40th Anniversary of the April Revolution in Portugal

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 25th April 2014, Nicosia

 

AKEL salutes the 40th anniversary of the Red Carnation Revolution that took place in Portugal on 25th April 1974. All democratic people can admire the achievements of the April Revolution which continues to inspire our current and future struggles for social justice and democracy.

The history of a people who rose up taking its fate into its own was not an accidental event but rather the historical development of on-going struggles with ideological – political background. The April Revolution was preceded by the Salazar fascist dictatorship that lasted over five decades in which where every progressive and democratic voice and force was persecuted.

The leading and driving force in the anti-dictatorship struggle was the Portuguese Communists who were preparing by all means politically and ideological the popular classes to assert the values ​​expressed through the April Revolution. The heroic figure of the resistance was the historic General Secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party Alvaro Cunhal who with many was a political prisoner for many years during dictatorship and led the struggle to deepen democracy in the post – dictatorial era of the country.

The April Revolution marked the end of the dictatorship of Salazar and Portuguese colonialism and promoted a series of popular and democratic achievements and gains of the Portuguese people. The Constitution of Portugal adopted a series of democratic values, making it one of the most advanced Constitutions in the direction of ensuring popular and workers gains.

The capitalist development of the country and its accession to the European Union was incompatible with the principles of the Constitution. Portugal’s unbalanced development within the EU and the recent capitalist crisis had led Portugal to financial deadlock since 2008 and subsequently led it to the Troika’s mechanism. The implementation of severe and tough neoliberal austerity policies in recent years has undermined and destroyed many of the progressive principles of the Constitution of the country. The current struggles of the working class of Portugal makes the values of the April Revolution once again timely, aiming at a different course for the Portuguese people.

AKEL conveys a message of solidarity to the Portuguese Communist Party and the people of the country; a message of struggle and resistance; a message of dignity for the peoples of Europe.