Portugal

The issues in Portugal, 1975

Documents from the discussions of Workers' Fight and the International-Communist League with the Portuguese revolutionary left, 1975-6. Discussions with the Portuguese Workers' Coordinating Committee, mid 1975 (the pages of this pdf are in the wrong order, sorry, and the edges of some text are cut off, but the gist should be legible) Discussions with left groups in Portugal during 1975 Discussions with left groups in Portugal during 1976 Background: calendar of events Summary article by Dave Stocking ("Mike Evans"), International Communist magazine, 1976.

The Portuguese Revolution of 1974-5: “The left had no strategy and the right did”

Miguel Perez, a Lisbon-based socialist activist and historian who delivered a talk on the Portuguese Revolution of 1974-5, spoke to Solidarity about his view of events. Why was there so much left-wing ferment in the Portuguese officer corps in the 1970s? Why did Portugal’s colonial war have such a big effect on the officer corps, the army and society? The colonial wars in Africa exhausted the state. People found themselves pushed into a war they didn’t want. The officers knew, by looking at the experience that French colonialism had been through in Algeria, that the war could not be won. So...

Portuguese government plans new cuts

On 5 April the Portuguese constitutional court ruled that some of the sweeping new government cuts (to holiday bonuses for civil servants and pensioners, unemployment and sickness benefits) were unlawful (5 April) were unlawful. But Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho responded by reiterating his right-wing government’s intention to make the cuts. He says cuts are obligatory under the terms of an €78 billion EU/IMF bailout deal. The court held that the tax rises which will take place under the 2013 budget are legal. The government survived a no confidence vote on Wednesday 3 April, tabled by...

General strikes in Spain and Portugal

Spain’s two main union confederations, UGT and CCOO, called a one-day general strike on 29 March over issues similar to those sparking the strike wave in Italy. In a country with 23% unemployment, the new conservative government wants to change the law to make it easier for employers to sack workers. The executives of UGT and CCOO met jointly, for the first time in history, on 9 March, to decide to call the strike. The government’s proposals weaken collective bargaining by giving precedence to company-level agreements; allow employers to unilaterally reduce wages or change working hours and...

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