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In-Depth Information
From Revolution to Democracy
Despite the coup's popularity, the following year saw unprecedented chaos. It began where
the revolution had begun - in the African colonies. Independence was granted immediately
to Guinea-Bissau, followed by the speedy decolonisation of the Cape Verde islands, São
Tomé e Príncipe, Mozambique and Angola.
Portugal only narrowly missed claiming Europe's first female prime minister: in 1979 Margaret Thatcher
snatched the honour just three months before Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo (1930-2004).
The transition wasn't smooth: civil war racked Angola, and East Timor, freshly liberated
in 1975, was promptly invaded by Indonesia. Within Portugal, too, times were turbulent,
with almost a million refugees from African colonies flooding into Portugal.
The country was an economic mess, with widespread strikes and a tangle of political
ideas and parties. The communists and a radical wing of the MFA launched a revolutionary
movement, nationalising firms and services. Peasant farmers seized land to establish com-
munal farms that failed because of in-fighting and poor management. While revolution ar-
ies held sway in the south, the conservative north was led by Mário Soares and his Partido
Socialista (PS; Socialist Party).
It took a more moderate government, formed in 1975, to unite the country after a coup
by radical leftists was crushed. At last, the revolution had ended.
 
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