The Estado Novo was the corporatist Portuguese state installed in 1933. It evolved from the Ditadura Nacional formed after the coup d'état of 28 May 1926 against the unstable First Republic. Together, the Ditadura Nacional and the Estado Novo are recognised by historians as the Second Portuguese Republic. The Estado Novo, greatly inspired by conservative and autocratic ideologies, was developed by António de Oliveira Salazar, who was President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 until illness forced him out of office in 1968.
The Estado Novo (European Portuguese pronunciation: [(ɨ)ʃˈtaðu ˈnovu], lit. 'New State') was the corporatist Portuguese state installed in 1933. It evolved from the Ditadura Nacional ("National Dictatorship") formed after the coup d'état of 28 May 1926 against the unstable First Republic. Together, the Ditadura Nacional and the Estado Novo are recognised by historians as the Second Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: Segunda República Portuguesa). The Estado Novo, greatly inspired by conservative and autocratic ideologies, was developed by António de Oliveira Salazar, who was President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 until illness forced him out of office in 1968.
Opposed to communism, socialism, syndicalism, anarchism, liberalism and anti-colonialism, the regime was conservative, corporatist, and nationalist in nature. Its policy envisaged the perpetuation of Portugal as a pluricontinental nation under the doctrine of lusotropicalism, with Angola, Mozambique, and other Portuguese territories as extensions of Portugal itself. Under the Estado Novo, Portugal tried to perpetuate a vast, centuries-old empire with a total area of 2,168,071 square kilometres (837,097 mi2), while other former colonial powers had, by this time, largely acceded to global calls for self-determination and independence of their overseas colonies.
The years between the conclusion of World War II and 1973 represented the bloodiest period for Portugal in the twentieth century as a consequence of the Portuguese Colonial War, with more than 100,000 civilian deaths and more than 10,000 soldier deaths in a war that lasted 13 years.
Under the Estado Novo, Portugal pursued economic policies aligned with those of the Western Bloc. The first steps toward economic integration began in 1948 when Portugal joined the Marshall Plan, and subsequently became a founding member of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC). In 1960, Portugal joined the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which allowed the country to integrate its industries with European markets while protecting its agriculture and fisheries, where it could not compete with Northern European nations. Portugal also expanded its economic ties globally by joining the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1962. Under Marcelo Caetano, who replaced an ageing Salazar as prime minister in 1968, the country continued to liberalise its economy and advance European integration. This effort culminated in the signing of a free trade agreement with the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1972. When Portugal, under the Third Portuguese Republic, finally joined the EEC in 1986, most trade barriers with the rest of Western Europe had already been dismantled by the Estado Novo, with the exception of those relating to agricultural goods and fisheries and, more importantly, trade with Spain.
On the political front, Portugal was a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, and joined the United Nations (UN) in 1955. From 1950 until 1970, Portugal saw its GDP per capita increase at an annual average rate of 5.7 per cent, leading to significant economic convergence with wealthier Western European nations. Despite this economic growth, by the fall of the Estado Novo in 1974, Portugal still had the lowest per capita income and the lowest literacy rate in Western Europe. However, this economic convergence slowed or even reversed after the end of the Estado Novo, as political and economic instability in the post-1974 period hampered further progress. On 25 April 1974, the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon, a military coup organised by left-wing Portuguese military officers of the Armed Forces Movement (MFA)—led to the end of the Estado Novo.
Prelude
King Carlos I of Portugal confirmed colonial treaties of the 19th century that stabilised the situation in Portuguese Africa. These agreements were, however, unpopular in Portugal, where they were seen as being to the disadvantage of the country. In addition, Portugal was declared bankrupt twice – first on 14 June 1892 and again on 10 May 1902 – causing industrial disturbances, socialist and republican antagonism, and press criticism of the monarchy. Carlos responded by appointing João Franco as prime minister and subsequently accepting parliament's dissolution. In 1908, Carlos I was assassinated in Lisbon by anti-monarchists. The Portuguese monarchy lasted until 1910 when, through the 5 October revolution, it was overthrown and Portugal was proclaimed a republic. The overthrow of the Portuguese monarchy in 1910 led to a 16-year struggle to sustain parliamentary democracy under republicanism – the Portuguese First Republic (1910–1926).
The 28 May 1926 coup d'état or, during the period of Estado Novo, the National Revolution (Portuguese: Revolução Nacional), was a military action that put an end to the chaotic Portuguese First Republic and initiated the Ditadura Militar (Military Dictatorship) which in 1928 transitioned into the Ditadura Nacional (National Dictatorship). Salazar became prime minister in 1932, and in 1933 renamed it the Estado Novo (New State), defining Portugal as a corporative, single-party and multi-continental country.
With fascist organisations being popular and widely supported across many countries (like Italian Fascism and National Socialism) as an antagonist of communist ideologies, António de Oliveira Salazar developed the Estado Novo as an alternative: a conservative authoritarian regime that was neither fascist nor totalitarian. Salazar's regime can be described as a syncretic and corporatist government; Portuguese historian Ernesto C. Leal described the ideology of Salazar and his state as a combination of anti-liberalism, conservatism and authoritarian nationalism that featured social corporatism and Catholic corporatism. The basis of Salazar's regime was a platform of stability, in direct contrast to the unstable environment of the First Republic.
According to some Portuguese scholars like Jaime Nogueira Pinto and Rui Ramos, his early reforms and policies changed the whole nation by permitting political and financial stability and therefore a calm social order and economic growth, after the politically unstable and financially chaotic years of the Portuguese First Republic (1910–1926). Following the First Republic, when not even public order had been achieved, this looked like an impressive breakthrough to most of the population; at this point, Salazar achieved the height of his popularity. This transformation of Portugal was then known as A Lição de Salazar – "Salazar's Lesson". Salazar's program was opposed to communism, socialism, and liberalism. It was pro-Catholic, conservative, and nationalistic. Its policy envisaged the perpetuation of Portugal as a pluricontinental empire, financially autonomous and politically independent from the dominating superpowers, and a source of civilisation and stability to the overseas societies in the African and Asian possessions.
To support his colonial policies, Salazar eventually adopted Brazilian historian Gilberto Freyre's notion of lusotropicalism by asserting that, since Portugal had been a multicultural, multiracial, and pluricontinental nation since the 15th century, losing its overseas territories in Africa and Asia would dismember the country and end Portuguese independence. In geopolitical terms, losing these territories would decrease the Portuguese state's self-sufficiency.
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Salazar had strongly resisted Freyre's ideas, partly because Freyre claimed the Portuguese were more prone than other European nations to miscegenation. Salazar adopted lusotropicalism only after sponsoring Freyre on a visit to Portugal and some of its overseas territories in 1951 and 1952. Freyre's work, Aventura e Rotina (Adventure and Routine) resulted from this visit.
Under the Estado Novo regime, Portugal's most notable sports star, Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, and the most decorated military officer of the Portuguese Armed Forces, Marcelino da Mata, were both black Portuguese citizens born and raised in Portugal's African territories.
Regime
The Estado Novo based its political philosophy around a close interpretation of the Catholic social doctrine, much like the regime of Engelbert Dollfuss in Austria founded around the same time. 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.
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, 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.