Antonio de OliveiraSalazar (1889-1970) was a lawyer, university professor and president of the Council of Minister of Portugal from 1933 to 1968.
Salazar was responsible for consolidating the Estado Novo and for the ideological implantation of the regime, Salazarism.
Biography
Salazar was born in the city of Vimieiro, on April 28, 1889. He spent his childhood in this rural location whose father helped to negotiate properties.
After finishing primary school, he went to the seminary in Viseu and would remain there for another eight years, when he would decide to embrace a lay life and not a religious one.
Academic education
Thus, he enters the University of Coimbra, where he studies Law, and works at the Academic Center for Christian Democracy. His political background includes the encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903) on the Social Doctrine of the Church and the works of Frenchman Charles Maurras (1868-1952).
Salazar writes numerous articles in Catholic newspapers and gives lectures defending the condition of the Catholic being a republican, something that is not well regarded among monarchists. Likewise, he attacks socialism and parliamentarism, which he considered decadent.
He passes the exam for professor of economics at the University of Coimbra and draws the government's attention by writing a series of articles on the economic situation in Portugal.
political career
Salazar's experience as a politician begins in 1921 when he is elected a deputy for the Catholic party. He attends only one parliamentary session, and returns to Coimbra three days later.
Through his texts on economics, he was invited, in 1926, to become Minister of Finance. However, he remains in office for only five days, as all his conditions have not been met.
He will return to office in 1928, with the blessing of President Oscar Carmona (1869-1951), who will make him a super minister, where Salazar has the last word in the budgets of all ministries.
In 1930 he founded his own party, the União Nacional, which would be the only one allowed during his government.
Once its place in government has been consolidated, it sometimes accumulates positions such as the Ministry of Colonies and gains more and more support by pointing to a political path that mixes military and civil government.
It displeases many supporters of the more conservative and monarchical right by withdrawing from the discussion about the restoration of the monarchy.
President of the Council of Ministers
In any case, his prestige grew and he managed to pass the 1933 Constitution. This Magna Carta would give full powers to the President of the Council of Ministers, a position he held until he was victimized by a stroke in 1968.
Salazar would never fully recover and until his death in 1970 he thought he was still in charge of Portugal.
His government was marked by a lack of political and civil freedom, continuation of colonial policy, collaboration with the West and a pragmatic approach to Spain.
The Salazar regime caused the immigration of millions of Portuguese and would be overthrown in 1974 with the Carnation Revolution.
Government
Salazar's government was marked by authoritarian, anti-parliamentary, anti-liberal and anti-communist ideas, a mixture of fascism and social Catholicism.
The government was governed by the 1933 Constitution and bicameral with a National Assembly and a Corporate Chamber. The right to strike and the formation of political parties were prohibited.
The president of the Republic was a military elected by the population and who appointed the president of the Council of Ministers, a function that has always been exercised by Salazar.
It was a personal regime, centered on its founder and not on a party as was the case with Hitler and Mussolini. Therefore, it receives the name of salazarism.
In a famous speech delivered in Braga on May 28, 1936, Salazar summarizes the ideology of his government:
To souls torn by doubt and the negativity of the century, we seek to restore the comfort of the great certainties. We do not discuss God and virtue; we do not discuss the Homeland and its History; we do not discuss authority and its prestige; we don't discuss the family and its morals; we do not discuss the glory of the work and its duty.
Civil rights
Individual liberties were diminished, as the Estado Novo ends with the freedom of association and union expression. Media censorship is instituted.
To watch over citizenship, it was created in 1933 the State Surveillance and Defense Police (PVDE). In 1945, the name was changed and the International State Defense Police (PIDE). This could carry out arrests of up to six months, carry out searches without warrants and leave the detainee incommunicado.
Likewise, civil servants should take an oath of repudiation of communism when taking office.
Economy
Salazar defended a planned economy based on the State, but controlled by several autarchies (associations, unions, workers' corporations).
Another sector that grew was tourism, both internal and external. The Portuguese beaches and the climate attracted the Europeans. As for the Portuguese, they were able to benefit from vacations subsidized by the State and thus travel.
Despite encouraging rural and agricultural life as an ideal of life, industrialization took place slowly, especially in the 1960s. From 1958 to 1973, the highest growth rates were registered in Portugal, reaching 7% per year.
This happened because there was a shift in the economic policy defended by Marcelo Caetano (1906-1980), who would be Salazar's successor.
Foreign Policy
Salazar's foreign policy spans an enormous period of time, but the keynote has always been to keep Portugal isolated from liberal currents and any foreign interference.
Second war
Due to the trauma that supposed the sending of Portuguese troops during the First War, Salazar decides on neutrality from the first hour. Even so, it gives bases in the Azores to be used by Americans and English.
Lisbon becomes a major center of espionage and the starting point for thousands of refugees hoping to obtain a visa.
Salazar and Franco
Portugal saw the Spanish Republic as a danger and when it starts to Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Salazar recognizes the government of General Francisco Franco.
The Portuguese government gave aid to the nationalist side led by Franco. It turned over republicans across borders, facilitated communications with the United States, and even spurred the creation of a battalion of volunteers.
During World War II, Salazar sought to ensure Spain's neutrality, as he feared that conflict could reach the country. Thus, the leaders meet and sign the Iberian Pact, in 1939, when the two nations commit to stay out of the dispute.
Despite being ideologically close, personally, the two dictators couldn't be more different. Salazar was a university professor while Franco was a military man. Despite this, the two understood each other on relevant issues.
When the colonial wars begin, Franco will provide logistical assistance to Salazar, ordering military material from Germany, but passing it on to Salazar.
Colonial Wars
After World War II, the UN started to defend the right of self-determination of peoples and thus, pressured nations to grant independence to their colonies.
Salazar does not respond to the request. He changes the status of the colonies to "overseas provinces" and grants Portuguese citizenship to all inhabitants.
It carries out numerous improvement works and encourages Portuguese immigration to African possessions.
Likewise, he carries out an intense propaganda exalting the brotherhood and racial democracy of Portuguese colonization.
For this he uses the ideas of Gilberto Freyre in order to justify the mixture of races of the Portuguese colonizer as opposed to the English one.
Without success, he starts to violently repress any attempt at sedition, sending troops to fight in Angola and Mozambique.
Curiosities
- Despite cultivating the image of single and chaste, Salazar had his love affairs, carefully hidden from the general public.
- In his home, in Vimeiro, there is the inscription "Here was born Dr. Oliveira Salazar, a man who ruled and stole nothing".
Read more:
- Fascism
- totalitarianism
- Civil war
- Totalitarian Regimes in Europe
