workingclasshistory:

On this day, 11 March 1975, there was an attempted far right coup in Portugal, known as the March 11 Intentona. This happened in the context of the revolutionary period that Portugal which began with the fall of the right-wing dictatorship on 25 April 1974.
After the resignation of president António Spínola in September 1974, a left-wing government took power headed by prime minister and Communist Party-sympathiser, Vasco Gonçalves. Seeking to reverse the growing radicalisation of the revolution, Spínola led an attempted military coup, which failed due to the massive popular support of the MFA (movement of the armed forces - a movement of soldiers and junior officers that overthrew the dictatorship) and forced him to flee to Franco’s Spain. In the cars of the Spinolist officers, massive amounts of money and cheques were found, signed by Espirito Santo (bankers of BES) and António Champalimaud, the richest man in Portugal at the time, with a fortune of around 9 billion euro (in 2020 equivalent), half of the Portuguese GDP in 1974.
This counterrevolutionary 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 “land to those who work on it” and compelled Vasco Gonçalves, in cooperation with unions and the workers, to order the nationalisation of almost 70% of the Portuguese economy, including the financial empires of the Espirito Santo and Champalimaud families, who fled to Brazil where they also possessed vast wealth. During the attempted coup one soldier died and 15 people were injured during the bombing of a military garrison near the Lisbon airport.
Learn more about the Portuguese revolution in our podcast episodes 41-42. Find them on every major podcast app or our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/2020/08/13/e41-42-the-portuguese-revolution/ https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1669407186577758/?type=3