Published on April 25, 2024, by Il Grido del Popolo©️
The Armed Forces Movement, comprised of junior officers linked to the Portuguese Communist Party and opposed to the colonial wars in Africa, launched a coup on Apr. 25, 1974, overthrowing the Estado Novo dictatorship and initiating the Carnation Revolution.
The collapse of the regime was then followed by a working class uprising which lasted over 18 months. Urban workers took over their workplaces and rural workers took over land and farmed it collectively.
The key factor in the unpopularity of the regime was the long-running colonial war against independence movements in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Principe which had been raging since anti-colonial uprisings in the early 1960s. After the revolution these former colonies all soon achieved independence.
