A Lisbon woman, Celeste Caeiro, later known as Celeste dos Cravos (Celeste of the Carnations), was to deliver red carnations to the restaurant Sir, not far from Marquês de Pombal Square. The restaurant was celebrating its first anniversary of opening that day. To mark the occasion, it had decided to offer red carnations to the ladies and port to the gentlemen. Under the circumstances, the operation was cancelled and Celeste Caeiro was allowed to leave with the restaurant’s flowers. On her way, she passes the military. She asks them what is going on and they tell her that they are going to run over Caetano. They ask her for a cigarette but Celeste doesn’t have any, all the shops are closed, she only has her flowers. So she gives them to the soldiers, to show her support.

 

The soldiers then put them on the barrel of their rifle. The idea was taken up and soon all the restaurants in the city were giving their flowers to the soldiers. Celeste dos Cravos continued to walk around the city with her flowers, handing them out to all the soldiers she met! The red carnation became a symbol of the Portuguese revolution, which became known as the Revolução dos Cravos, the Carnation Revolution. 

And after that ?

On that day, the revolution was proclaimed, Caetano, the head of the regime, was deposed and sent into exile in Brazil. Many political prisoners were released and the opponents of the regime, who had gone abroad, were able to return to Portugal in the days that followed. 

 

The wind of freedom that blew over Portugal on 25 April 1974 is still felt every year on the Avenida da Liberdade, one of Lisbon’s main thoroughfares. The long processions of the different political parties that march there every year are a testament to the vitality of Portuguese political life!

Grândola, Vila Morena

Grândola, Vila Morena, the starting point of the 25 April revolution, was a song that was banned during the Salazarist regime. Zeca Afonso, its composer, was a school teacher who also sang Fado. His music became more and more politicised, in favour of the oppressed of the Estado Novo. This led to his dismissal in 1968 from the school where he taught in Setúbal. From then on, Zeca Afonso, also called José Afonso, devoted himself entirely to music. He joined groups of intellectuals whose aim was to change people’s minds through music. In a country where, in the 1970s, about a third of the population could not read or write, music was a very important medium for getting ideas across. 

 

Grândola, Vila Morena was recorded in 1971. It is not directly a protest song, which is why it escaped censorship for a while. Even though José Afonso’s name was banned in the media (newspapers used Esoj Osnofa to talk about him) the music could be heard on the radio in its early days. It speaks of the fraternity and solidarity that prevails in the town of Grândola, in Alentejo. The Alentejo is a region in the south of Portugal, subject to difficult climatic conditions (drought, wind…). In order to cope with these conditions, the Alentejanos have always organised their work collectively since ancient times, which in the eyes of many thinkers represents the communist ideal. It is a region that remains a communist bastion in Portugal to this day. This longevity is characterised in the song by the holm oak, a typical tree of the region. Through the lyrics, Afonso wants to show that it is not a few decades of dictatorship that will taint the community spirit of the Alentejanos. Let’s hear it…

 

Here is the translation of the lyrics of Grândola, Vila Morena. You can find the music easily on streaming platforms like Spotify or Deezer.

Grândola brown city

Land of brotherhood

The people are the ones who command the most

In you, city

 

In you city

The people are the ones who command the most

Land of brotherhood

Grândola brown city

 

On each side a friend

On each side, equality

Grândola brown city

Land of brotherhood

 

Land of brotherhood

Grândola brown city

Equality on every side

The people are the ones who command the most

 

In the shade of a green oak

Who does not know his age

I have sworn to have for companion

Grândola, your will

 

Grândola, your will

I have sworn to have for companion

In the shade of a holm oak

Who does not know her age

1
Talk with us :)
Bom dia ! How can I help you? Please click on the button at the bottom right to start the chat.