This event not only brought an end to nearly half a century of dictatorship but also set the country on a revolutionary path . Policies aimed at deep social transformation , including the nationalisation of banks and much of the large industry , with some instances of collectivisation , were supported by significant popular mobilisation . The group of MFA officers closest to communist positions announced in March 1975 that the “ transition to socialism ” had begun within the Ongoing Revolutionary Process ( PREC ).
The constituent elections of April 1975 gave victory to the Socialist Party of Portugal , founded two years earlier on 19 April 1973 in Bad Münstereifel ( FRG ), and led by opponent Mário Soares , who had been exiled in Paris since 1970 . In the following months , the country came close to civil war , but on 25 November , the attempt of another coup led by groups of officers advocating for further advances in the PREC failed . This outcome would facilitate the socialists , supported by conservative political groups concentrated in the provinces north of the Tagus , to put an end to the political influence of officers close to the positions of the Portuguese Communist Party . Subsequently , the Constituent Assembly , meeting in plenary session on 2 April 1976 , approved the Constitution of the Republic , whose Article 1 declared it “ a sovereign Republic , based on human dignity and the popular will , committed to transforming into a classless society ”.
Spain ’ s democratisation , like Portugal ’ s , was not without tensions and challenges . In the Spanish case , the assassination of Prime Minister Admiral Carrero Blanco , following an attack organised by the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna ( ETA ) in Madrid on 20 December 1973 , deepened the dictatorship ’ s crisis . Arias Navarro , the Minister of the Interior , was appointed by Franco as the new Prime Minister on 31 December of that same year . Arias was tasked with designing reform and opening policies , remaining in office after Franco ’ s death and the proclamation , two days later , on 22 November 1975 , of Juan Carlos I as king and head of state . Nevertheless , Arias Navarro ’ s failure to reconcile reforms with the regime ’ s survival became evident . On 5 July 1976 , the monarch appointed Adolfo Suárez , then Secretary
General of the Movement , as Prime Minister . From then on , steps were taken towards a process of political reform driven by groups from the Francoist political establishment , as well as agreements with the main leaders of the political opposition . This led to the general elections on 15 June 1976 which aimed to consolidate a liberal parliamentary democracy . The Spanish Constitution , voted in a referendum on 6 December 1978 , which put an end to the Fundamental Laws of the regime that emerged victorious in the civil war , stated in its Article 1 that “ Spain is constituted as a social and democratic State of law , which promotes as the highest values of its legal order liberty , justice , equality , and political pluralism . National sovereignty resides in the Spanish people , from whom the powers of the State emanate ”.
The end of both dictatorships is often included in what is termed the “ Third Wave of Democratisation ” ( Huntington , 1994 ), conceived as negotiated processes for the establishment of liberal-democratic systems . This phenomenon had an initial impetus that , in addition to Portugal and Spain , included the fall of the Colonels ’ dictatorship in Greece , which occurred on 24 July 1974 . However , this democratising wave would extend until 1991 , affecting transition processes in Eastern Europe with the Soviet collapse , as well as those experienced in the Southern Cone of Latin America .
Nonetheless , the political and social rupture that occurred in Portugal would not fully align with this model nor would have distinct characteristics that should not be overlooked . In fact , systematic comparisons are often made between the Portuguese Revolution and the Spanish Transition , portraying the latter as a model process due to its combination of moderation , reconciliation , and negotiation , contrasted with the radicalism , violence , and rupture symbolised by the process initiated on 25 April in Portugal . In the effort to group and compare the Portuguese case with Spain ’ s process of democratic consolidation , it is often overlooked that the Portuguese transition “ was a post-revolutionary ( or even anti-revolutionary ) outcome .” This revolution , with openly socialist goals explicitly stated in its constitutional text , saw its political and social model
60
Observing Memories Issue 8