Portuguese revolution | Armed Forces Movement | Carnation Revolution | This Week | 1975

Since the revolution in April 1974, when the armed forces movement in Portugal overthrew the right- wing dictatorship, the most powerful political force in the country has been the communist party. Communists simply took over the administration of many towns. Their leader Alvaro Cunhal joined the provisional Government and tried to identify the armed forces movement within his own party.
The Prime Minister, General Vasco Goncalves, is widely believed to be a communist sympathiser. The only setback for the communist and their allies was in Portugal’s recent elections made electoral gains. In many towns, especially in the North, people demonstrated against communist control. On Monday in the town of Alcobaça, Portugal , the revolt erupted into violence.
John Fielding reports.
First shown: 24/07/1975
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Quote: VT11680

[@cindymaceda2999]

Amazing to see this news report 49 years later. Portugal looked like a third world banana republic in 1975. 😅But they had just been freed from a 40-year fascist dictatorship led by Salazar who died in power. As history tells us, the political pendulum will first swing to the opposite extreme before landing on the centre and after the Carnation revolution of 1974, the communist party eventually took power, only to be overthrown by the Portuguese people a year later. 👍As an expat who moved to this wonderful country in 2015, I can testify that the Portuguese are the most peaceful nation I have ever lived in & I have lived in 6 countries.

[@JohnSmith-qq8tx]

This is what all news reports used to be like. Excellent journalism. Sadly gone. Now just sports and Kardashians bs.

[@ohdude6643]

Even as a Portuguese, I wasn't expecting common people to speak English that well.

[@TheSabugosa]

I think the schools were good during Salazar regime.

[@GetGoodSweetie]

Portugal teaches English in school since you’re around 6

[@cindymaceda2999]

The bemoustached man who spoke with the TV correspondent sounded like he had lived in Britain. “The prime minister is a nutcase!” he said, bravely facing the camera. 😅 Quite a common phrase in the UK. 😊

[@Xcalator35]

@@TheSabugosa few people could attend them! That was the problem!

[@Xcalator35]

@@GetGoodSweetie But not back then. There were people who used to live in english speaking countries though. That's probably the most parcimonious explanation...but that's just a wild guess.

[@andrewfenneman8354]

Cannot get enough of these videos!!! Such an amazing time capsule

[@dogmatic_goat]

Thank you so much for uploading these videos, ThamesTV. I feel like I’m traveling back in time to experience history with the videos from this channel.

[@janeporter818]

Same here

[@cindymaceda2999]

I moved to Portugal 8 years ago, have never been happier. Can hardly believe this happened here in the mid-70s. The Portuguese are such kind, lovely, peaceful people! They were fighting against extremism and won their democracy without a civil war.

[@TheBestDog]

08:36 *OMG* That’s me! The kid in the yellow shirt

[@cindymaceda2999]

You witnessed history in the making ! I hope you have had a good life since these events that brought your country back to democracy.

[@Xcalator35]

Que espetáculo! Eu sou um bocadinho mais novo, tinha 4 anos na altura e por isso não tenho grandes memórias. Lembras-te destes incidentes e da equipa de televisão inglesa? Um abraço.

[@MrYuzuro]

This isn't in our history books or shows up in portuguese TV. This is just an amazing documentary.

[@tnightwolf]

It was in my History books for sure... maybe it's different nowadays or you just didn't pay attention to it.

[@MrYuzuro]

@@tnightwolf In general, the revolution yes. But not the communist partys/Antifas who wanted to create the caos by force. if you watch the whole documentary.

[@tnightwolf]

@@MrYuzuro I definitely learned about it. FP 25, Hot Summer... Not in such a detail as the revolution itself, but when i was in school, i definitely learned about it. I mean... i still have the books...

[@nunopereira265]

Na verdade está sim pelo menos nos livros de história A mas está parte é muito ignorada pelo menos até chegares ao secundário e se tiveres historia

[@hugoc1861]

Eu não estudei nada disto, nada de Precs, nada de Nacionalizações, nada De ditaduras comunistas, aliás, a mim me mentiram, a dizer que o 25 Abril era único no mundo, que tinha sido a melhor coisa que podia ter acontecido a Portugal, que nem sequer tinha tido mortes ou atribulação.

[@jonathangammond3019]

A fascinating report from 1975. You get a real sense of what is happening rather than today's talking heads speculating about what might happen next.

[@babak2011]

What a journalist, this is the "news reporter" we need

[@mattharvey4770]

He's an anti-communist propagandist but facts get past his strenuous narration by dint of so many images, indeed if one turned the sound off and just watched what's unfolding one would get a very different picture of whats going on here.

[@hugoc1861]

@@mattharvey4770 what is his name

[@cindymaceda2999]

@@hugoc1861John Fielding

[@cindymaceda2999]

Hilarious how he had his shirt unbuttoned so low 😂…the fashion at that time, of course. Very macho. 😊But no correspondent dare look so “unruly” in today’s media.

[@helderfernandes6283]

I was 10 years old at the time, but I remember this period as if it had been yesterday. For the Portuguese, this is known as "The hot summer", a period when Portugal was an inch away from falling into civil war, as the communist party planned to hijack the democracy movement and install a Cuba-like regime. Only the determination of the common man from the street, saved the country from dictatorship. The assault on communist party headquarters described in this report in fact happened all over Portugal, and most were destroyed by the people in the same way in every city and small town. Today it sounds like a miracle that Portugal became such a stable country as it is faced with the turbulence of that period.

[@MrBenzcdi]

Thanks for the context Sr Fernandes 👍

[@kleitonmatias8942]

Parabéns aos irmãos portugueses!! Isso é o que precisamos fazer hoje no Brasil!!!!

[@puraLusa]

There is something weird in Portugal history. It has so many moments of almost civil war.

[@HolahkuTaigiTWFormosanDiplomat]

：０

[@lopazio]

@@puraLusa Yes. But the unity of the people prevented that. It was truly a people revolution

[@ExileTheKnightsOfMaltaNow]

Much love and gratitude let's not wait for April to talk about this now

[@giselasilva5415]

I knew after the carnation revolution we were about to fall under a comunist regime but our good old habits wouldn't allow it. What i didn't knew was there was so much violence against them!! Thank you Thames tv for showing me this. I think here, as in most countries, we choose to remember only the good things we've done in the past in the hope the bad ones will be forgotten

[@SpiritGirlSF]

Sending BIG LOVE 💖and HUGS to every person on our beautiful Mother Earth. Let's all connect our hearts to the Mother and let LOVE flow all around us to overcome this terrible thing that has come upon Humanity in the 2020s, this thing that wants us all gone. I LOVE YOU ALL My Brothers and Sisters. Only LOVE, Truth and KNOWLEDGE WILL save this World and WE can Do it!!! 💖🌎🌍🌏💖

[@totrigo6834]

Ah, the Hot Summer of '75...

[@andynixon2820]

These people really have had enough of extremist politics - both left and right and are fighting for democracy . Another excellent Thames video

[@pedromorais6047]

No man, this people are a bunch of reactionaries that didn't made nothing to overthrow fascism while the «communists» were being persecuted, tortured and killed by the regime. This is the mob that perpetuated the regime for years and years, that went to the church and respected the authority, while a few brave men and women, being from the Communist Party or not, were giving their blood to take from power the people who protected the wealthy and that left most of the population in misery. My father was in the Colonial War because of that same fascist regime. My father was in his region, the Alentejo, fighting against landlords and reactionaries that for years and years drove people to extreme misery. My grandfather went to jail because he criticized the mayor of his village in Alentejo. In the South they knew what exploitation and misery was, this is the reason why people expropriated lands and expelled landlords, and the reason while still today many town halls in the South are still Communist. This only shows the reactionary part, the most extraordinary you can see in many other documentaries that show this I am talking about.

[@franriding6473]

@@pedromorais6047 well said

[@hugoc1861]

@@pedromorais6047 ARA acção Revolucionária acção, activos desde inícios anos 60, treinados na URSS e CUBA. Ataques as instalações das forças armadas, Objectivo estagnar as forças de combate nas ex províncias. O PCP claramente instigava a derrota das forças de combate de seu próprio país. Nao, está enganado concerteza, o partido comunista actuava contra a hierarquia, imagino as acções nos terrenos das ex províncias.

[@Grunho2003]

journalists today wish to educate....by then to inform

[@jassack8498]

geez , you would think that 18 months after the revolution they would give the soldiers hats that wouldn't be so small , that would fit , not sitting on top of their heads like mickey mouse

[@puraLusa]

😂 Thanks for the the best description of my country post revolution turbulence. It was all about the hats in the end! 😂😊😊

[@cindymaceda2999]

😂😂😂This exchange was funny.

[@nunopereira265]

That was a summer that got to hot, in direction to a civil war

[@whyalwaysme2522]

Wow...

[@nobodyanon7893]

❤️🇵🇹❤️🇵🇹❤️Do not confuse our carnation revolution in 1974 i.e. Portuguese nations for the Portuguese nation (and you cannot take credit for that), versus the war from 1975 which is a completely different war ( by different nations for different reasons, and with very different results). Am tired of the propaganda bs

[@airtobs]

Had an uncle who died in one of this progroms against communists. He was a communist.

[@actionjackson4982]

That intro. I was born in 1982, but I remember it. I am old 🤣🤣🤣

[@avantelvsitania3359]

This is so amazing. This kind of material is unfortunately something extremely rare. Here we are used to learn that after the 25th of April of 1974 Portugal instantly become a strong democracy, but the normalization only happened after the 25th of November of 1975. Between these dates there was an aggressive competition between the moderates and the communist radicals, and especially during the period known as the "Hot Summer of 1975" the country was on the verge of Civil War. You can see how the communists had weapons guarded on their building. But fortunately, the communists were defeated and a serious democracy was able to solidify. They still exist today, but are slowly disappearing. Thank you for the content. Viva Portugal! Abaixo o comunismo!

[@nikoskanak6551]

Avante Lvsitania Lol “stable democracy”, you mean dictatorship of large Capital

[@avantelvsitania3359]

@@nikoskanak6551 no, I don't

[@thorsten8790]

@@avantelvsitania3359 Well then you're blind.

[@tyqwdybijo]

@@thorsten8790 you are a fool and a communist

[@pnduarte4696]

Was because of Álvaro cunhal and PCP that you didn t had a civil war in Portugal.

[@guido704u]

Why was my comment censored?? Sign of the times KZbin??

[@jocksilver7]

Mine is about to, i'm sure.

[@gtagide]

This cowerd people dont made a son when they are in the paw of the dictator

[@et734]

So slanted against communists. And no discussion over Salazar's corporatism

[@ferrazp4538]

Dead to comunism. Long live Salazar

[@pedromorais6047]

@@ferrazp4538 Meu otário, vai aprender a escrever primeiro em inglês. Se gostas tanto do Salazar, vai ter com ele e dá um tiro nos miolos, se é que os tens.

[@luisbaiao4738]

Vai tu ter com o Stalin

[@ferrazp4538]

@@pedromorais6047 sabes o que te digo meu menino nem para me fazeres um bico servias !

[@ferrazp4538]

@@pedromorais6047 “ didnt made nothing “ 😂 😂 😂. Temos macaco

[@cristinadossantos7953]

My parents, their families and my grandparents had to live through this regime. They were farmers living in Tras-os-Montes and they had it worse than the rest of the country, in their day. From what I’ve been told, they had to sell their harvest to the government and there would be little left for these families living off of the land. Still two of my uncles were being drafted to fight that pathetic colonial war in Angola when their parents (my grandparents) and their siblings were living in misery over on the homeland of Portugal. Fortunately, the Portuguese had the balls to overthrow that regime but choosing socialism was the next worst thing. Yeah, it was a slight improvement from the hell that was taking place but socialism. C’mon guys, you could’ve done better than that! Still today there is that garbage of socialism! Portugal has come a long way but they could improve more if they don’t want to see their population drop. Portugal on its own is a natural and beautiful country, environment friendly too. Yeah, we can warm up to people but for someone like me whose a Luso-American and many people like myself, there should be more respect and not have to go through discrimination because of our broken Portuguese. We do our best and we were brought up in a different society where we are proud to be Portuguese and our adoptive nation. When we do go back to Portugal, we are ridiculed and/or mocked. There are people in Portugal that are good and kind people but then there are those who are just straight up jerks. They need to fix their discrimination in the society itself of Portugal and fix their education. When I mentioned fixing, they should make careers and create more career trade education available for people who want to start from scratch, who have no connections. I was told by one Portuguese lady that if I wanted a job in Portugal, the cleaners was down the road, so I thought do people really have the nerve to put others down in this way. It is downright discrimination.

[@rafaelfonsecaaugusto3438]

you are oversimplifing if i may say, there are problems when comes to imigration that most people dont understand so they find simple ways to vent their emotions, i have my critics about my country but in general lack of tolerance and lack of inclusivity isnt one of them. like i said, most of the time that i see bad behaviour there is inequality and lack of education at the root among other things. Socialism is the next worst thing but its a hell of a ways distant from not having private property and free speech. you can see a video of men at that time discussing the possession of tools for agriculture, and is just absurd. the man has a tool, he is clearly in the poor spectrum, and having a party sympatiser saying to him that the tool that he bought with his sweat doesnt belong to him but to the state, to me is revolting. i think we just need to look at that video and put ourselves in that persons shoes and see how we feel, not to mention that the logic is faulty, unless 3 or 4 million people have an equal say in the distribution of resources it isnt communism, collectivization is giving the only leverage you have for survival to other entities wich like most will abuse that power. people in this video, right or wrong, acted in the ways that was avaiable to them in order to make themselves heard. given the violence that coups all over europe were characterised for i got to say that seeing humans behave in this way is actually moving, tear jerking. even through all the indignation, oppression and desperation they didn t act like barbarians. they seem not to trust the military that is protecting the building and the people inside, no wonder, i wouldnt trust them after being manipulated for decades. trust takes time to build, you need to see it grow after many years of lies.

[@anabenfeito5697]

Yes! I have noticed that what is posted on the web isn’t historically correct.. my dad and avo told me the same how they would work day and night for crumbs .. and forced to hide their religion. And how my great aunts couldn’t go to school cus they are female .. and there are people Who still support the PPC .. They just don’t know the truth or rather be blind

[@mendesjosr4438]

Portugal reached a good balance through the wisdom of its people. The socialists of PS and the Centre Right PPD/social democratic party worked together for democracy against the communist party. A social democratic country, like everyother in western Europe at that time, was what the people wanted. Our constitution, written in 1975, was based on the west German constitution.

[@helenaasousa]

I couldn’t agree more as a Luso Americana. They hate capitalism! If you’re American than you’re a filthy capitalist. So Stupid! I’ve had cousins give me the cold shoulder. I don’t even think they understand why, they’re indifferent, towards me. It would subliminally come to surface. We’re familia, you’re gonna allow the collective mindset & politics to divide family? The inability to think critically is absolutely laughable.

[@A_10_PaAng_111]

Hard to believe this was 1970s Europe.

[@puraLusa]

The identity europe is latter. The identity here is Portugal as in we are not Spain and we can rule the world. It's weird but weirdly real.

[@joaofernandes2827]

Maybe because the idea of Europe you have is UK , France and Italy ... forgetting the other 48 countries of the continent.

[@PeeGeeThirteen]

1975 was a shit show . Almost became a Cuba

[@lsnows]

Viva Salazar! Portugal era melhor sob a liderança iluminada dele. Nunca havia este caos e se podia andar em paz sem medo.

[@guilhermecastro9893]

Andar em paz e sem medo? A partir do momento que alguem falace mal do governo era preso e torturado sem julgamento como é que isso é bomm seu idiota

[@lsnows]

@@guilhermecastro9893 Como que eu sou idiota se e voce que precisa aprender a escrever "falasse."

[@guilhermecastro9893]

Certo cometi um erro mas tu ignoraste completamente o meu argumento

[@rafaelfonsecaaugusto3438]

i ve seen comments as to the fact that the previous regime(salazar) isnt mentioned here but the truth is that the common knowledge of portuguese, at least the newer generations, isnt that we had a coup against communism, this story of collectivization isnt even thought, i never heard of it. on the other hand we are well aware of the control and opression, the police control of the right wing regimes

[@iXanthous]

Sad that these counter-revolutionaries won out

[@TugaAvenger]

"Counter"? No. This was THE revolution - for freedom, liberty and social democracy, nothing more, nothing less. This was not the PCP's revolution, it wasn't theirs to be "countered". What they did try was to co-opt it, take possession of what the military and the people achieved - and for the sake of my people, thankfully they failed.

[@hugoc1861]

One more brain washed here

[@TheLocalLt]

@@TugaAvenger alas this is how many communist regimes end up rising, first a classicalist republic replaces something more reactionary, then after a period of cooperation the communists seize power in a secondary revolution. This is part of the communist playbook

[@nikoskanak6551]

​@@TugaAvenger Freedom and liberty for the vast majority of woriking people are incompatible with Monopoly-Capitalism.