25 de Abril sempre ! - The Carnation Revolution and the Grand Duchy
The song "Grândola, Vila Morena", which was played on the radio on 25 April 1974, signalled the start of the revolution in Portugal. Within a day, a military coup put an end to the longest dictatorship in Western Europe. The euphoria of the population that swept through the streets of Lisbon spread throughout Europe.
The dissatisfaction of the military and the Portuguese population with the colonial wars in Africa and the great poverty in Portugal were the main reasons for the uprising.
In Luxembourg, thousands of Portuguese, not only from Portugal itself but also from the Cape Verde Islands, followed the events in Lisbon on the radio and in the newspapers. Luxembourg activists were also caught up in the revolutionary enthusiasm and started to take an interest in the fate of the Portuguese population. On 11 May 1974, several hundred Portuguese took to the streets of Luxembourg City and demanded the expulsion of the Portuguese consul, who for them symbolised the overthrown regime.
The beginning of a new era
25 April 1974 marked the beginning of a new political era. The independence of the Portuguese colonies in Africa was quickly accepted. The introduction of parliamentary democracy paved the way for Portugal's accession to the European Community in 1986.
In Luxembourg, the fate of many families was shaped by the events of 1974. Today, almost 100,000 Portuguese nationals live in the Grand Duchy and many others have family roots in this country or in the former colonies of Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique.
Portugal from 1926 to the 1960s
In 1926, a military coup brought General Óscar Carmona to power. Two years later, Carmona appointed the former conservative MP and professor of economics at the University of Coimbra, António Oliveira de Salazar, as finance minister. Within a few months, Salazar succeeded in reorganising Portugal's catastrophic financial situation after years of political and economic instability. The succession of forty different governments since 1910 led many Portuguese to doubt democracy. In just a few months, Salazar managed to assert himself in government and concentrate all power in his hands. In 1932, the President of the Republic appointed him Prime Minister.
The corporatist and authoritarian Estado Novo
In 1933, Salazar had a new constitution passed, which introduced the regime of the Estado Novo (New State). Within a few months, a conservative, authoritarian regime was established, which some considered to be fascist. The newly created secret police (PVDE, later PIDE, then DGS), which controlled the entire society and brutally suppressed any opposition, weighed heavily on the country.
António Oliveira de Salazar
Born in Vimeiro in 1889 into humble rural circumstances, António Oliveira de Salazar studied law and economics at the University of Coimbra, where he later taught as a professor. During his studies, he moved closer to conservative Catholic circles in political terms. He was elected to parliament in 1921, but only attended one parliamentary session, as he preferred to return to university.
After the coup d'état on 28 May 1926, he was Minister of Finance for a short time. However, as he did not obtain the powers he considered necessary, he resigned.
In April 1928, he was reappointed Minister of Finance and was given extended powers. He reorganised the country's budgetary and economic situation, which earned him great popularity.
In 1932, he was appointed Prime Minister by President Carmona.
Salazar cultivated the image of an ascetic and solitary academic, working tirelessly in his office. He only travelled abroad a few times and never set foot in the Portuguese colonies in Africa. He rarely appeared in the media.
After suffering a stroke in 1968, he was replaced as Prime Minister by Marcelo Caetano. He died in Lisbon on 27 July 1970.
Relations between Luxembourg and Portugal until the 1960s
The establishment of diplomatic relations between Luxembourg and Portugal dates back to 1891. In 1896, the future Grand Duke Guillaume IV married Maria Ana of Braganza, the daughter of the former King Miguel I of Portugal.
When the German National Socialists invaded Luxembourg on 10 May 1940, the Grand Ducal family and the government fled into exile - first to France and then to Portugal, which remained neutral during the war. They stayed for several weeks in Portugal before taking refuge in London. At the beginning of the war, several convoys of Luxembourg refugees also passed through Portugal, thanks in particular to the visas issued by the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux, Aristides de Sousa Mendes.
Intensification of relations after 1945
After 1945, relations between Luxembourg and Portugal were gradually intensified. Both countries were among the founding members of NATO in 1949 and thus became military allies. While there were only four Portuguese families living in the Grand Duchy in 1939, many Portuguese came to Luxembourg in the mid-1960s – often illegally – in the first major wave of immigration. Most of them had stopped over in France before finding work in Luxembourg. It was not until the second half of the 1960s that direct emigration from Portugal to Luxembourg began.
Illustrations
- In May 1947, a "pilgrim" statue of Our Lady of the Rosary was consecrated in Fatima, Portugal, to commemorate the Virgin Mary's appearance to three Portuguese children in Fatima 30 years earlier. The statue then travelled around the world, visiting 64 countries in 50 years. For the Salazar regime, this was an effective operation of cultural diplomacy aimed at Catholic countries.
- Luxembourg was one of the first countries to welcome the statue between 9 and 24 September 1947. The foundation stone for the monument to Our Lady of Fatima was laid in Wiltz when the statue stopped there. During the Battle of the Bulge, several young men and women from Wiltz had vowed to erect a monument to Our Lady of Fatima if they survived the war. The shrine was consecrated in 1952 and has been a site of pilgrimage for Portuguese people since 1968.
- In 1934, the Portuguese Secretariat for National Propaganda published a poster with the ten principles of the new constitution adopted in 1933. Point 6 rejected the "irresponsible and impulsive dictatorship of the parties" and emphasised the need for a strong executive as a counterweight to parliament. Point 10 clarified the power of the secret police: "The enemies of the Estado Novo (New State) are also the enemies of the nation (...) in such a case, force can and must be used for the legitimate defence of the fatherland".
- General Óscar Carmona (1869-1951) came to power in a military coup in 1926 and remained head of state until his death. From 1932, the real power was in the hands of Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar. As Salazar did not like travelling or presenting himself in public, Carmona took charge of the ceremonial representation of the Estado Novo.
- António de Oliveira Salazar in his office in 1940.
- One of the last portrait photos of Salazar, signed by him, ca. 1968.
- The future Grand Duke Guillaume IV and his wife Maria Ana of Braganza, daughter of King Miguel I of Portugal, around 1896.
- Grand Duchess Charlotte in conversation with Prime Minister Pierre Dupong in Lisbon in July 1940. On 25 June 1940, the Grand Ducal family moved into the Villa Santa-Maria in Cascais. The Grand Duchess stayed there until 29 August, the day she left for London. Pierre Dupong was received in audience by Salazar on 25 September 1940 and thanked him for the hospitality that the Portuguese had shown to the government-in-exile for several months. This is the only known meeting between Salazar and a member of the Luxembourg government.
- An advertisement in the Luxemburger Wort of 24 October 1964. One of the first references to the Portuguese presence in Luxembourg.
A police state
The ideology of the Estado Novo was based on the trilogy "God, family, fatherland" and aimed to control all areas of life. Taking advantage of the prevailing disenchantment after years of political instability, Salazar presented himself as the guarantor of security and order.
The Estado Novo became a repressive police state
Political parties other than the União Nacional were banned, as were trade unions. The elections held at regular intervals were neither free nor democratic: a limited number of voters could only vote for representatives of the ruling government.
To ensure the centralised management of the corporatist state, a network of workers' and employers' organisations was set up. Leisure activities for young people were coordinated by a mass organisation, the Mocidade Portuguesa.
Any form of politicisation was frowned upon.
The oppressive control of the secret police
The secret police, known as the PIDE from 1945 onwards, were feared by the population because any statement against the government could lead to denunciation and arrest. Torture was commonplace in the prisons and the concentration camps set up in the colonies (Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde).
The influence of the secret police extended beyond national borders: in the 1960s and 1970s, the PIDE probably also had informants in Luxembourg.
On several occasions, the Luxembourg police unit Sûreté exchanged information with the PIDE about Portuguese nationals living in Luxembourg.
1965-1970: Strengthening of relations between Luxembourg and Portugal
Between 1960 and 1974, more than a million people left Portugal - often illegally - to escape economic hardship, military service and political oppression.
From the mid-1960s, many Portuguese settled in Luxembourg. In 1962, 75 Portuguese nationals were living in the Grand Duchy. According to estimates, the number had risen to over 13,000 by 1973.
In 1966, Portugal opened a consulate in Luxembourg, headed by the diplomat José Mendes-Costa. Portuguese citizens could have their identity documents renewed there. Those who had left Portugal illegally had to pretend that their passport had been stolen or pay a bribe.
An official agreement between the two countries
The Portuguese quickly found work in Luxembourg, which at the time was struggling with a shortage of labour in agriculture, industry and, above all, construction. Although it was mainly men who immigrated, also many of the Portuguese women took up employment in domestic jobs.
The influx of thousands of Portuguese nationals prompted the Luxembourg government to enter into negotiations with Portugal in this regard. In 1965, a first agreement regulated social security issues. In 1970, the two countries concluded an agreement that provided for the recruitment of workers by the Portuguese authorities on the basis of job vacancies advertised in Luxembourg and regulated family reunification. Despite this recruitment agreement, many Portuguese nationals continued to come to Luxembourg by circumventing the legal regulations, although most of them subsequently obtained a legal authorisation to stay.
Illustrations
- In its issue of 28 February 1970, even before the agreement on employment of Portuguese workers in Luxembourg was concluded, the illustrated weekly magazine Revue published a report on the difficult housing conditions of the Portuguese who had come to Luxembourg without passports and with the help of smugglers. Most of them did not come directly from Portugal, but had already lived for some time in the slums around Paris. A Luxembourg official expressed his fears about the introduction of diseases and "anti-social elements".
- After Foreign Minister Gaston Thorn travelled to Lisbon, a working group was formed to draft the agreement on recruitment. The negotiations took place in Luxembourg from 31 March to 3 April 1970.
- On the occasion of the ratification of the agreement on the recruitment of Portuguese workers in Luxembourg by the Chamber of Deputies in 1972, the government pointed out that this agreement also applied to the Cape Verde Islands, but that the Portuguese government had promised Luxembourg not to recruit coloured workers. Nevertheless, since the mid-1960s, Cape Verdeans, who at the time held Portuguese nationality (unlike the inhabitants of other Portuguese colonies), had been settling in Luxembourg. Here we see a Cape Verdean music group at the first celebration of the Portuguese National Day in Luxembourg in 1965.
Portuguese in Luxembourg before 1974
At the end of the 1960s, the public and the press began to take an interest in the difficulties faced by many Portuguese in Luxembourg, particularly with regard to housing. Portuguese workers were being rented out in slum-like conditions. The department for foreign workers of the Ministry of Family Affairs and some associations, such as União of Weimerskirch, tried to offer help to the new arrivals and to raise public awareness of the difficulties faced by immigrants, who were often confronted with xenophobia and racism.
In 1969, several Luxembourgers and Portuguese founded the association Amitié Portugal -Luxembourg (APL). Under the chairmanship of Professor Norbert Thill, the APL campaigned for better relations between Portuguese-speaking and Luxembourg citizens. From 1972 onwards, relations between the APL and the consulate deteriorated. The consulate then set up a Portuguese cultural centre in Luxembourg City.
A consul criticised
At the beginning of the 1970s, some newspapers, in particular the Tageblatt, the Républicain lorrain and the Lëtzeburger Land, accused Consul Costa-Mendes of being indifferent to the everyday problems of the Portuguese.
Since 1965, Portuguese people have been spontaneously getting together to organise festivities, in particular for the Portuguese national holiday on 10 June. Portuguese cafés and restaurants were also opened during this period. As a result, Portuguese culture was gradually becoming more visible in the Grand Duchy.
Portuguese-language newspapers and Portuguese schools
Between 1966 and 1972, several newspapers for the Portuguese-speaking population were published in Luxembourg.
In 1966, the consulate published the first newspaper, As cinco Quinas, which was loyal to the dictatorship, but only produced one issue.
In 1970, the association Amitié Portugal-Luxembourg issued Contacto. This newspaper, written in Luxembourg and printed in Lisbon, was subject to censorship. Some articles published before 1974, notably the obituary of Salazar in July 1970, were in line with the propaganda and ideology of the Portuguese regime.
In 1970, a group of Portuguese from Luxembourg published the illustrated monthly magazine Dois Focos, which was printed in Arlon.
In 1972, the Portuguese consulate launched another magazine called Cultura. As a result, Contacto gradually distanced itself from the consulate, but it was not until after April 1974 that this newspaper took a clear stance in favour of democracy. Contacto still exists today.
Special courses for children and adults
From 1970, the consulate and the Service social de la Main-d'œuvre étrangère (the department for foreign workers of the Ministry of Family Affairs) as well as some municipalities organised courses for Portuguese immigrants, in particular literacy and French courses.
From 1968, Portuguese children also had the opportunity to attend extracurricular courses that were officially recognised by Portugal under the terms of the 1970 recruitment agreement. In 1974, more than 800 children took part in these courses, which were held at seven locations in the Grand Duchy.
Protest against the Portuguese regime in Luxembourg
Due to the apolitical mentality promoted by the Portuguese regime and for fear of repression, Portuguese people in Luxembourg did not express much political opinion. Nevertheless, a few opponents of the Salazar regime also settled in the Grand Duchy. They often maintained links with political groups abroad.
Out of solidarity, some Luxembourgers dared to voice their opinion against the Portuguese dictatorship. Youth organisations set up vigils to protest against the Portuguese colonial wars in Africa. In 1973, Luxembourg students were assaulted twice during such actions. The press at the time suspected that agents of the Portuguese secret police had been sent to the Grand Duchy to intimidate the demonstrators.
Cooperation with the Luxembourg police
The Luxembourg police unit Sûreté contacted the Portuguese authorities to obtain information about Portuguese citizens who had taken part in strike action.
In numerous cases, Portuguese citizens were expelled from the country by the Luxembourg authorities.
On 4 June 1971, the Ação Revolucionária Armada (ARA), the armed revolutionary underground organisation of the Portuguese Communist Party, stole several passports from the Portuguese consulate.
The colonial wars
In 1961, the Indian army invaded the Portuguese colony of Goa. Portugal's African colonies (Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau) organised armed uprisings to gain their independence.
For the Estado Novo, the colonies were a central element of Portuguese identity and Salazar ordered that their preservation be defended with all available means. After 1968, his successor Marcelo Caetano continued the cruel repression of independence movements in Africa.
The Portuguese army committed numerous atrocities (use of torture, massacre of the civilian population, use of chemical weapons, etc.). The UN General Assembly repeatedly condemned these human rights violations. Nevertheless, the Luxembourg government intensified its official relations with Portugal during the same period.
Extension of compulsory military service
In Portugal, the extension of compulsory military service to four years contributed significantly to the unpopularity of the authoritarian regime, especially as the army was unable to prevail on the ground against the independence fighters.
At the beginning of the 1970s, the Portuguese immigrants in Luxembourg included young men who had fled Portugal to avoid conscription for military service, war veterans and some people of colour from the African colonies.
Illustrations
- Founded in 1969, the association "Amitié Portugal-Luxembourg" (APL) brings together Portuguese and Luxembourgers, promotes the interests of the Portuguese in Luxembourg and organises cultural events to strengthen ties between the two communities. The photo shows President Norbert Thill (1923-2013) during his opening speech at the exhibition of the annual handicraft competition open to Portuguese residents of Luxembourg (in the ballroom of the Sacré-Cœur parish in Luxembourg's Gare district). The exhibition was one of several cultural events organised by the APL, bringing together Luxembourgers and Portuguese.
- In November 1973, the Luxembourg edition of the Républicain lorrain published a report on the living conditions of the Portuguese in Luxembourg, which was later taken up by several other media. At the beginning of December, the Lëtzeburger Land considered that the Portuguese consul in Luxembourg should be declared persona non grata, i. e. the Luxembourg government should request his expulsion to Portugal.
- On 13 June 1965, a group of Portuguese residents in Luxembourg organised the first celebrations for Portugal's national day (Dia de Portugal) at the Carrefour restaurant on Boulevard Royal in Luxembourg. In the following years, the celebrations took place at the Casino Syndical de Bonnevoie, among other venues. Some of the organisers of the 1965 Dia de Portugal were among the founding members of the Amitié Portugal-Luxembourg in 1969.
- Presentation of the first issue of the Portuguese-language newspaper Contacto in March 1970. It was published by the association Amitié Portugal-Luxembourg, but printed in Portugal and therefore subject to censorship. From 1974, it became the most important newspaper for the lusophone population in Luxembourg. The newspaper was bought up by the Saint-Paul Group (now Mediahuis) in 1987.
- On 15 October 1970, the first French courses for Portuguese workers were organised by the Portuguese consulate in collaboration with the Service social de la Main-d'œuvre étrangère at the primary school on rue Aldringen in Luxembourg City. Similar courses were launched the same year in Esch/Alzette, Belvaux and Dudelange. Literacy courses for adults were also offered.
- The theft of passports by armed members of the Ação Revolucionária Armada (ARA, armed revolutionary action) in 1971 went virtually unnoticed by the public in the Grand Duchy. However, some foreign press agencies, such as the German service of the American Associated Press, reported on it.
- Request for information on six Portuguese nationals living in Luxembourg who had taken part in trade union actions or were suspected of political activities. The letter was sent to the Portuguese police in June 1972 by the Luxembourg police unit Sûreté or the Service de Renseignement. Three of the six people were expelled from Luxembourg, probably to France. The letter was found in the archives of the Portuguese secret police. If they had returned to Portugal, the people denounced in this way by the Luxembourg authorities would have risked arrest and imprisonment.
- Press release of the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire following the attack on a stand of opponents of the Portuguese colonial wars in Luxembourg City on 21 July 1973. A few weeks earlier, during the closing procession of the Octavian pilgrimage on 28 May 1973, a stand on the Place d'Armes belonging to activists of the left-wing Catholic youth group Forum 80.000 had also been attacked.
- Among the Portuguese who came to Luxembourg in the 1970s were soldiers who had taken part in military operations in Guinea-Bissau (top photo), Mozambique (bottom photo) or Angola. It is therefore not unusual to find photographs like these in private family albums.
- Amilcar Cabral (1924-1973) was born in Guinea to a Cape Verdean father. Trained as an agronomist in Lisbon, he was one of the founding members of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) in 1956. As Salazar's government refused to negotiate independence, the PAIGC, under Cabral's leadership, launched guerrilla actions in 1963, marking the beginning of the colonial war. Guinea-Bissau's independence was proclaimed unilaterally on 24 September 1973 and recognised by the UN General Assembly on 2 November 1973 (Luxembourg abstained from the vote). The UN then called on Portugal to end its illegal occupation of Guinea.
- Cabral never lived to see Guinea's independence, as he was assassinated in Conakry on 20 January 1973 by members of his own party who had been in contact with the Portuguese authorities. Portugal finally recognised Guinea's independence on 10 September 1974.
- Agostinho Neto (1922-1979) studied medicine in Portugal. As a nationalist and anti-fascist activist, he was imprisoned several times. In 1959, he settled in Angola as a doctor. After his arrest in 1960, the Portuguese army fired on participants in a demonstration demanding his release, killing around 30 people. He was transferred to Cape Verde and later to Portugal, where he managed to escape. In exile in Morocco, he took over the leadership of the "Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola" (MPLA), which was supported by the Soviet Union and played an active role in the Angolan War of Independence (1961-1975). Angola's independence was proclaimed on 11 November 1975 and Neto declared himself president. He established a Soviet-inspired dictatorial regime. The other armed groups that had fought against Portugal, in particular UNITA led by Jonas Savimbi, turned against Neto. Following its independence, Angola sank into a civil war that lasted until 2002 and claimed more than 800,000 civilian lives. Agostinho Neto died in Moscow in 1979.
The revolution of 25 April
On the night of 24 to 25 April 1974, a group of young officers who had formed the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) launched a military coup. Their coup started with the radio broadcast of the song "Grândola, Vila Morena". Under the leadership of Captain Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, several military units took up positions at strategic points in Lisbon. During the morning, a large number of the civilian population took to the streets to support the rebels. A woman who was supposed to deliver carnations to a restaurant in Rossio Square distributed the flowers to the soldiers, giving the revolution its name.
Prime Minister Marcelo Caetano took refuge in the barracks of the Guarda Nacional Republicana ("Republican National Guard") on Largo do Carmo, which was besieged by the troops of Captain Salgueiro Maia from the afternoon onwards.
In the early evening, General Spínola, former Governor General of Guinea, went to Largo do Carmo and obtained the resignation of Caetano and the government. He himself took over the leadership of a military junta made up of senior military officers, which subsequently ruled the country.
The end of Western Europe's longest dictatorship
After 47 years, ten months and 24 days, the longest Western European dictatorship of the 20th century was overthrown in less than 18 hours, with hardly any shots fired. Nevertheless, four civilians were killed when officers of the secret police, who were surrounded at the PIDE headquarters, fired into the crowd.
Illustrations
- Fernando José Salgueiro Maia (1944-1992) had been a member of the “Armed Forced Movement” (MFA) since 1973 and was one of the key figures of 25 April. In the early hours of the morning, he made his way with 240 cadets from the cavalry school to the Praça du Comerco on the banks of the Tagus, where the main ministries were located. A few hours later, he led the troops that surrounded the barracks of the Guarda Nacional Republicana ("Republican National Guard") on Largo do Carmo square, where Marcelo Caetano had taken refuge. When Caetano refused to negotiate with an army captain, shots were fired at the front of the barracks. In the late afternoon, Caetano surrendered on the condition that the government should be taken over by General Spínola. After 25 April, Salgueiro Maia no longer played a major political role. He died in 1992 as a result of cancer. One of his adopted daughters now lives in Luxembourg.
- Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho (1936-2021) was the organiser of the coup d'état of 25 April. He was born in Mozambique and spent part of his military career in Angola and Guinea-Bissau under General Spínola. After the Carnation Revolution, he played an important political role. He led the Comando Operacional do Continente (COPCON), founded in July 1974 to protect the democratisation process. Otelo, who was politically positioned on the extreme left of the MFA, used this unit to try to impose a communist policy. After the coup d'état on 25 November 1975, he was removed from office and arrested two months later for abuse of power. He was released shortly afterwards and stood as a candidate in the 1976 and 1980 presidential elections, but was not elected. In 1984, he was arrested for involvement in a terrorist organisation and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Otelo de Carvalho was released in 1989 and amnestied in 1996. He died in Lisbon in 2021.
- At 1.30 on the night of 26 April, the members of the Junta de Salvação Nacional, which had taken power in Portugal after Caetano’s departure, introduced themselves on Portuguese television. The Junta was led by General António de Spínola as President of the Republic (reading, in the centre of the picture) and consisted of (from left to right): Commander António Rosa Coutinho, Captain José Pinheiro de Azevedo, General Francisco da Costa Gomes, Brigadier General Jaime Silvério Marques, Colonel Carlos Galvão de Melo and General Diogo Neto (not in the photo as he was staying in Mozambique). The Junta remained in power alongside the government until March 1975, when it was replaced by the Revolutionary Council.
Two years of hope and uncertainty (1974-1976)
From 25 April, the Portuguese population made use of their regained freedom of expression. Demonstrations followed one another in the major cities, workers occupied factories, empty homes were seized by activists, etc. However, the radicalism manifested in the streets was viewed with suspicion by part of the population.
At the end of April 1974, a provisional government was set up, made up of all opposition parties and representatives of the army. It also included the long-standing political opposition members Alvaro Cunhal (Communist) and Mário Soares (Socialist), who had returned from exile.
The unity of the first few days, however, began to break down rapidly, as the supporters of a radical-revolutionary line, those in favour of a return to a conservative order and some reformist political forces expressed very opposing visions of the future.
The fear of a new dictatorship
Portugal was subsequently threatened by the danger of a new dictatorship on more than one occasion. President Spínola attempted to eliminate the lefts in a coup on 28 September 1974, but failed. He resigned and went into exile in March 1975. On 25 November 1975, part of the MFA attempted an unsuccessful coup in order to impose a communist system.
In the meantime, a Constituent Assembly was elected on 25 April 1975. The Social Democrats under Soares won the elections. In April 1976, two years after the revolution, a new constitution came into force, in which parliamentary democracy was enshrined.
Reactions in Luxembourg
At the end of April, a Portuguese Committee for Freedom of Expression was set up in Luxembourg. On 11 May, this committee organised a demonstration attended by several hundred people calling for the resignation of the consul, who had been in office since 1966. He was seen as a supporter of the former regime, accused of having denounced Portuguese citizens to the Luxembourg police in order to have them deported from the country. On 8 June 1974, an extensive incriminating file was sent to the Portuguese Foreign Minister Mário Soares. The consul was removed from office in October 1974.
Gradually, Portuguese workers dared to take part in trade union demonstrations. New Portuguese-language newspapers with a more political orientation were published in the Grand Duchy.
In October and December 1974, two large information events were organised at the Casino Syndical in Bonnevoie, which were attended by several hundred Portuguese. Political meetings were also organised for the elections to the Constituent Assembly in April 1975.
Luxembourg showed great interest
The events in Portugal were widely commented on in the Luxembourg press. Some journalists saw it as a great hope for democracy, others feared that Portugal could slide into the communist camp or that the country could sink into chaos.
The political turmoil in Lisbon also attracted dozens of young Luxembourgers who travelled to Portugal to experience the revolution first-hand.
Illustrations
- From July 1974 to September 1975, General Vasco dos Santos Gonçalves (1921-2005) headed four of the six provisional governments of the revolutionary period. Close to the Communist Party, he made nationalisation of the economy and land reform the cornerstones of his policy. He also launched a campaign of "cultural dynamisation", implemented by the MFA, to strengthen the relationship between the military and the local population, which was often poor. The aim of this campaign was also to win over the rural population in favour of the government's radical left-wing policies. The photo shows Vasco Goncalves at a press conference in Sabugo in February 1975, at which he explained that “a soldier, above all, is an educator”.
- The socialist Mario Soares (1924-2017), on the left in the picture, and the communist Alvaro Cunhal (1913-2005), on the right, were both opponents of the dictatorship. They were imprisoned several times and went into exile. Both returned to Portugal at the end of April 1974 and joined the government. However, irreconcilable differences soon emerged between the two protagonists (the photo shows them during a televised debate in 1975). Cunhal was accused by the moderate wing of wanting to establish a communist dictatorship, while Soares was seen by the more radical groups as too timid and unwilling to create a new social order in Portugal. Soares' Socialist Party won the 1975 Constituent Assembly elections, which led to a radicalisation of the Communist Party and the MFA. After the failed coup d’état by the most radical representatives of the MFA in November 1975, the Communists became increasingly isolated on the political scene.
- The day after the attempted coup by the most radical section of the MFA, the Luxemburger Wort expressed concern about the risk of civil war in Portugal. On 25 November, the fierce tensions culminated in factory occupations, the use of violence to enforce the collectivisation of agricultural land, economic turmoil and investors' distrust of the revolutionary process. However, the failed coup d'état on 25 November also marked the beginning of a "normalisation" of Portugal's political system and led to the adoption of a new constitution in April 1976.
- On Saturday 11 May 1974, seventeen days after the start of the revolution in Lisbon, several hundred Portuguese demonstrated in Luxembourg City in support of the Portuguese revolutionaries. They demanded the removal from office of the consul, who was accused of being corrupt and having collaborated with the secret police. The consul denied these accusations.
- During the manifestation on 11 May 1974 in Luxembourg, a wreath in memory of the PIDE victims was laid in front of the flame of the National Monument of Luxembourg Solidarity on the Plateau du Saint-Esprit.
- Amitié Portugal-Luxembourg and Contacto established themselves as the voice of the Portuguese in Luxembourg vis-à-vis the authorities in Lisbon. In October 1974, APL sent a letter to the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs demanding the right to vote for Portuguese expatriates, respect for trade union pluralism and freedom of education.
- On Sunday 6 October 1974, the newly founded Luxembourg section of the Portuguese Socialist Party organised an information event attended by the Portuguese Secretary of State for Emigration, Pedro Coelho (who was in Luxembourg at the time to renegotiate the 1970 recruitment agreement). More than 800 people took part in the event. Two months later, a second meeting, attended by four MFA members, attracted the same number of people.
- At the end of March 1975, one month before the elections to the Constituent Assembly, the President of the Luxembourg Socialist Labour Party (LSAP), Lydie Schmit, asked Mário Soares for information on the political situation in Portugal. She told him about the rumours circulating among the Portuguese in Luxembourg about an imminent takeover by the Communists and the threat of civil war.
- Electoral event at the Casino Syndical in Bonnevoie on 16 and 17 April 1975, one week before the elections to the Constituent Assembly, organised by the only opposition party that was temporarily allowed during the dictatorship in Portugal, the Movimento Democrático Português - Comissão Democrática Eleitoral (MDP/CDE) (Portuguese Democratic Movement - Democratic Electoral Commission). In 1974, it was ideologically close to the Communist Party.
Portugal after 1976
Portugal has been a democratic country with regular elections since 1976. The country's foreign policy focussed on joining the European Economic Community (EEC, now the European Union).
From 1983, the government of the socialist Mário Soares and subsequently that of the right-wing Aníbal Cavaco Silva reversed some of the company nationalisations carried out during the revolution.
In February 1986, Mário Soares was elected President of the Republic, making him Portugal's first civilian head of state in over 60 years.
Portugal and the EEC
Portugal became a member of the EEC in 1986, as did Spain, which had also undergone a process of democratisation following the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. From then on, Portugal also benefited from EU funds, which enabled it to modernise its infrastructure.
However, the Portuguese democratisation process took place in the midst of economic ups and downs. The economic crisis of 2008 hit the country particularly hard. This explains, among other things, why the tendency of Portuguese people to emigrate has not abated until recently.
Relations between Luxembourg and Portugal since 1976
Luxembourg continued to welcome numerous Portuguese nationals after 1974.
But Portugal has not forgotten its emigrants. Therefore, deputies representing Portuguese nationals living abroad were elected to parliament. In 1980, the Council of Portuguese Communities was founded, a consultative body that brings together representatives of Portuguese living abroad. The Portuguese in Luxembourg are entitled to one representative in the Council. The introduction of the free movement of persons and services within the framework of the EU internal market in 1993 considerably facilitated human relations between the two countries.
Many immigrants intended to return to Portugal after a few years, but often settled permanently with their families in the Grand Duchy. Many of them even took Luxembourgish citizenship. Most of their children chose to stay in Luxembourg.
A strong presence in Luxembourg
While the wave of immigration from the 1960s to the 1980s essentially brought unskilled labour to Luxembourg, the Portuguese, or Portuguese descendants in Luxembourg, are now present throughout the country's society and economy, despite the difficulties they experienced in the school system. In order to draw a portrait of the current "Portuguese community", a wide variety of backgrounds and profiles would have to be taken into account.
The state visits of Grand Duke Jean to Portugal in 1984 and President Soares to Luxembourg in 1988 further cemented the particularly close relations between the two countries.
The Carnation Revolution in Africa
As a result of the revolution, the last Portuguese colonies were granted independence (1974: Guinea-Bissau, 1975: Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor). The colonial wars thus came to an end. Around half a million Portuguese citizens who had lived in these colonies returned to Portugal.
Some of the inhabitants of the countries that became independent had the option of retaining their Portuguese citizenship. Many Cape Verdeans, for example, made use of this option in order to continue to benefit from the provisions of the recruitment agreement between Portugal and Luxembourg.
The diverse origins of Luxembourg's Portuguese-speaking population
For some years now, a large number of people from Portuguese-speaking African countries have been coming to Luxembourg. They often enter via Portugal, where they obtain Portuguese citizenship and can therefore travel more freely within the EU.
This has contributed to the enormous diversity of today's Portuguese-speaking community in Luxembourg. Currently, this spectrum is further expanded by the numerous people who immigrate from Brazil.
Illustrations
- On 12 June 1985, Portugal's accession to the European Economic Community (now the European Union) was celebrated in the Hieronymites Monastery in Belém in the presence of the heads of government of all EEC member states. Prime Minister Mário Soares signed the accession treaty for Portugal.
- The global economic crisis of 2008 hit the heavily indebted Portugal hard.
Several austerity plans were adopted between 2009 and 2012, causing political unrest in the country. By 2012, the unemployment rate had risen to 15%. The movement Geração à rasca (which means generation in trouble) was founded to protest against the austerity measures. On 12 March 2011, more than 200,000 people demonstrated in Lisbon. Although the Portuguese economy recovered from the crisis in the following years, many young Portuguese emigrated during this time. - Ten years after the Carnation Revolution, Grand Duke Jean and Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte paid a state visit to Portugal from 10 to 12 October 1984. It was the first official visit by a Luxembourg head of state to Portugal. The photo shows the Grand Duke and the President of the Portuguese Republic, General António Ramalho Eanes, attending the military parade in front of the Hieronymites Monastery in Belém. Eanes, a former member of the MFA, was the first Portuguese president to be democratically elected in the 1976 general election. He was re-elected in 1981 and was the last member of the military to hold this office.
At the official banquet, without explicitly mentioning the Carnation Revolution, Grand Duke Jean referred to Eanes' personal role in the democratisation process: "Ten years ago, the Portuguese people clearly opted for democratic and pluralistic political structures. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the unshakeable democratic convictions that you, Mr President, demonstrated during the difficult years of this transition, which allowed your country to join the family of Western democracies". - From 15 to 18 May 1988, the President of the Portuguese Republic, Mário Soares, travelled to Luxembourg on a state visit. The former political opponent of Salazar and Caetano, who had been imprisoned several times before becoming a key player in Portugal's democratisation process, was Prime Minister from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985. He was elected President of the Republic of Portugal in 1986 and re-elected in 1991.
On 17 May 1988, President Soares met with the Portuguese community in the Victor Hugo Hall in the Limpertsberg district. - Since 1968, on Ascension Thursday, part of Luxembourg's Portuguese community gathers in Wiltz to commemorate Our Lady of Fatima. In the past, sometimes more than 20,000 people, including many Portuguese, took part in the procession with a replica of the Fatima statue and in the open-air mass. For many Portuguese people in Luxembourg, this day is also an occasion for festivities.
- The independence of Portugal's former African colonies was the most important geopolitical consequence of the Carnation Revolution. However, it did not mean the end of war everywhere. In Angola, a civil war broke out immediately after having attained independence between the ruling Marxist MPLA and UNITA, which was mainly supported by South Africa. This war did not end until 2002. The photo shows young children during military training in 1976.
- From the 1960s onwards, people from the Cape Verde Islands came to live in the Grand Duchy. This was the first major community of people of colour in Luxembourg. Many of the first arrivals settled in the Ettelbruck region, where the first Cape Verdean association in Luxembourg was founded in the 1970s. Their arrival can be linked to immigration from Portugal, although, in the 1970s, Luxembourg tried to limit immigration under the recruitment agreement to white people. Over the last 15 years, people from Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Angola have also been coming to Luxembourg, many of whom holding Portuguese nationality.
- The fact that many people from Cape Verde live in Luxembourg explains why official relations were gradually established between the two countries. Since 1987, Luxembourg has been present in the country as a co-operation partner. A first co-operation agreement was signed in 1993, two years after the introduction of a multi-party system in Cape Verde and the end of the communist one-party regime. In 2007, Luxembourg opened an embassy in the capital Praia. In 2015, Grand Duke Henri paid a state visit to Cape Verde, emphasising the close ties that now unite the two countries. The President of Cape Verde made a return visit to Luxembourg in 2023.