{\an2}When he left the Presidency of the Republic in March 1996,

{\an2}at 72 , Mário Soares, founding father of Portuguese democracy,

{\an2}brought to an end a political career of over 50 years.

{\an2}He left behind him a free democratic

{\an2}and modern European country,

{\an2}at ease with itself and the world.

{\an2}A country whose destiny he helped to shape like no other politician of his time.

{\an2}He became a brand imaged of Portugal recognised all over the world,

{\an2}while at home he is regarded with affection, trust and pride.

{\an2}Even when the Portuguese speak ill of me,

{\an2}which has often happened throughout political life,

{\an2}there is no malice.

{\an2}And they speak about me with a touch of tolerance.

{\an2}As I do when I speak about the Portuguese.

{\an2}We're bonded by complicity.

{\an2}In July 1970 near Rome, Mário Soares

{\an2}is calmly writing a few more chapters

{\an2}of his first memoir,

{\an2}which he will call "Portugal Amordaçado".

{\an2}He has been in exile for a few months.

{\an2}In Portugal, the hopes of the Marcellist Spring are fading.

{\an2}The regime has made him an outlaw.

{\an2}He is forty-six years old.

{\an2}Shortly afterwards, he receives news of his father's sudden death.

{\an2}João Lopes Soares was ninety-one years old.

{\an2}From his childhood, Mário Soares had accompanied father

{\an2}in the relentless struggle against the dictatorship

{\an2}established in Portugal by the military coup of 28 May 1926.

{\an2}Thus ended the brief experience of the First Republic.

{\an2}Holding his mother's hand, little Mário

{\an2}grew used to visiting his father in the Aljube political prison,

{\an2}where, in the sad farewells of the sudden departures into exile,

{\an2}the agitation of attempts against the dictator Salazar stayed with him.

{\an2}On the other side of this tumultuous life,

{\an2}Soares' childhood was peaceful, comfortable, pampered.

{\an2}His mother was a simple woman but with a strong personality,

{\an2}pragmatic and practical.

{\an2}Soares inherited not only her physical features

{\an2}but also her strength, which inspired him and his boundless zest for life.

{\an2}My mother was a very courageous person

{\an2}and my father was a great teacher,

{\an2}a man of considerable courage and intelligence too.

{\an2}But the world was starting to slide into the darkness of World War II,

{\an2}with a dress rehearsal under way very nest to Portugal:

{\an2}Spain’s Civil War.

{\an2}Mário Soares lived through this troubled time in his own home,

{\an2}where many of the key intellectual figures of the time were visitors.

{\an2}Founded by João Soares, Colégio Moderno, his secondary school,

{\an2}was a breeding ground for teachers banned from state schools by the regime.

{\an2}It was there that Mário Soares first met a man

{\an2}who would be around him for almost all his life.

{\an2}First as a mentor, then as his main opponent.

{\an2}Álvaro Cunhal, the historic leader of the Portuguese Communist Party,

{\an2}a major figure in the international communist movement

{\an2}in the 50s, 60s, 70s.

{\an2}Cunhal was a mythical character of the resistance to fascism.

{\an2}He was also the principle of Colégio Moderno before going underground.

{\an2}He taught Mário geography

{\an2}and gave him advice on the best way to oppose the regime.

{\an2}With Agostinho da Silva and Álvaro Salema,

{\an2}he left Mário a common legacy:

{\an2}an unyielding moral rejection of the regime.

{\an2}Already under their influence, Soares chose to study literature

{\an2}instead of law, as his father would have liked.

{\an2}He dreamt of becoming a writer and a journalist.

{\an2}I have always had a passion for writing

{\an2}and for a long time I wondered about becoming a writer.

{\an2}In the end, I went into politics,

{\an2}which took up all my time.

{\an2}Partly also because of the context,

{\an2}driven more by moral imperatives than anything else.

{\an2}But whenever I think about leaving politics,

{\an2}I envisage the possibility of condensing

{\an2}the national and international experience I acquired

{\an2}in several books.

{\an2}On 8 May 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allies.

{\an2}The defeat of Nazism-Fascism was celebrated throughout Europe.

{\an2}One day after the end of the war, in Lisbon,

{\an2}Mário Soares shouted to the celebrating crowd

{\an2}that the time had also come for the liberation Portugal.

{\an2}He was 20 years old

{\an2}and one of the main leaders of the Communist Youth.

{\an2}The environment of resistance created by the war,

{\an2}Stalin’s Russian conflict,

{\an2}alongside Roosevelt’s America, Churchill’s United Kingdom

{\an2}and the anti-fascist calls of the communist parties in Europe

{\an2}still enveloped the PCP in a romantic aura.

{\an2}When I was young, I thought that communism

{\an2}was in fact the youth of the world.

{\an2}On the day when the Allied victory was being celebrated,

{\an2}Mário Soares' path crossed, for the second time,

{\an2}that of a young student with a fragile appearance but a steely character,

{\an2}an actress at D. Maria II National Theatre.

{\an2}Maria de Jesus Barroso stayed with him until the end of this journey of joy.

{\an2}She was to become his lifelong companion.

{\an2}At the end of the war, the Salazar regime faltered for the first time.

{\an2}The dictator was forced to make some formal,

{\an2}cosmetic concessions,

{\an2}designed to satisfy London and Washington.

{\an2}A partial amnesty was granted to political prisoners.

{\an2}In September, Salazar promised elections

{\an2}as free as in the free United Kingdom.

{\an2}The MUD, Movement of Democratic Unity,

{\an2}was created through the momentum of the PCP

{\an2}to take advantage of the regime's uncertainty.

{\an2}Soares would be one of its youth leaders.

{\an2}This Central Committee of the MUD

{\an2}organised a legal movement to oppose the regime.

{\an2}It operated within the law.

{\an2}It held regular meetings and produced a number of documents

{\an2}continuously criticising Salazar's regime.

{\an2}This went on until mid-1946... Sorry, until '47.

{\an2}That's when its members were arrested several times.

{\an2}Starting with me. I was the first to be arrested.

{\an2}And eventually, after much persecution,

{\an2}the MUD was banned around...

{\an2}at the end of 1948.

{\an2}In 1948, when Salazar took back control of the situation

{\an2}and made the MUD illegal,

{\an2}Soares was the right-hand man of Norton de Matos,

{\an2}an old Republican who was the opposition candidate

{\an2}for the Presidency of the Republic

{\an2}against Carmona.

{\an2}Although 80 years old at that time, he was an extremely active figure

{\an2}and had been in the final post-war years, as I've said,

{\an2}president of the National Commission for Antifascist Unity.

{\an2}It was around him that the whole democratic opposition assembled.

{\an2}Towards the end of the 1940s,

{\an2}Europe and the world were experiencing the early days of the Cold War.

{\an2}Shortly after the Yalta and Potsdam Agreements,

{\an2}Stalin decided to ramp up the communist offensive

{\an2}in Central and Eastern Europe

{\an2}by taking advantage of the presence of the Red Army

{\an2}and the reputation acquired by national communist parties

{\an2}in the years of resistance to the Nazi occupation.

{\an2}This was the era of the popular fronts,

{\an2}through which successive pro-Soviet communist regimes

{\an2}were installed in Eastern Europe.

{\an2}On 5 March 1946, Winston Churchill proclaimed:

{\an2}"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic,

{\an2}an iron curtain has descended across the continent."

{\an2}The division of Europe and of the world

{\an2}between Democracy and Communism had been accomplished.

{\an2}In Portugal, in 1948,

{\an2}the regime arrested all the MUD leaders,

{\an2}including Mário Soares.

{\an2}The political police, called PIDE, went to our homes

{\an2}and took us to the Aljube Prison. [GUSTAVO SOROMENHO FOUNDER OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY]

{\an2}Actually a funny thing happened. The police van picked us up

{\an2}and at one point the driver asked us,

{\an2}"Where are we going? To Caxias?"

{\an2}And Mário Soares said, "No, to Aljube."

{\an2}And we went to Aljube.

{\an2}Of course, it was not Mário Soares who decided that.

{\an2}It had been previously decided that we were going to Aljube.

{\an2}I thought his remark was funny, "No, let's go to Aljube.

{\an2}When we got there, we were all taken to a huge room.

{\an2}And Mário Soares was reunited with his father, who was also in prison.

{\an2}It was in Aljube, in February 1949, that Mário Soares married

{\an2}Maria de Jesus Barroso, by proxy.

{\an2}I hurried to Aljube straight after the wedding [MARIA BARROSO SOARES]

{\an2}and went up to the floor where my husband was.

{\an2}I was carrying a box with our rings,

{\an2}and that's when we exchanged rings.

{\an2}"For you, my love, [EXTRACT FROM A POEM FROM MÁRIO SOARES]

{\an2}I raise my voice in the silence of this solitude in which I live.

{\an2}I raise my voice in the silence of this solitude in which I live.

{\an2}I know you like to hear my voice. The sweet, tender words

{\an2}I make up for you in those quiet moments one is alone.

{\an2}I know you hear me now, once again, despite the distance and the silence.

{\an2}When he left jail a few months later,

{\an2}his alienation from the Communist Party intensified.

{\an2}Soares then started a long journey through the wilderness

{\an2}during which, because the PIDE had banned him from teaching,

{\an2}he decided to study law.

{\an2}After cutting ties with the Communist Party,

{\an2}he was with us, he turned to us,

{\an2}and then he pursued his entire political career in the socialist camp.

{\an2}He subsequently graduated and joined my legal firm,

{\an2}on Rua do Ouro.

{\an2}Following the defeat of the Norton de Matos campaign,

{\an2}the opposition was broken, demoralised and divided.

{\an2}The popular post-war enthusiasm dissipated

{\an2}and the country reverted to obedience, overwhelmed

{\an2}by the provincial small-mindedness of Salazarism.

{\an2}At that time, Soares had a small political circle

{\an2}of old Democrats, Republican activists

{\an2}and new people who had also moved away from the PCP.

{\an2}It was the Republican and Socialist Resistance.

{\an2}We were producing the political activity of the time.

{\an2}We were carrying out the political activity of the time. [GUSTAVO SOROMENHO FOUNDER OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY]

{\an2}We met regularly.

{\an2}Political meetings were held right here in this…

{\an2}Look, this is where he would sit.

{\an2}And we produced leaflets...

{\an2}Basically, we were weaving all those political webs

{\an2}that can be woven underground.

{\an2}In 1958 Humberto Delgado's candidacy, a general of the regime,

{\an2}who was seen as pro-American with a direct, populist, fearless style,

{\an2}mobilised the country once again.

{\an2}The opposition united around the "Fearless General".

{\an2}Soares shared the general disappointment

{\an2}when fraudulent votes elected Admiral Américo Tomás to the Presidential Palace.

{\an2}Electoral fraud

{\an2}incited violence against the regime by opposition groups,

{\an2}and between ‘59 and ‘61 military and civilians

{\an2}attempted uprisings that systematically failed.

{\an2}But Salazar was unable to close the country's borders to the world

{\an2}and Portugal could not escape the impact of the events shaking the country.

{\an2}In 1961, the hijacking of the Santa Maria passenger ship

{\an2}drew international attention to the Portuguese situation.

{\an2}Shortly afterwards, Angola's independence struggle broke out

{\an2}leading to a bloodbath and the exodus of its population.

{\an2}That year, along with opposition members,

{\an2}Soares wrote the so-called Programme for the Democratisation of the Republic.

{\an2}He was arrested again.

{\an2}By the time of the 25 April uprising,

{\an2}he had been arrested thirteen times, deported once and ultimately exiled.

{\an2}I think prison is an extraordinary school.

{\an2}It is a second university.

{\an2}And it has a double effect:

{\an2}it either demoralises and destroys those who let themselves be brought down

{\an2}or conversely, it is highly inspiring to those who resist.

{\an2}That was my case. Prison was an invaluable school.

{\an2}In 1964 in Geneva, Mário Soares established, with some old friends,

{\an2}the Portuguese Socialist Action.

{\an2}On 27 April 1965,

{\an2}a strange and brutal story was going round Lisbon.

{\an2}General Delgado's dead body had been found

{\an2}in a small village on the Elvas-Badajoz border,

{\an2}Villanueva del Fresno.

{\an2}The following day, Soares went to the house of the General's wife

{\an2}to offer his services as a lawyer.

{\an2}The Delgado Case gave him national and international political prominence,

{\an2}turning him into a major headache for the regime

{\an2}and a key figure of the opposition to Salazarism.

{\an2}In 1965, he emerged as one of the spokesmen for the opposition.

{\an2}With its shameless censorship, which above all is unconstitutional,

{\an2}under Article 23 of the current Constitution,

{\an2}the Government cannot survive.

{\an2}This is the deep-rooted conviction of the signatories.

{\an2}The pretext for trying to neutralise Soares definitively

{\an2}arose in 1967.

{\an2}The PIDE accused him of publicising abroad a sex scandal involving minors,

{\an2}implicating senior regime officials, ministers and financial figures.

{\an2}And they arrested once again,

{\an2}announcing that he would be deported to São Tomé the following day

{\an2}On Father's Day, 19 March 1968,

{\an2}I had gone to pick up my daughter

{\an2}who was supposed to buy her father a gift.

{\an2}When I arrived home I was told to go to the PIDE immediately.

{\an2}My son said, "Mother, it must be serious

{\an2}because you need to go to the PIDE." So I went.

{\an2}I went to the PIDE on António Maria Cardoso street.

{\an2}I went up to that third floor extremely anxious

{\an2}with my son.

{\an2}When I got up there I remember my husband saying to me,

{\an2}"You have to be very brave, I am going to São Tomé.

{\an2}I am leaving for São Tomé."

{\an2}And so I had to face that brutality just like that.

{\an2}Do you know what it is like to be thrown out suddenly?

{\an2}They arrest in your own office

{\an2}and then tell you,

{\an2}"You're going to São Tomé and you'll stay there."

{\an2}Like throwing a stone into a well. That's what they said at that time.

{\an2}It was in São Tomé that Soares heard the news

{\an2}that Salazar had fallen from a chair at the Fort of Estoril.

{\an2}And he learned of the choice of Marcello Caetano as his successor.

{\an2}The Marcellist Spring took him back to Lisbon,

{\an2}to a country that seemed to be slowly waking up.

{\an2}The 1969 elections to the National Assembly

{\an2}were the first test of Marcello's intentions,

{\an2}but also an important test for the opposition to the regime,

{\an2}which, for the first time, would be divided.

{\an2}On one side the CDE, Democratic Electoral Commission,

{\an2}assembled around the Portuguese Communist Party.

{\an2}founded by Mário Soares, who ran in Lisbon

{\an2}and in half a dozen districts with independent lists.

{\an2}Our candidacy is fundamentally a candidacy of socialists,

{\an2}some of whom are Catholics and others not.

{\an2}But it also brings together independent figures from the left

{\an2}as well as Republicans.

{\an2}The presence of Catholics

{\an2}was not well regarded by the communists, [ANTÓNIO ALÇADA BAPTISTA WRITER/CATHOLIC]

{\an2}didn't go down well with the communists.

{\an2}But thanks to Soares and his group,

{\an2}we got on beautifully.

{\an2}The CEUD was of major significance, [GONÇALO RIBEIRO TELLES RESISTANCE FIGHTER/MONARCHIST]

{\an2}mainly in the opening...

{\an2}in that opening that was sought after.

{\an2}The votes themselves and the circumstances around them...

{\an2}It was not possible to campaign

{\an2}or distribute lists, or do anything.

{\an2}They were of secondary importance.

{\an2}The fact is, there was an opposition to the regime

{\an2}which was not at all what had been dubbed Reviralho.

{\an2}The movement which was based on the precepts

{\an2}of Jacobinism, of republicanism,

{\an2}and it had been supplanted by a much wider movement.

{\an2}But the Colonial War blocked any developments

{\an2}and the Marcellist Spring was short-lived.

{\an2}The PIDE gave Soares a choice between exile and prison.

{\an2}Partly willing to be the beacon of the opposition

{\an2}and to legitimise it in the eyes of the great European socialist

{\an2}and social-democratic family,

{\an2}in April 1973,

{\an2}against the wishes of many of his comrades,

{\an2}he founded the Socialist Party in Germany.

{\an2}One year later, on 23 April 1974,

{\an2}he was in Bonn, waiting to be welcomed by Willy Brandt,

{\an2}when he received the news that a military uprising

{\an2}had overthrown the dictatorship in Portugal.

{\an2}...I've managed to clear the Camões square.

{\an2}But the population is still massively present here.

{\an2}They're not attacking us

{\an2}because they think we were on the other side.

{\an2}They think we're on the other side. The situation is delicate.

{\an2}I can't see what can be done, unless the air means are deployed

{\an2}to disperse the crowd.

{\an2}An infiltration does not seem feasible.

{\an2}The responsibility of the resistance...

{\an2}Victory! Victory! Victory!

{\an2}Three days after 25 April, at the Santa Apolónia Station in Lisbon,

{\an2}a sea of ​​people awaited the arrival of the Sud-Express

{\an2}from Paris.

{\an2}The Socialist Party’s secretary-general was on board.

{\an2}The new president, General António de Spínola,

{\an2}was waiting for him impatiently,

{\an2}to task him with gaining worldwide recognition

{\an2}for the Portuguese Revolution.

{\an2}On 16 May, Soares took office

{\an2}as the first Minister of Foreign Affairs

{\an2}of the First Provisional Government

{\an2}and immediately made contact with the liberation movements

{\an2}of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea to start independence negotiations.

{\an2}The 25 April had happened, first and foremost, to bring peace.

{\an2}However, it wasn't Soares who brought these negotiations to a conclusion.

{\an2}The Portuguese Revolution would face

{\an2}two distinct and irreconcilable paths:

{\an2}either a European and Western parliamentary democracy, based on civil law,

{\an2}or a popular democracy controlled and directed by the PCP,

{\an2}bound to the Soviet Union.

{\an2}Soares symbolised one path, Álvaro Cunhal, the other.

{\an2}The most striking thing about this [ÁLVARO VEIGA DE OLIVEIRA FORMER LEADER OF THE PCP]

{\an2}was the famous interview with Fallaci

{\an2}was the famous interview with Fallaci

{\an2}of Mr Álvaro Cunhal, in which he guaranteed...

{\an2}Although he later denied it as it was not convenient to stand by it,

{\an2}he guaranteed that a bourgeois democracy

{\an2}would never be possible here. What he meant was,

{\an2}a popular democracy must be established here, obviously.

{\an2}Mr Soares had this advantage [ANTÓNIO ALÇADA BAPTIST WRITER/CATHOLIC]

{\an2}over all the politicians I know, and I've known many of them.

{\an2}He was the only politician I knew

{\an2}for whom freedom was more important than the use of power.

{\an2}Soares had to open the way by force

{\an2}in his own party, among the military,

{\an2}in European chancelleries, in Washington, Paris, Bonn, Stockholm and London.

{\an2}Henry Kissinger, the powerful American Secretary of State

{\an2}for President Richard Nixon,

{\an2}acknowledged that Portugal could become communist.

{\an2}For a man like Kissinger,

{\an2}the Portuguese issue appeared both as peripheral

{\an2}and as a case that he regarded as a vaccine

{\an2}for other European countries.

{\an2}We must not forget that at the time

{\an2}the so-called Sonnenfeld doctrine was in force.

{\an2}This was essentially a defensive doctrine

{\an2}on the part of the United States of America.

{\an2}In other words, the Eastern countries must be in the zone of Soviet influence,

{\an2}but Western countries should not be in that zone of influence.

{\an2}But it is a defensive position, not an offensive position.

{\an2}From his experience of exile, Soares introduced an idea to Portugal

{\an2}for which he was prepared to fight to the end.

{\an2}A parliamentary party regime, a European democracy.

{\an2}But while he was abroad, explaining the revolution at the UN headquarters,

{\an2}the Council of Europe, in Washington or in Paris,

{\an2}events in Portugal were unfolding quickly.

{\an2}General António de Spínola

{\an2}was quickly removed from the revolutionary command.

{\an2}The PCP used the threat of a reactionary coup

{\an2}to justify the removal of the sectors

{\an2}that were the most opposed to its political strategy.

{\an2}The Socialist Party - PS - was filled with people from all sectors of the left,

{\an2}who dreamt of all strands of socialism.

{\an2}The division that was silently forming between two antagonistic camps

{\an2}and two distinct ideas about the future of the country

{\an2}also cut across the PS.

{\an2}Soares felt for the first time it was necessary to clearly define

{\an2}which democracy the PS supported for Portugal.

{\an2}What do we understand by pluralist democracy?

{\an2}Is it a type of popular democracy

{\an2}in which a leading party

{\an2}and satellite parties coexist, without effective expression?

{\an2}If that is what it is, comrades,

{\an2}we must say right now that this type of democracy is not for us.

{\an2}It was clear for many socialists, [BERNARDINO GOMES FOUNDER OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY]

{\an2}no one knew how things would play out.

{\an2}But the Communist Party was definitely moving further every day

{\an2}and so it was on the path of wanting to take power alone,

{\an2}or with the military.

{\an2}Friend Zenha, the PS is with you!

{\an2}He won the battle for the PS, now the election battle would start,

{\an2}as the PCP, enthused by the course of events,

{\an2}had started dreaming of taking the Winter Palace,

{\an2}and the MFA increasingly saw itself as a super-party,

{\an2}a revolutionary vanguard responsible for leading the Revolution.

{\an2}In January 1975, at a rally against trade union unity,

{\an2}Soares said it clearly.

{\an2}PS! PS!

{\an2}Whatever the choice of the Portuguese Communist Party,

{\an2}we will not let ourselves be made a satellite of. We will defend freedom

{\an2}just as we did in the era of fascism.

{\an2}On 11 March 1975,

{\an2}taking advantage of General Spínola's desperate act,

{\an2}the Revolution moved another step forward.

{\an2}The MFA was institutionalised with the creation of the Revolutionary Council,

{\an2}the supreme body of the Portuguese Revolution.

{\an2}Banks and insurance companies were nationalised.

{\an2}The first calls were heard for postponing the elections promised in the MFA programme.

{\an2}Soares knew that this was his ultimate goal.

{\an2}Far from the government and the Decolonisation Commission,

{\an2}he was free to start an election campaign

{\an2}that took him to every corner of the country.

{\an2}On 25 April 1975,

{\an2}90% of the Portuguese of voting age went to the polls.

{\an2}The call for a blank ballot made at the last minute

{\an2}by some sectors of the MFA fell on deaf ears.

{\an2}The PS was by far the largest party, with 38% of the votes.

{\an2}The PPD was next, led by some of the most prestigious personalities

{\an2}of the old liberal wing of Marcellism,

{\an2}under Francisco Sá Carneiro,

{\an2}at some distance from Soares' socialists,

{\an2}but with far more votes than the Communist Party.

{\an2}From now on, two types of legitimacy would confront each other

{\an2}over the fate of the Portuguese Revolution:

{\an2}voting legitimacy and revolutionary legitimacy.

{\an2}It was a very significant step in the Portuguese political process, [MELO ANTUNES MEMBER OF THE REVOLUTIANARY COUNCIL]

{\an2}because they clearly revealed the will of the vast majority

{\an2}because they clearly revealed the will of the vast majority

{\an2}to build a form of socialism without rejecting freedoms,

{\an2}without rejecting democracy.

{\an2}This problem arises today, without a doubt. [VASCO GONÇALVES PRIME MINISTER - 1975]

{\an2}There are only two alternatives: you're either with the revolution

{\an2}or with the reaction.

{\an2}There are no third ways or neutrals here.

{\an2}Soares quickly came to realise

{\an2}he did not have enough votes to affect the course of the revolution

{\an2}and he would have to measure his strength on the streets with his opponents.

{\an2}So it was on the streets that the PS reacted to the occupation

{\an2}of the only newspaper the communists did not control:

{\an2}the newspaper República,

{\an2}run by the old republican and socialist activist, Raúl Rego.

{\an2}This was how in July 1975 they demanded the resignation of Vasco Gonçalves

{\an2}and respect for the election results.

{\an2}Soares called the largest demonstration ever seen

{\an2}in the capital, Lisbon, since 1 May 1974.

{\an2}Dom Afonso Henriques avenue was an immense sea of people

{\an2}who were not intimidated by threats, road blocks

{\an2}or all kinds of scare tactics.

{\an2}The country was ready for its final confrontation, which would once again be peaceful,

{\an2}through words and ideas.

{\an2}On the evening of 6 November, after the news,

{\an2}the country was glued to the TV, still in black and white.

{\an2}Live, Mário Soares, leader of the Socialist Party,

{\an2}and Álvaro Cunhal, leader of the Communist Party,

{\an2}over the course of almost four hours,

{\an2}compared their ideas about democracy, freedom,

{\an2}socialism, the world, the Portuguese Revolution

{\an2}and the future of the country.

{\an2}Fundamentally, these are

{\an2}two different conceptions of life

{\an2}and of this societal transformation that they both say they want.

{\an2}One is democratic,

{\an2}which claims to have respect for freedoms,

{\an2}the other is a concept which we qualify as totalitarian.

{\an2}It dispenses with freedom, a value we consider essential,

{\an2}to organise a society

{\an2}that claims to be socialist,

{\an2}but which up to now, based on the historical examples,

{\an2}has degenerated into state capitalist societies

{\an2}with a socialist façade,

{\an2}with regimes of ferocious political repression.

{\an2}If the Socialist Party,

{\an2}instead of a conspiracy politics, which it is also engaging in [ÁLVARO CUNHAL, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE PCP]

{\an2}just like right-wing reactionary conspirators...

{\an2}If instead of a conspiracy policy,

{\an2}it pursued a politics of alliance

{\an2}with the popular and military revolutionary forces,

{\an2}if it sought to join in the various spheres of national life

{\an2}with progressive forces, workers and their organisations,

{\an2}we could certainly have a broad alliance of social and political forces

{\an2}that could more peacefully lead

{\an2}our country to this new society that workers yearn for.

{\an2}I would like to say that, after hearing Mr Cunhal,

{\an2}I would be confident

{\an2}that if I formed this alliance you are proposing,

{\an2}I would be given a Lenin medal.

{\an2}He would give me a Lenin medal

{\an2}and we would have a dictatorship in Portugal.

{\an2}Now I have had enough of dictatorships,

{\an2}with the dictatorship of Salazar and Caetano.

{\an2}In fact, I do not think that the issue is the medal

{\an2}that Mr Mário Soares may or may not earn.

{\an2}This is about the politics that the socialists will not follow.

{\an2}In the end, no one had any doubt about who had won that battle.

{\an2}Down! Down! Down!

{\an2}One week later,

{\an2}the siege of the Constitutional Assembly by civil construction workers

{\an2}was one of the final desperate acts of the communist offensive.

{\an2}The PS had already won the battles for popular support, the ballot box,

{\an2}trade union freedom and press freedom,

{\an2}and the international battle.

{\an2}In the televised clash, he had just won the supreme battle of ideas.

{\an2}Spurred on by the movements of the far left,

{\an2}the PCP then launched a rush forwards that seemed to be running out of control.

{\an2}On 25 November, the final showdown between the military forces

{\an2}brought the country to the brink.

{\an2}But the weapons that were supposed to be distributed

{\an2}never reached the hands of the PCP activists.

{\an2}Cunhal retreated at the eleventh hour.

{\an2}From a certain moment,

{\an2}it became evident that continuing in that direction [ÁLVARO VEIGA DE OLIVEIRA FORMER LEADER OF THE PCP]

{\an2}it became evident that continuing in that direction

{\an2}was going to lead to civil war, and, in any event,

{\an2}to extremely bloody armed confrontations,

{\an2}the outcome of which was highly questionable.

{\an2}It would probably result in the crushing of the party.

{\an2}Consequently, everything had to be done to maintain…

{\an2}Several opportunities had gone by,

{\an2}some more missed than others.

{\an2}One more opportunity had to be missed

{\an2}to hold on to the possibility of achieving another one.

{\an2}Above all, it was still cold reasoning, reasoning with cold intelligence

{\an2}that made it possible at 3 a.m., if I'm not mistaken,

{\an2}for the political commission to say, "Everyone go home!".

{\an2}The moderate soldiers of the so-called Group of Nine,

{\an2}Melo Antunes, Vasco Lourenço, Pires Veloso, Ramalho Eanes,

{\an2}settled everything in under 24 hours, again without any confrontations.

{\an2}The 1st episode of the Portuguese Revolution thus came to an end.

{\an2}Soares was a hero, both inside and outside Portugal.

{\an2}The victory of the democratic forces in Portugal

{\an2}would have an immediate impact on the democratic transition

{\an2}of Spain and Greece.

{\an2}It would influence the actions of Southern Europe’s socialist parties.

{\an2}It would be, as Samuel Huntington later wrote,

{\an2}the first democratic revolution of the third wave of democracy

{\an2}spreading from the Iberian Peninsula to Latin America,

{\an2}returning to Europe and pulling down the Berlin Wall.

{\an2}The victory of the Socialist Party over the Communist Party [JOSÉ MEDEIROS FERREIRA FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER]

{\an2}in political terms,

{\an2}which simultaneously managed

{\an2}to establish a pluralist political democracy

{\an2}in which the Communist Party was part of the system,

{\an2}was an extremely seductive model for Europe

{\an2}and even worldwide.

{\an2}The way had been opened

{\an2}for Soares' new battle for democracy without the oversight of Europe.

{\an2}The two things were, for him, inextricable.

{\an2}With the communist offensive overcome and freedom guaranteed...

{\an2}It was time to build the democracy and to rebuild the economy.

{\an2}I, the undersigned, solemnly declare, on my honour,

{\an2}that I will loyally carry out the duties entrusted to me.

{\an2}When, on 23 July 1976, following another election win,

{\an2}Mário Soares was sworn in as the first head of Government

{\an2}with a freely elected parliament, Portugal was on the verge of bankruptcy.

{\an2}The economy was paralysed.

{\an2}The state coffers were empty.

{\an2}The country was waking up to a harsh reality.

{\an2}Galloping inflation was eating up salary increases.

{\an2}There was a shortage of essential goods in the shops.

{\an2}Revolutionary rhetoric was already becoming stale.

{\an2}The Portuguese people had had enough of politics.

{\an2}Soares knew that his government's crucial task

{\an2}was to save the country's economy if it wanted to save democracy.

{\an2}During that period, several countries, [VÍTOR CONSTÂNCIO FORMER MINISTER OF FINANCE]

{\an2}mainly European countries, but also the United States,

{\an2}helped us with short-term loans.

{\an2}Particularly Germany.

{\an2}And later, following the elections,

{\an2}by setting up the so-called Great Loan,

{\an2}an operation led partly by the United States

{\an2}but with the collaboration of the more significant European countries.

{\an2}Portugal was lent around one and a half billion dollars,

{\an2}which at the time was a much bigger amount than today.

{\an2}It was a decisive contribution to the financing of the external deficit.

{\an2}At the same time,

{\an2}the country started to negotiate with the IMF,

{\an2}because that was obviously a condition

{\an2}for this Great Loan.

{\an2}The first minority government lasted one year.

{\an2}It fell with the tacit support of General Ramalho Eanes,

{\an2}a member of the 25 November coup, whom Soares had helped to elect president.

{\an2}I submit, as I said at the beginning of this session...

{\an2}The second government,

{\an2}resulting from a coalition with Freitas do Amaral’s CDS,

{\an2}also failed to last any longer.

{\an2}Through the brilliant contribution by Professor Freitas do Amaral,

{\an2}I felt that Portugal...

{\an2}But when Soares left,

{\an2}the State's accounts were back in balance.

{\an2}A set of fundamental laws

{\an2}for the construction of the democratic rule of law was passed

{\an2}and Portugal's formal application for membership

{\an2}of the European Community was delivered in Brussels.

{\an2}On 28 March 1977,

{\an2}Portugal submitted its formal application for membership.

{\an2}It was one of the fastest and most effective political-diplomatic operations

{\an2}that the democratic regime has conducted.

{\an2}We were sure that if the Portuguese Republic submitted,

{\an2}its membership application then,

{\an2}it would be very difficult for European countries to say no

{\an2}to a country that had decolonised, democratised,

{\an2}opposed a new dictatorship and opposed the victory

{\an2}of the forces led by the Communist Party in Portugal.

{\an2}For Europe, as soon as possible.

{\an2}This would be Soares' great battle

{\an2}in both government and in opposition,

{\an2}against the scepticism of many, the fears of others

{\an2}and the ideological and political choices of yet others.

{\an2}There were discouraging times. [VÍTOR CONSTÂNCIO FORMER MINISTER OF FINANCE]

{\an2}It is a fact that the political pressure

{\an2}Mr Mário Soares was in a position to exert, and did exert,

{\an2}in the final phase of the process

{\an2}was decisive for bringing the process to a successful conclusion.

{\an2}Absolutely decisive.

{\an2}The tide was about to turn.

{\an2}The country, tired of revolutions and austerity,

{\an2}seemed ripe for a shift to the right.

{\an2}The Democratic Alliance formed by Sá Carneiro,

{\an2}Freitas do Amaral and Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles

{\an2}won the 1979 elections and soon afterwards the 1980 elections.

{\an2}It governed the country with an ambitious purpose:

{\an2}a parliamentary majority, a government and a president.

{\an2}On 10 May 1981,

{\an2}while in France François Mitterrand won the presidential elections,

{\an2}the Portuguese socialists were meeting in congress.

{\an2}There was a division between those who, with Soares,

{\an2}wanted a parliamentary, European democracy based on civil law,

{\an2}and those who believed the best strategy to return to power

{\an2}was an alliance with Ramalho Eanes, the military and the PCP.

{\an2}The Congress was the culmination of a lengthy battle

{\an2}for clarification of the party's direction.

{\an2}The Congress won, Soares drove out his opponents

{\an2}and imposed on his party a constitutional review

{\an2}negotiated in parliament with the PSD, which removed all the exceptional powers

{\an2}the president still held, particularly in the military sphere.

{\an2}The Revolutionary Council, the ultimate symbol

{\an2}of a democracy still under protection, was finally abolished.

{\an2}Soares was ready to win Europe decisively.

{\an2}His stature as a leader of international significance,

{\an2}his cosmopolitanism,

{\an2}annoyed the country, especially the political and intellectual classes.

{\an2}It was difficult to accept this citizen of the world,

{\an2}vice-president of the Socialist International,

{\an2}who was rapidly becoming one of its most controversial and striking figures.

{\an2}Soares travelled in Latin America and the Middle East.

{\an2}He took on the leader of the Socialist International,

{\an2}the highly-respected Willy Brandt in a very bold move,

{\an2}during the 1982 Euromissile Crisis,

{\an2}by openly supporting the United States and European governments,

{\an2}which accepted the reinforcement of Europe's nuclear defence

{\an2}against the Soviet threat.

{\an2}His European socialist friends, who had proved so important

{\an2}in the fight for democracy and against communism,

{\an2}would prove to be invaluable on Portugal's bumpy journey

{\an2}towards the European Community.

{\an2}In Lisbon, Sá Carneiro's tragic and unexpected death

{\an2}mortally wounded the democratic alliance and weakened his governments.

{\an2}The State's accounts were back in the red

{\an2}and the currency on the verge collapse.

{\an2}Once again, Soares appeared as the last resort for democracy.

{\an2}He won the legislative elections

{\an2}with the promise of more belt tightening.

{\an2}But this time,

{\an2}drawing lessons from the bitter experience of 1976,

{\an2}he refused to govern alone.

{\an2}He wanted to share responsibilities with the PSD,

{\an2}at that time led by Mota Pinto,

{\an2}a law professor from Coimbra and an honest man,

{\an2}he got on well with.

{\an2}The Central Bloc was born

{\an2}and with it a level of austerity

{\an2}that brought the Portuguese people severe hardship,

{\an2}although the public accounts recovered quickly.

{\an2}I went to the Prime Minister twice,

{\an2}not in times of fat cows, but in times of skinny cows,

{\an2}when others had fled and when, effectively,

{\an2}there was a situation of national catastrophe or pre-catastrophe.

{\an2}And I took the measures that needed to be taken.

{\an2}They were obviously unpopular, on both occasions.

{\an2}The Government accelerated negotiations for Portugal's membership of the EEC.

{\an2}For Soares, this was a primary goal,

{\an2}despite having to face numerous external misunderstandings

{\an2}and internal criticisms.

{\an2}At that time, Europe was not a popular battle.

{\an2}Business owners protested, fearing competition.

{\an2}Indifferent to criticism, Soares never stopped to rest a minute.

{\an2}He obtained from his European partners promises, dates, guarantees.

{\an2}This is a historic turning point for Portugal,

{\an2}the signing of the Treaty of Accession.

{\an2}We, from now on, have entered the Community.

{\an2}The people of Portugal have to realise we have joined the European Community,

{\an2}the treaty is irreversible.

{\an2}He explained to the country the extent to which Europe was fundamental

{\an2}for the consolidation of democracy, economic and cultural modernisation

{\an2}and above all our relations with Spain.

{\an2}Entering the EEC is a challenge,

{\an2}but it represents an expansion of the market

{\an2}and above all an opening to modernity and new technologies.

{\an2}There is no other alternative for us to be a modern country.

{\an2}In 1985, the Government’s image and that of Soares

{\an2}were deeply eroded.

{\an2}Ramalho Eanes would find the ideal pretext to overthrow the Government

{\an2}with the unexpected death of Mota Pinto, which took to the PSD's leadership

{\an2}an austere and strict, barely known professor,

{\an2}Aníbal Cavaco Silva.

{\an2}The new PSD leader was in a hurry to get rid of the Central Bloc,

{\an2}to bring about early elections

{\an2}and unleash a strategy to be implemented by a common centre-right candidate,

{\an2}in the presidential elections of 1986.

{\an2}But on 12 June 1985, at Jerónimos Monastery,

{\an2}Mário Soares saw his dream come true.

{\an2}It was the final act of the 3rd government he headed.

{\an2}The following day, the President of the Republic

{\an2}signed the Prime Minister's exoneration decree.

{\an2}But the European battle had been won.

{\an2}At the signing ceremony of the Treaty of Accession

{\an2}Soares guaranteed that within five years Portugal would be unrecognisable.

{\an2}For Portugal, joining the EEC is a fundamental choice

{\an2}for a future of progress and modernity.

{\an2}But do not think it is an easy choice.

{\an2}It demands a lot from the Portuguese people,

{\an2}even though it simultaneously opens up broad perspectives for development.

{\an2}His idea for Portugal was realised.

{\an2}It was composed of three words: freedom, democracy, Europe.

{\an2}Now he wanted to wrap up this initial cycle,

{\an2}of which he had been the main instigator,

{\an2}to symbolise another,

{\an2}one of democratic maturity and European development.

{\an2}Pluralist democracy was, in Portugal as in Spain,

{\an2}an imperative condition for European integration.

{\an2}Upon leaving the government,

{\an2}he was the natural presidential candidate of the democratic regime.

{\an2}Political circumstances, however, made him

{\an2}an unsustainable candidate.

{\an2}The victory of the PSD's new man in the general elections of 1985,

{\an2}the defeat of the PS, the strengthening of the presidential party

{\an2}by stealing almost half of the PS’s natural electorate,

{\an2}seemed to condemn Soares to political retirement.

{\an2}Cavaco! Cavaco! Cavaco!

{\an2}Not even his most loyal friends

{\an2}believed that the presidential elections were a goal within his reach

{\an2}and they feared unnecessary humiliation.

{\an2}They advised him to withdraw

{\an2}given polls predicting a tiny vote share.

{\an2}The last poll I saw was suggested I would get...

{\an2}I think it was 3%, I was already right at the bottom,

{\an2}and I am sure that, next time, I will appear off the scale,

{\an2}because there will be something negative about me,

{\an2}judging by the type of poll that has been carried out.

{\an2}What I mean is I do not take them seriously.

{\an2}Honestly, I don't and I don't think anyone in the country does.

{\an2}Everything was against him, even electoral chess.

{\an2}On the right, Freitas do Amaral was positioned to take up the constituency

{\an2}of the defunct AD and capitalise on Cavaco Silva's already visible political rise.

{\an2}On his left, Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, a Catholic,

{\an2}the Prime Minister from the 1979 Ramalho Eanes campaign,

{\an2}represented marginalised groups of the PC and Eanismo.

{\an2}But the biggest obstacle for Soares in his own camp

{\an2}was his enemy and comrade, Salgado Zenha, who spearheaded a coalition between the PC

{\an2}and the Presidential Party created by Eanes.

{\an2}Within the ranks of his candidacy, discouragement was widespread.

{\an2}Only Soares seemed unperturbed.

{\an2}As always, he lost neither sleep nor determination.

{\an2}He was ready to overcome all the obstacles one by one.

{\an2}In the name of freedom, tolerance and moderation,

{\an2}little by little, he reassumed

{\an2}the face of a left wing that is civilised and European,

{\an2}accepting victories and defeats,

{\an2}with a clear route since 25 April.

{\an2}On television, he beat his rivals in 4 debates that went down in history,

{\an2}paving the way for the extraordinary recovery that followed.

{\an2}I think it was the most extraordinary political moment since 25 April, [MIGUEL SOUSA TAVARES JOURNALIST]

{\an2}as a political debate and fight.

{\an2}In that fight I think we also saw the best of Mário Soares,

{\an2}someone pursuing a destiny he believed he was entitled to.

{\an2}Against everything, all the perspectives and the resentment of the nation,

{\an2}which was very angry with the governments he had led.

{\an2}His rise was so forceful and determined

{\an2}that I think he surprised his rivals, surprised the country

{\an2}and people eventually started to think, "The man deserves to get there."

{\an2}14 January 1986,

{\an2}four days before the official start of the election campaign.

{\an2}In Marinha Grande, a workers' and communist stronghold,

{\an2}counter-demonstrators blocked his way.

{\an2}A member of the delegation was injured, and panic ensued.

{\an2}The events were broadcast across the country.

{\an2}The Portuguese people can learn today, here in Marinha Grande,

{\an2}about violence and about the anti-democratic spirit

{\an2}of Salgado Zenha's supporters,

{\an2}and of Álvaro Cunhal's and Ramalho Eanes' supporters.

{\an2}They beat up people from my delegation.

{\an2}I was attacked myself, but this hasn't stopped me from travelling around Portugal,

{\an2}because Portugal is a land of freedom. It is not Moscow!

{\an2}Soares! Soares! Soares!

{\an2}People realised he was perhaps being excessively ill-treated.

{\an2}And after all one of the founding fathers of Portuguese democracy

{\an2}was being humiliated, insulted, beaten,

{\an2}attacked by his lifelong political brother, Salgado Zenha.

{\an2}And he rose to the occasion

{\an2}because Mr Soares is brilliant at these things, as we know,

{\an2}he goes out to fight and doesn't give up.

{\an2}Suddenly, Soares was fully reborn

{\an2}in the eyes of the Portuguese people.

{\an2}He re-established the connection between candidate and electorate.

{\an2}On 26 January 1986, belying the extremely difficult electoral arithmetic,

{\an2}Mário Soares went to the second round,

{\an2}closing the final chapter of the struggle between the different concepts

{\an2}of socialism and democracy opened several years earlier,

{\an2}when fascism was still the common enemy.

{\an2}He now needed to win over the country.

{\an2}Victory came on 16 February.

{\an2}His life is like this: he never gives in,

{\an2}this unshakable faith in himself and in his convictions.

{\an2}This insatiable zest for life

{\an2}and this deep knowledge of mankind,

{\an2}forged among the great world figures across all four corners of the globe,

{\an2}but also in the country’s most remote villages,

{\an2}among people with whom he has the ability to communicate

{\an2}as if he were one of them.

{\an2}From the balcony of his campaign HQ on Saldanha Square,

{\an2}in front of a delirious crowd

{\an2}that chanted the most astonishing campaign slogans,

{\an2}the cries of the Socialist Youth, "Soares is cool!",

{\an2}Soares announced the end of the transition period of Portuguese democracy.

{\an2}Friends, I always said that once elected,

{\an2}I would be the president of all Portuguese people, without exception.

{\an2}I am here, friends, from now on,

{\an2}to unite the people of Portugal rather than divide them,

{\an2}and to fight against underdevelopment,

{\an2}against poverty, against ignorance, against intolerance.

{\an2}And we have to fight together as the Portuguese that we are.

{\an2}We are all needed

{\an2}to meet Europe's great challenge together.

{\an2}We had had military presidents for several years, [GUILHERME OLIVEIRA MARTINS UNIVERSITY LECTURER]

{\an2}from the First Republic, that is, since 1926,

{\an2}and this was the first time that we had a civilian president.

{\an2}So the first major issue

{\an2}was to commit to this new role.

{\an2}Portuguese democracy won its maturity with honour.

{\an2}In Brussels, Portugal was preparing to act

{\an2}as a full member of the European Community.

{\an2}In the Presidency, once again,

{\an2}Soares would surpass all expectations.

{\an2}He brought the energy, optimism, confidence

{\an2}and great ideas that distinguished his life as a political fighter.

{\an2}In São Bento, from 1985,

{\an2}there was a man whom Soares was not immediately able to figure out

{\an2}but who would be his political rival for the next ten years.

{\an2}The country had two seemingly irreconcilable faces.

{\an2}There could not be two such different men.

{\an2}One was republican, secular, socialist.

{\an2}A man of the world, cosmopolitan, cultured,

{\an2}with a lengthy political career spanning 50 years.

{\an2}A personality who was already recorded in the history books.

{\an2}The other was austere, technocratic,

{\an2}professorial, shy, modest, a newcomer.

{\an2}The following ten years would be characterised by these two personalities.

{\an2}Soares made his first term

{\an2}a powerful lesson in influence and democratic pedagogy.

{\an2}He travelled around the country denouncing injustices and delays,

{\an2}supporting examples, pointing out pathways.

{\an2}His purposes were education, scientific and cultural development,

{\an2}a Europe of solidarity.

{\an2}Five years after conquering the Presidential Palace of Belém,

{\an2}in January 1991, he was re-elected president

{\an2}in the first round with more than 70% of votes.

{\an2}The country admired him, respected him, propelled him into his supervisory role.

{\an2}It saw him anew in light of the values ​​he embodied:

{\an2}democracy, Europe, tolerance, optimism,

{\an2}unwavering faith in mankind and ideas.

{\an2}I had the chance to know the exile, the Resistance fighter.

{\an2}Courage, lucidity and moral strength quite exceptional.

{\an2}Then I knew the political activist.

{\an2}I supported him in his political campaigns,

{\an2}I saw the bravery of the speaker,

{\an2}his capacity to convince, his passion for his political fight.

{\an2}Then he was President of the Republic

{\an2}and I saw his serenity, his strength and his control.

{\an2}He exemplifies a nation, the Portuguese one.

{\an2}By the time Soares left Belém in March 1996,

{\an2}Portuguese democracy was fully consolidated

{\an2}and the country's participation in the European construction

{\an2}no longer raised any objections.

{\an2}Portugal had reached maturity.

{\an2}The Socialist Party had just returned to power.

{\an2}It was leading the Government, presiding over Parliament, and held the Presidency of the Republic.

{\an2}What is it I did? I contributed immensely to the consolidation

{\an2}and proper functioning of democratic institutions,

{\an2}I think I can be credited with that.

{\an2}I contributed to dedramatising Portuguese political life,

{\an2}to establishing normal civic coexistence

{\an2}among Portuguese people in their various parties

{\an2}and therefore to some appeasement of the Portuguese situation.

{\an2}Soares can calmly depart the political stage

{\an2}to become the guardian of Portuguese democracy

{\an2}and one of Europe’s most prestigious figures of our time.

{\an2}At the foundation he created in 1995,

{\an2}he is once again a fomenter of ideas.

{\an2}Two crucial objectives drive him:

{\an2}the construction of a Europe that is both a political force

{\an2}and a model of solidarity,

{\an2}and denouncing an increasingly unbalanced and unjust world.

{\an2}If we fail to overcome these divided societies

{\an2}that we are constructing in our time,

{\an2}and particularly if we do not tenaciously fight

{\an2}against poverty, discrimination, and social exclusion

{\an2}that affects so many human beings today across the world...

{\an2}If we don't that, it is clear that next century,

{\an2}in spite of science and its achievements,

{\an2}in spite of incredible technologies, in spite of all this,

{\an2}will be even more problematic, more violent,

{\an2}more damaging for humanity than the tumultuous 20th century.

{\an2}That is why I think European action is so important.

{\an2}Europe can be a factor

{\an2}that contributes substantially to the a balanced world,

{\an2}to a more humanistic vision of the world,

{\an2}and to reminding us all that science and development are hugely important,

{\an2}but that development must have a social and human dimension.

{\an2}I do not believe in God, I never have,

{\an2}I was never touched by that grace, if I may say so.

{\an2}I am not a believer, I don't believe in the immortality of the soul,

{\an2}but I do have values.

{\an2}And these values, for me, are almost sacred.

{\an2}And I believe, perhaps irrationally,

{\an2}in the human condition, I believe in progress,

{\an2}I believe in the possible improvement of human beings.

{\an2}That is why I have always fought, and will continue to fight,

{\an2}until the end of my life.