The
Estado Novo based its political philosophy around a close interpretation of the
Catholic social doctrine, much like the contemporary regime of
Engelbert Dollfuss in Austria. The economic system, known as
corporatism, was based on similar interpretations of the papal encyclicals
Rerum novarum (
Leo XIII, 1891) and
Quadragesimo anno (
Pius XI, 1931), which were meant to prevent class struggle and transform economic concerns secondary to social values.
Rerum novarum argued that labour associations were part of the natural order, like the family. The right of men to organise into trade unions and to engage in labour activities was thus inherent and could not be denied by employers or the state.
Quadragesimo anno provided the
blueprint for the erection of the corporatist system. A new constitution was drafted by a group of lawyers, businessmen, clerics, and university professors, with Salazar as the leading spirit and
Marcelo Caetano also playing a major role. The constitution created the
Estado Novo ('New State'), in theory a corporatist state representing interest groups rather than individuals. The leaders wanted a system in which the people would be represented through corporations, rather than through divisive parties, and where national interest was given priority over sectional claims. Salazar thought that the party system had failed irretrievably in Portugal. , aged 50, in 1939 Unlike
Mussolini or
Hitler, Salazar never had the intention to create a party-state. Salazar was against the whole-party concept, he rejected the concept of a mass-mobilizing party that sought to control all aspects of life, as seen in fascist regimes and in 1930 he created the
National Union, a single-party, but he created it as a non-ideological, non-party, a passive institution, serving more as a facade of political order rather than a power-holding organisation in its own right. The National Union was set up to control and restrain public opinion rather than to mobilise it; the goal was to strengthen and preserve traditional values rather than to induce a new social order. Ministers, diplomats, and civil servants were never compelled to join the National Union. According to Howard Wiarda, "The men who came to power in the
Estado Novo were genuinely concerned with the poverty and backwardness of their nation, divorcing themselves from Anglo-American political influences while developing a new indigenous political model and alleviating the miserable living conditions of both rural and urban poor." The new constitution introduced by Salazar established an anti-parliamentarian and authoritarian government that would last until 1974. Executive authority was vested in a president elected by popular vote for a period of seven years, with no term limits. The president was assisted by a prime minister and cabinet. On paper, the new document vested sweeping powers in the hands of the president, including the power to appoint and dismiss the prime minister. On paper, the president was a virtual dictator. The president was elevated to a position of preeminence as the "balance wheel", the defender and ultimate arbiter of national politics. President Carmona, however, had allowed Salazar more or less a free hand since appointing him prime minister and continued to do so. Carmona and his successors would largely be figureheads for Salazar, to the point that the president's nominal prerogative to dismiss Salazar was the only check on his power. The legislature, called the National Assembly, was restricted to members of the
National Union. It could initiate legislation, but only concerning matters that did not require government expenditures. The parallel
Corporative Chamber included representatives of municipalities, religious, cultural, and professional groups, and of the official workers' syndicates that replaced free trade unions. The corporatist constitution was approved in the national
Portuguese constitutional referendum of 19 March 1933. A draft had been published one year before, and the public was invited to state any objections in the press. These tended to stay in the realm of generalities and only a handful of people, less than 6,000, voted against the new constitution. The new constitution was approved with 99.5% of the vote, but with 488,840 abstentions (in a registered electorate of 1,330,258) counting as "yes". Hugh Kay points out that the large number of abstentions might be attributable to the fact that voters were presented with a package deal to which they had to say "yes" or "no" with no opportunity to accept one clause and reject another. In this referendum, women were allowed to vote for the first time in Portugal. Their right to vote had not been obtained during the First Republic, despite feminist efforts, and even in the referendum vote, secondary education was a requirement for female voters, whereas males only needed to be able to read and write. The right for women to vote was later broadened twice under the Estado Novo. The first time was in 1946 and the second time in 1968 under Marcelo Caetano, law 2137 proclaimed the equality of men and women for electoral purposes. The 1968 electoral law did not make any distinction between men and women. The year 1933 marked a watershed of legislation in Portuguese history. Under Salazar's supervision,
Teotónio Pereira, the Sub-Secretary of State of Corporations and Social Welfare, reporting directly to Salazar, enacted extensive legislation that shaped the corporatist structure and initiated a comprehensive social welfare system. This system was equally anti-capitalist and anti-socialist. The corporatisation of the working class was accompanied by strict legislation regulating business. Workers' organisations were subordinated to state control but granted a legitimacy that they had never before enjoyed and were made beneficiaries of a variety of new social programs. Nevertheless, it is important to note that even in the enthusiastic early years, corporatist agencies were not at the center of power and therefore corporatism was not the true base of the whole system. In 1934, Salazar suppressed the
National Syndicalist Movement, also known as the
camisas azuis ("Blue Shirts") and exiled their leader
Francisco Rolão Preto. Salazar denounced the National Syndicalists as "inspired by certain foreign models" and condemned their "exaltation of youth, the cult of force through direct action, the principle of the superiority of state political power in social life, and the propensity for organizing masses behind a single leader". Despite this, Salazar gave National Syndicalists the opportunity to join the National Union or its youth movement. Salazar's own party, the
National Union, was formed as a subservient umbrella organisation to support the regime itself, and therefore did not have its own philosophy. At the time, many European countries feared the advance of communist ideology. Many members of the National Syndicalist Movement eventually joined the National Union. One overriding criticism of his regime is that stability was bought and maintained at the expense of suppression of human rights and liberties. According to Marcello Caetano, the Estado Novo's corporatism also took inspiration from Italian fascism. In 1935, the regime established the National Foundation for Joy in Labor (FNAT), which took inspiration from the
Kraft durch Freude in Germany and the
Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro in Italy. Salazar admired Mussolini and was influenced by his
Labour Charter of 1927, but also claimed that fascist dictatorship was a pagan
Caesarist political system that recognised neither legal nor moral limits.'' (Portuguese Youth) members working in the
Monsanto Forest Park, Lisbon, circa 1938 Salazar also viewed German Nazism as espousing pagan elements that he considered repugnant. Just before World War II, Salazar made this declaration: "We are opposed to all forms of Internationalism, Communism, Socialism, Syndicalism and everything that may divide or minimize, or break up the family. We are against class warfare, irreligion and disloyalty to one's country; against serfdom, a materialistic conception of life, and might over right." however the Estado Novo adopted many fascist characteristics with the
Legião Portuguesa,
Mocidade Portuguesa, and
Corporatism being the most prominent examples; after the end of World War II, Salazar distanced his regime from fascism.
World War II in 1940 Portugal was officially neutral in the
Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), but quietly furnished help to the nationalists of
Francisco Franco. During World War II, 1939–1945, Portugal remained neutral, giving its highest priority to avoiding a Nazi invasion of the sort that was so devastating in most other European countries. The regime at first showed some pro-
Axis sympathies; Salazar for example expressed approval for the
German invasion of the Soviet Union. From 1943, Portugal favoured the Allies, leasing air bases in the
Azores. Portugal reluctantly leased the Azores as a result of being threatened with invasion should Portugal not cater to the requests of the Allies. As an official neutral, Portugal traded with both sides. It cut off vital shipments of
tungsten and rubber to Germany in 1944, after pressure from the Allies. Lisbon was the base for International Red Cross operations aiding Allied POWs and was the main air transit point between Britain and the US. In 1942, Australian forces briefly occupied
Portuguese Timor but were soon overwhelmed by the Japanese. Salazar worked to regain control of East Timor, which came about after the Japanese surrender in 1945. In 1945, Portugal declared three days of national mourning for
death of Adolf Hitler, which drew criticism from internal opponents.
Post-World War II signing the
North Atlantic Treaty with Portuguese ambassador
Teotónio Pereira standing behind After World War II (1939–1945), however, the corporatist economic model was less and less applicable. And after
decolonisation in the 1950s and 1960s, the Portuguese regime became also a source of criticism and dissent by most of the international community. Nevertheless, Salazar clung to it, thereby slowing the nation's long-term economic development. Salazar's postwar policy allowed some liberalisation in politics, in terms of organised opposition with more freedom of the press. Opposition parties were tolerated to an extent, but they were also controlled, limited, and manipulated, with the result that they split into factions and never formed a united opposition. He permitted the formation of
Movement of Democratic Unity (
Movimento de Unidade Democrática) in 1945. It boycotted the
election and Salazar won handily on 18 November 1945. In 1949 Portugal became a
founding member of NATO. President
Óscar Carmona died in 1951 after 25 years in office and was succeeded by
Francisco Craveiro Lopes. However, Lopes was not willing to give Salazar the free hand that Carmona had given him, and was forced to resign just before the end of his term in 1958., a man born in
Portuguese Mozambique who graduated as a footballer and played for
Sporting Clube de Lourenço Marques at both youth level and the main squad between the ages of 15 and 18, became the most famous Portuguese sports star during the
Estado Novo. Naval Minister
Américo Tomás, a staunch conservative, ran in the
1958 elections as the official candidate. General
Humberto Delgado was the opposition candidate—the only time in both incarnations of the Second Republic that an opposition candidate was still in the race on election day. Delgado was credited with only around 25% of the votes with 52.6% in favour of Tomás. The election had initially been seen as little better than a pantomime of democracy before a reporter asked Delgado whether he would retain Salazar if elected. Delgado famously replied, "
Obviamente, demito-o!" ("Obviously, I'll sack him!") He was well aware that the president's ability to dismiss the prime minister was, on paper, the only check on Salazar's power. Delgado's rallies subsequently attracted vast crowds. Evidence later surfaced that the PIDE had stuffed the ballot boxes with votes for Tomás, leading many neutral observers to conclude that Delgado would have won had Salazar allowed an honest election. marching in Luanda, at the time the capital city of the Portuguese
Overseas Province of Angola, during the
Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974) After the elections, Delgado was expelled from the Portuguese military and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy before going into exile, spending much of it in Brazil and later in Algeria. Even though the electoral system was so heavily rigged in favour of the National Union that Tomás could not have possibly been defeated, Salazar was not willing to leave anything to chance. He abolished the direct election of presidents in favour of indirect election by the National Assembly—which was firmly controlled by the regime—serving as an
electoral college. On 23 January 1961, military officer and politician
Henrique Galvão led the
hijacking of the Portuguese passenger ship Santa Maria. The terrorist operation was successful as anti-regime propaganda but killed one man in the process. Galvão claimed that his intentions were to sail to the
Overseas Province of Angola to set up a renegade Portuguese government in opposition to Salazar in
Luanda. Galvão released the passengers in negotiation with Brazilian officials in exchange for
political asylum in Brazil. Later that year hijackers forced an aircraft to circle
Lisbon to drop leaflets against the dictatorship. After that, the six hijackers forced the crew to fly them back to Morocco. , 1969. He became the most decorated Portuguese military officer in the history of the
Portuguese Army. In 1962, the
Academic Crisis occurred. The regime, fearing the growing popularity of both purely democratic and communist ideas among the students, carried out the boycott and closure of several student associations and organisations, including the important National Secretariat of Portuguese Students. Most members of this organisation were opposition militants, among them many communists. Anti-regime political activists were investigated and persecuted by
PIDE-DGS (the secret police), and according to the gravity of the offence, were usually sent to jail or transferred from one university to another in order to destabilise oppositionist networks and their hierarchical organisation. The students, with strong support from the clandestine
Portuguese Communist Party, responded with demonstrations which culminated on 24 March with a huge student demonstration in Lisbon, which was vigorously suppressed by the riot police.
Marcelo Caetano, a distinguished member of the regime and the incumbent
rector of the
University of Lisbon, resigned. The reluctance of many young men to embrace the hardships of the
Portuguese Colonial War resulted in tens of thousands of Portuguese citizens each year leaving to seek economic opportunities abroad in order to escape conscription. In over 15 years, nearly one million emigrated to France, another million to the United States, many hundreds of thousands to Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Venezuela, or Brazil. Political parties, such as the
Socialist Party, persecuted at home, were established in exile. The only party which managed to continue (illegally) operating in Portugal during all the dictatorship was the Portuguese Communist Party. In 1964, Delgado founded the
Portuguese National Liberation Front in
Rome, stating in public that the only way to end the
Estado Novo would be by a
military coup, while many others advocated a "national uprising" approach. Delgado and his Brazilian secretary, Arajaryr Moreira de Campos, were murdered on 13 February 1965 in Spain in an ambush by PIDE. According to some Portuguese right-wing scholars like
Jaime Nogueira Pinto and
Rui Ramos, Salazar's early reforms and policies allowed political and financial stability and therefore social order and economic growth, after the politically unstable and financially chaotic years of the
Portuguese First Republic (1910–1926). became the leader of the country and its
Estado Novo regime Salazar suffered a stroke in 1968. As it was thought that he did not have long to live, Tomás replaced him with Marcelo Caetano, former rector of the University of Lisbon and prominent scholar of its law school, and despite his protest resignation in 1962, a supporter of the regime. Salazar was never informed of this decision, and reportedly died in 1970 still believing he was prime minister. Most of the people hoped Caetano would soften the edges of Salazar's authoritarian regime and modernise the already growing economy. Caetano moved on to foster economic growth and made important social improvements, such as the awarding of a monthly pension to rural workers who had never had the chance to pay
social security. Some large-scale investments were made at the national level, such as the building of a major oil processing center in
Sines. The economy reacted very well at first, but into the 1970s some serious problems began to show, due in part to two-digit inflation (from 1970 and on) and to the effects of the
1973 oil crisis. However, the 1973 oil crisis had a potentially beneficial effect on Portugal because the largely unexploited oil reserves that Portugal had in its overseas territories of
Angola and
São Tomé and Príncipe were being developed at a fast pace. Although Caetano was fundamentally authoritarian, he did make some efforts to open up the regime. Soon after taking power, he rebranded the regime as the "Social State", and slightly increased freedom of speech and the press. These measures did not go nearly far enough for a significant element of the population. The people were also disappointed that Caetano was unwilling to open up the electoral system. The conduct of the
1969 and
1973 elections was little different from past elections over the previous four decades. The National Union—renamed People's National Action—swept every seat, as before. Also as before, the opposition was still barely tolerated; opposition candidates were subjected to harsh repression. However, Caetano had to expend all of his political capital to wring even these meagre reforms out of the hardliners in the regime—most notably Tomás, who was not nearly as willing to give Caetano the free rein that he gave Salazar. Caetano was thus in no position to resist when Tomás and the other hardliners forced the end of the reform experiment in 1973. ==Economy==