Portuguese Communist Party 1974
Translated: for marxists.org by Mitch Abidor.
1. The military movement that, on the 25th of April, deposed Americo Tomas and the government of Marcelo Caetano, marked a turning point in the Portuguese political situation. The military coup was the culmination of the worsening of the crisis of the regime, the determining factors of which were: internal contradictions and difficulties, the struggles of the Portuguese people and the subject peoples of Portuguese colonialism, and the international condemnation and isolation of the policies of the government. At the same time, the military coup is the expression of the adherence of an important part of the Armed Forces to the fundamental democratic demands of the Portuguese people. In the short term, it opens real prospects for an end to the colonial war and the installation in Portugal of a democratic regime.
The PCP warmly salutes all those soldiers who, in the victorious Armed Forces Movement (MFA), have acted with the firm determination that these objectives be fully gained.
2. The government has been deposed, but the fascist regime has not yet been fully destroyed. Many of its institutions and instruments are still standing. Freedoms have not yet been established. The danger of a counter-coup on the part of the most reactionary elements exists. On the one hand it is urgent that the fascist state, its lairs, and the forces of counter-revolution be liquidated; and on the other hand, at the current moment the participation of democratic forces and the popular masses in political life and in the necessary work of renovation is possible.
The complete dissolution of PIDE-DGS [1] and all of its structures; the amnesty and the liberation of political prisoners and the return of the exiles; the immediate permission for the free activity of the democratic movement, can be counted as being among the immediate test measures of the real intentions of the Junta of National Salvation and of its proposal to put a complete end to the fascist regime and to fulfill the mandate confided in it by the MFA.
The PCP solemnly declares that it will actively support as victories of popular struggle all concrete measure taken for the liquidation of fascism and the real democratization of Portuguese political life.
3. The MFA proclaimed on the morning of the 25th, and the Military Junta confirmed in its proclamation of the night of the 25th to the 26th, that they proposed the establishment of democratic freedoms and the realization of free elections. This is a matter of fundamental objectives, which the PCP and the democratic forces fought for under the fascist dictatorship, and which have the active support of the popular masses. These promises must be rapidly translated into acts. Some think it would still be possible to substitute a military dictatorship for the dictatorship. It is necessary to prevent such a project from being carried out, defrauding the hopes of the Portuguese people and the will of the soldiers, who courageously rose up to put an end to fascism and to return to the Portuguese people those freedoms they were deprived of during nearly a half-century of dictatorship.
4. The colonial war has become one of the central problems of the Portuguese political situation. This being a problem that interests the entire nation, the first step that must be taken is to put an end to the forbidding of public debate and to open the real possibility that all Portuguese freely express and defend their opinions.
The PCP insists that negotiations for a rapid end to the colonial war be opened, with the recognition to the right to immediate and complete independence for the subject peoples of Portuguese colonialism. Those projects that seek to maintain Portuguese colonial domination under new forms not only do not contribute to a solution to the problem, but will instead inevitably lead to a new worsening of the economic social and political situation in Portugal. In dealing with a problem of such magnitude, the Portuguese people must be called upon to have the last word.
5. The realization of free elections for a Constituent Assembly will be a step of capital importance in the opening of the process of democratic transformation of Portuguese society. This objective should not be deviated from under any pretext. The Junta’s proclamation is mistaken when it announces, on the one hand, elections for a Constituent Assembly and, on the other, the election of the president, therefore posing as already determined a constitutional disposition that can only be made by the Assembly.
Free elections must imply a democratic electoral law, an honest census controlled by the people the right to activity for political parties, the freedom of the press, propaganda and assembly, and the effective financing of the Electoral Act. In the present specific situation, the best guarantee for the realization of truly free elections would be the constitution of a provisional government with the representation of all democratic an liberal forces and political sectors. In this regard, the PCP declares itself ready to assume its responsibilities.
6. The PCP warns against any proposals for anti-Communist discrimination. There can be no freedom in Portugal without the legalization of the PCP, the principal political force opposing fascism during the decades of its existence, a struggle in which Communists made unequalled sacrifices. It would not be in the least bit possible to realize the profound democratic transformation of society that the national problems impose without the active participation of the PCP, the party of the workers, the great party of the Portuguese anti-fascist movement. The legalization of the PCP will be the true criterion for the installation of democratic freedoms in Portugal.
7. The liquidation of the fascist dictatorship, the establishment of freedoms, the realization of truly free elections, all demand that in this crucial moment the working class, the democratic forces, and youth, in dealing with the measures of the Military Junta that go against popular demands, develop the widest possible actions insisting on the essential demands of the democratic movement.
It is more than ever necessary to reinforce the unity in action of the working class, the democratic forces, youth, of all Portuguese anti-fascists and anti-colonialists. It is also necessary and possible to forge a solid unity between the popular forces and those soldiers with democratic sentiments (officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers) who participate in great numbers in the military movement. Under the present conditions, this unity will be one of the solid guarantees for the final liquidation of fascism, of the installation of a democratic regime in Portugal; for peace, for the defense of national independence.
8. The position of the PCP in relation to the military movement of April 25 was clearly enough defined after the proclamation to the nation of the Junta of National Salvation made over the waves of the RTP on the night of the 25th to the 26th.
It is for the winning by the Portuguese people of the liquidation of the dictatorship, the end of the war, the establishment of a democratic regime. The gaining of these objectives fundamentally depends on the unity, the organization and the prompt and audacious actions of democrats.
1. Fascist era secret police