After The Carnation Revolution

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After the revolution actually happens there is a period called the honeymoon period where the fall of the old regime allows new things to happen. Before the revolution occurred, there were many instances where decolonization was apparent. In African territories, guerrillas movements were rising and that weakened the Portuguese empire. When the Carnation Revolution ended, the MFA created the National Salvation Junta whose prime purpose was to suppress wars and to help the colonies from withdrawing. After these occurrences, African territories such Angola and Mozambique experienced mass decolonization. The Portuguese colonies refugees were called retornados. India had also invaded Goa, which was one of Portugal's territories and that led to …show more content…

Management tried to calm down workers but that just made it worse. People started protested about their economic problems and expressed their demands. They made claims that their wages were too low and they demanded more higher wages. In Portugal 1974-75: The Forgotten Dream, Robinson states that at that time, “...there were some 7 or 8000 people there. Everything was completely confused. Somebody shouted should we ask for a rise of 3000 escudos. From across the hall the answer was no. 4000. Then no. 5000 escudos” (Robinson 2). These were the demands of the workers and it shows how radical they were. These types of protests happened in the newer companies in Lisbon, like electronic and shipyards. In fact there were some revolutionaries who believed in Marxism-Leninism and protested against anti working class …show more content…

Other revolutions like the French revolution defend the template with the all phases but the Portuguese revolution seems to only hold up for three of the phases: unstable equilibrium, the honeymoon period, and post revolutionary struggles. Radical terror and takeover and reconsolidated revolution seems to not have a place in the revolution. Goldstone’s template also needs revolutionary leadership to drive the revolution and to give people a vision of the future but this revolution did not have any. Goldstone states that revolutions needs visionary leaders and organizational leaders. He then lists people like Thomas Jefferson, Robespierre and Napoleon. These visionary leaders and organizational leaders are actually specific people. The Portuguese Revolution did not have any revolutionary leaders but one can think of the MFA as one even though it was a group. Goldstone states that visionary leaders are those “ who articulate the faults of society and make a powerful case for a social change” and they also “ create a portrait of the injustices of the old regime that is capable of motivating and uniting diverse groups to support the revolution.”(Goldstone 34). Organizational leaders “figure out how to realize the idea of visionary leaders, to make sure that the enemies can defeat its enemies and meet its political and economic goals” (Goldstone 34). The MFA embodies these characteristics as

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