Revolution of the eyelets

The revolution of the Eyelets ( Revolução back Cravos in Portuguese) is the name given to the events of April 1974 which involved the fall of the Dictature salazarist which dominated the Portugal since 1933. The end of what was called the Estado Novo made it possible the last colony S Portugueses to take their independence.

Context

At the beginning of the Years 1970, the authoritarian regime of the Estado Novo continued to make weigh a lead coating on the country since the years 1930. The Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar, his creator, had left the capacity for health reasons in 1968 and had died in 1970. He had been replaced with the head of the mode by Marcelo Caetano, of which the attempts at political reform were destroyed by the inertia of the mode and especially the omnipotence of the secret police and military, PIDE.

However the mode was growing old, appearing ankylosis in a western world in full cultural and intellectual change. The African colonies - the Mozambique, the Angola, the Guinea-Bissau, Sao Divide into volumes-and-Principle, the Cape Verde - pulled by the movement of the Decolonization, were in Révolte since the beginning of the Années 1960, and forced the mode to invest more and more energy in vain a Guerre of pacification aiming at keeping the seizure of Portugal on the remainders of sound colonial Empire. Such a war was in same logic as all those caused by the others colonial powers.
The youth, pulled by the conscription, and the officers engaged in this war were confronted by themselves with the dead end in which the mode began. The Colonial war became the compost of the Révolution by the dissensions which it created in the civil society and soldier.

The revolution

In February 1974, Caetano is obliged by the old guard to dismiss the general António Spínola and its supports whereas it tried to inflect the course of the Portuguese colonial policy, become too expensive for the country. Divisions of the elite of the capacity become visible and it is the moment that a mysterious Mouvement of the armed forces (MFA), carried out by Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, chooses to carry out a revolution. This movement was born in the secrecy in 1973 by the conspiracy from some officers of the army from tendency from Extreme left and radicalized by the failure from the colonial war.

The April 25th 1974 with 0:25, the national radio diffuses Grândola, villa morena (Grândola, brown city), a revolutionary song of Zeca Afonso evoking freedom, the democracy and the respect. It is the signal which the MFA gave itself to seize the strategic points of the capacity in the country. Sixteen hours later, the dictatorial mode crumbles.

In spite of the regular calls of the “captains of April” (of the MFA) with the radio operator incentive the population to remain at it, from the thousands of Portuguese go down in the street, mixing with the insurgent soldiers. One of the central points of this gathering is the flower market of Lisbon, then richly provided in eyelet S, of which it is the season. Certain insurgent soldiers will put this flower in the gun of their rifle, and this will be at the origin of the name of this revolution.

Caetano took refuge in the principal barracks of the gendarmerie of Lisbon. This one is encircled by the MFA, which pushes it to agree to give the capacity to the Spínola general, to prevent that the capacity does not fall into the street . Caetano is then immediately exiled towards the Brésil.

Only the Pide political police opposes an armed resistance, which causes the death of six people, the single victims of this revolution. This resistance of Pide is reduced during the night.

The policy of the Three D

The following day, Spínola announces the formation of a Junte of national hello and reads the proclamation written by the MFA. This proclamation affirms that the capacity will be given to the civilians at the conclusion of the behavior of free elections, and insists on the will of a policy known as of Three D : “to democratize, decolonize and develop”.
The political prisoners are also released.

The leaders of the political parties in exile can consequently return triumphantly to Portugal: the Socialist Mário Soares on April 29th and the Communist Alvaro Cunhal 30.

See too

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