Portugal Coup Attempt: The Crisis After the Carnation Revolution

On this day in working class history, the 11th of March.

On the 11th of March 1975, there was an attempted far-right coup in Portugal, known as the March

11th in Tentana.

This happened in the context of the Revolutionary Period in Portugal, which began with the

fall of the right-wing dictatorship on the 25th of April 1974.

After the resignation of President Antonio Spinola in September 1974, a left-wing government

took power, headed by Prime Minister and Communist Party sympathiser Vasco González.

Seeking to reverse the growing radicalization of the Revolution, Spinola led an attempted

military coup, which failed due to the massive popular support of the MFA, the movement

of the armed forces, the movement of soldiers and junior officers which overthrew the dictatorship.

In this forced Spinola to flee to Francisco Franco's dictatorship in Spain.

In the cars of Spinola's officers, massive amounts of money and checks were found, signed

by Espirito Santo.

And Antonio Champalimord, the richest man in Portugal at the time, with a fortune of

around €9 billion in 2020 equivalent money.

That was half of the Portuguese GDP that year.

This counter-revolutionary threat financed by the Portuguese capitalist class and supported

by the Spanish and Brazilian military dictatorships further spurred the Revolution.

Workplace and land takeovers accelerated under the slogan, quote, land to those who work

on it, end quote, and compelled Vasco González in cooperation with unions and the workers

to order the nationalization of almost 70% of the Portuguese economy, including the financial

empires of the Espirito Santo and Champalimord families, who fled to Brazil where they also

possessed vast wealth.

During the attempted coup, one soldier died and 15 people injured during the bombing of

a military garrison near Lisbon Airport.

Learn more about the Portuguese Revolution in episode 41 to 42 of the Working Class History

podcast.

Link in the show notes.

For sources, maps, and all about anniversaries each day, check out the on-this-day section

of our stories at, at StoriesToWorkingClassHistory.com.

And if you value our work, support us at patreon.com slash work and class history.

Link in the show notes.

The music by Ricardo Arreo.

See you tomorrow.

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