The Salazarism was a dictatorial regime that existed in Portugal between 1933 and 1974 and became well known as the Estado New . The term “Salazarismo” refers to António de Oliveira Salazar , head of government of Portugal between 1933 and 1968. This dictatorial period in Portugal only ended when the Carnation Revolution overthrew the dictatorship and began the reconstruction of Portuguese democracy.
Also visit: Discover the story of the general who established a dictatorship in Spain
Historical Background
In 1910, a revolt overthrew the Portuguese Constitutional Monarchy and established the republic in the country. With that, the First Portuguese Republic , a period marked by many economic problems and enormous political instability. Portugal's internal problems were compounded by the country's involvement in World War I. In the 1920s, the conservative and authoritarian discourse began to gain strength as a way out of Portuguese problems.
This resulted in the Coup of May 28, 1926, which was carried out by conservative military personnel. This coup started a dictatorial regime in Portugal known as Dictatorship National . A few years later, in 1928, António Salazar, a university professor at the University of Coimbra, was appointed head of the Ministry of Finance.
In 1933, Salazar was nominated to assume the post of president of the Council of Ministers . This function corresponded, in fact, to the position of head of state and, with that, the long Salazar dictatorship began, which received the name of Estado Novo.
Estado Novo Portuguese
With his nomination for the presidency of the Council of Ministers, Salazar began to organize himself politically to implement a new Constitution in Portugal. The promulgation of the 1933 Constitution is considered to be the milestone that inaugurated the Portuguese Estado Novo. The Salazar regime was marked by being undemocratic , anti-liberal , corporatist , colonialist and conservative .
The historical context and characteristics of the Salazar dictatorship have led many historians to claim that Salazar's regime had a fascist orientation. This association of Salazarism with fascism is currently questioned by several historians and, at the moment, there is no consensus on whether Salazarism was fascist or not.
Also see: See how the Estado Novo was built in Brazil
Characteristics
-
Corporatism :the State positioned itself as a mediator in the relations between employers and employees. The purpose of this was to weaken unions and class conflicts in Portugal.
-
Persecution of political parties and opponents :during the Salazar regime, only the government party (União Nacional) was allowed to function.
-
Concentration from power :political power in Portugal was concentrated in the hands of the leader.
-
Censorship :the objective was to only allow the transmission of information with the official ideology of the government.
-
Anti-Communism: there was a direct association of the regime with actions aimed at fighting communism.
-
Nationalism and colonialism: the government defended and fought for the maintenance of the Portuguese colonialist empire.
-
Defending conservative ideals under the motto “God , homeland , family ”.
End of Salazarism
The Salazar regime began to decline in the 1960s. There was great erosion of the regime for economic reasons, since Portugal was clearly an economically backward nation in relation to its European neighbors. To make Portugal's situation worse, the country got into colonial wars.
These wars were part of an effort by the Portuguese dictatorship to prevent Portuguese colonies in Africa and Asia from gaining independence. These wars were extremely unpopular in Portugal and worsened the country's economic situation. The Portuguese fought against independence movements in places like Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Goa and East Timor.
In 1968, António Salazar was replaced in command of Portugal by Marcello Caetano . Salazar's departure happened because the health of the Portuguese dictator was very fragile. Salazar died in 1970, at the age of 81.
Despite the change in command of the Portuguese Estado Novo, the regime remained unpopular in society. The more conservative wings of the Estado Novo refused to allow reforms to take place in order to promote the opening of the regime. For this reason, a wing of the army dissatisfied with the Portuguese dictatorship organized a coup to overthrow Caetano.
This scam became known as the Carnation Revolution and it took place on April 25, 1974. On that day, Portuguese troops occupied important locations in Lisbon and ordered Marcello Caetano's removal from the command of the country. With the Carnation Revolution, the Portuguese dictatorship was overthrown, and the democratic regime in the country was rebuilt.
*Image Credits:Boris15 and Shutterstock