25th April, 40 years later. Politics, society, commemorations. A debate with Antonio Costa Pinto, Marina Costa Lobo and Pedro Magalhaes, by Annarita Gori
In 2014 Portugal celebrated the 40th anniversary of Carnation Revolution. In the following two years many facts occurred: the exit from the Economic Adjustment Programme in June 2014, the parliamentary elections in October 2015 and the subsequent formation of a new left coalition government led by Antonio Costa and, finally, the presidential election in January 2016. On the basis of these facts Antonio Costa Pinto, Marina Costa Lobo and Pedro Magalhaes are called upon to discuss the meanings of 25 April 1974 and the democratic transition for the Portuguese people; the relation between the legacies of Carnation Revolution and the economic crisis, and the role played by the Left parties in the last commemorations.
Keywords: Public History of Carnation Revolution, Memory, Economic Crisis, Portuguese Left Parties
25 of April 2014: 40 years of democracy despite the Revolution. Historical revisionism in Portugal, by Riccardo Marchi
Over the last twenty years, the historical debate on democratic transition in Portugal has been livened up also by the emergence of charges of revisionism. In particular, few historians from the Marxist field have criticized some historiographical interpretations on the revolutionary process started in the aftermath of April 25th, 1974 coup d’etat. From the anti-revisionist perspective, these interpretations deny the importance of the revolution for the Portuguese democracy and highlight, on the contrary, its harmfulness and totalitarian aims. Furthermore, that revisionist tendency is sustained by the so-called winners of the transition, namely intellectuals from the Socialist, liberal and conservative fields. Moreover, it facilitates the diffusion of the right-wing political thesis on the Portuguese transition among the public opinion since the mid of the 80s of the last century. The article analyses the most relevant topics of this debate and identifies, in the conclusions, its major weakness: the teleological nature of the debate on both sides and the consequences on its epistemological capacity.
Keywords: Carnation Revolution, Democratic Transition, Historical Revisionism in Portugal, Historiography
Reading the distant revolution – The Polish united workers’ party interprets the Portuguese Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974, by Igor Chabrowski
In late May 1974, Poland and Portugal were as far from each other as any two countries could be. During the three post-war decades, they did not recognize each other diplomatically and their trade was almost inexistent. Yet the news of Carnation Revolution received a lot of attention in Poland and the knowledge about the unfolding events in Lisbon was broadly disseminated and discussed both in the press and in the inner circles of the United Polish Workers’ Party (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; PZPR). Was the revolution important to Poland and why? What was the role of the ideology in interpreting events? What was the role of both geopolitics and of the narrower international interests of the Poland?
Keywords: Carnation Revolution, Polish Media, Political Debate, United Polish Worker’s Party (PZPR)
The Federal Republic of Germany and the 25th of April, by Antonio Munoz Sanchez
In this article we will see how the deeply rooted anticommunism present in the political culture of West Germany strongly influenced the interpretation of Portuguese revolution. The German media and the Bonn authorities had a pretty sharp idea of the Portuguese revolution. In their extreme perception the whole global scenario could have collapsed if the moderate fraction would not had prevailed in Portugal. The enormous effort made by the West Germany in order to help not communist organization is so explicable because of this fear. At the same time it was for this reason that West Germany tried to involved immediately other European countries in this venture of helping a transition towards a west democratic regime in Portugal.
Keywords: Carnation Revolution, German Media, Anticommunism,
The impact of the Portuguese Revolution in Spain, by Josep Sanchez Cervello
Spanish transition has a great debt to the Portuguese revolution given that Spanish authoritarian regime and its oligarchy learnt a lot from the Portuguese transition. In this respect Jordi Puyol work remains one of the most prominent in the field. It was crucial in the Portuguese transition the capability of changing regime without touching the rules of property, the land reform or the banks nationalisation or other dangerous issue. The bottom up process of changing was implemented because the ruling classes fear to lose any of its privileges, cumulated during the regime times, if the working classes would have run the transition. Without any doubts the Portuguese political radicalization hardened to Franco. And the more to the left Portugal is placed more rightist regime became. The greatest contribution of Portuguese April, in our lives, was the model of transition.
Keywords: Carnation Revolution, Spanish transition, Political History
Fertile soil for Socialism or Communist threat? The Carnation Revolution through the eyes of the French Socialists, by Alan Granadino
This article analyzes how the French Socialist Party (PSF) interpreted and reacted to the Carnation Revolution in Portugal between 1974 and 1975. My argument is that there were at least two different interpretations on the Revolution within the PSF, determined by different conceptions of the union of the Left (alliance between Socialists and Communists). A faction led by Francois Mitterrand saw the Revolution as an opportunity to test the French strategy of the union of the Left by promoting a similar alliance in Portugal, but in 1975, when the Revolution radicalized, Mitterrand’s faction rejected the pact fearing that the Portuguese Communists would seize power. CERES, another faction of the PSF, represented the other interpretative line. They saw the Revolution as an opportunity to establish a new way to Socialism respecting democratic freedoms in which the alliance between Socialists and Communists was crucial at all stages.
Keywords: Union of the Left, Socialists, Communists, Carnation Revolution, French Socialist Party
French intellectuals and the Portuguese Revolution, by Victor Pereira
In Portugal, between April 25, 1974 and November 25, 1975, the revolutionary process elicited an unusual interest in France. Hundreds of Frenchs came to Portugal, mainly to Lisbon, to know, live and participate in the Revolution. Which reasons explain this enthusiasm and journeys? What were these “tourists” looking for in Portugal? This article describes how these journeys could be included on French cultural developments of 1968, and how it could be articulated with French internal and political debates.
Keywords: Carnation Revolution, Intellectuals, Political debate, “Political tourism”, French Left-wing.
«L’Unita» and the Portoguese “Revolution”, by Francesco Catastini
These are the first results of an ongoing research on how the daily newspaper linked to the Italian Parliamentary Left described the Carnation Revolution. Here I focused on the narratives made by the Italian Communist Party’ press organ, «L’Unita», about the weeks prior the Carnation Revolution and about the first reactions after the military takeover on 25 April 1974. We can observe how the new political strategy of PCI (strategy set out during the Symposium of the European Communist parties held in Brussels in January 1974) influenced also the attitude of the newspaper in the articles dedicated to the Portuguese situation and to the relationship between the PCI and PCP.
Keywords: Carnation Revolution, «L’Unità», Italian Communist Party, Portuguese Communist Party, Political debate
Public History: The International Landscape and the Greek Case, by Elli Lemonidou
Public History as a distinct branch of historical science has attracted in recent years the growing interest of an increasing number of scholars, who explore its questions and express their opinions on the content and the limits of the discipline. The present study is an overview of the main developments at the international level, from the birth of Public History until the explosion of interest in it in the recent years. A special mention is also given to the emergence and development of Public History in Greece.
Keywords: History of Public History, Greece, Uses of the Historical Past
The evolving relationship between Oral History and Public History, by Linda Shopes
In this essay, the author reviews the different origins of Oral History and Public History: she defines Oral History as being an archivist practice and Public History as a job. Secondly she analyses the gradual convergence of the two different disciplines in the sphere of Social History. Oral Historians look outside the archives and focus on the Public Sphere and Public Historians began to define their own job more on the basis of its practices than on the basis of a working relationship and adopting Oral History as one of their tools. The author also considers how to deepen the relationship between Oral History and Public History in particular through digital media. The essay takes into account both the social and intellectual contexts of these differences, similarities and opportunities. It builds on practical examples from the author’s professional activities in the USA and from other international case studies.
Keywords: Public History, Oral History, Social History, Digital Public History
