"His famous three Ds – democracy, decolonization, development – were realized. His S – socialism – was progressively abandoned," said Enzo Traverso, at the International Congress "50 years of April 25th", at the Rectory of the University of Lisbon.

The Italian historian, a professor at Cornell University, in the United States of America, spoke on the first day of this congress promoted by the Commemorative Commission of the 50 Years of April 25th, which ends on Sunday.

In a panel entitled "Echoes of a revolutionary era", Enzo Traverso pointed to November 25, 1975 as "a major turning point in the Portuguese revolution, like the 'Thermidor' of the Portuguese revolution, a political shift that stopped the revolutionary process but, at the same time, preserved many of its achievements".

"An accurate rereading of the Portuguese revolution should try to understand its potential, looking not only at the achievements and consequences, but also at its hopes, its objectives and its values," he advocated.

Regarding the current political situation in Portugal, the historian observed that the counter-revolutionary attempt to restore the old regime that failed in March 1975 "may have returned, 50 years later", with the growth of Chega, which he described as "a xenophobic, nationalist, neoliberal far-right party".

In over an hour of speech, given in English, Enzo Traverso contested the idea that "the authentic vocation of the Portuguese revolution" was to make Portugal a liberal democracy and a market society integrated into the European community space.

In his opinion, this view is contradicted by the results of historical research, clashes with the individual memories of those who made and lived April 25th, and with the collective memory.

The historian also resorted to his own memories, as a young student "already very politicized" in secondary school in Italy, highlighting the impact that the Carnation Revolution had in Europe: "For two years, Portugal was the beating heart of the European left, not only the political heart, but the emotional one. Our clocks were set to Lisbon time".

"A few months after Pinochet's coup in Chile, the photographs of soldiers with carnations in their rifles were absolutely astonishing. For our parents, however, they immediately awakened other memories: the liberation of Paris in 1944 or that of Milan in 1945," he said.

For Enzo Traverso, "the end of Salazarism – the oldest continental fascism, with Franco's in Spain – placed the revolution in the sequence of anti-fascist resistances, such as the liberation at the end of World War II".

At the same time, April 25th "almost naturally appeared as a new step in the wave of revolt opened by May 68 in Paris," he continued, noting how "the faces, the clothes, the hairstyles were almost the same, but in Lisbon there was more fraternity", with civilians and military on the same side.

"The Portuguese revolution meant the joining of the anti-colonial revolution in Africa, in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau with a revolution against capitalism in Europe. We had no doubts, from the beginning, that we were facing a socialist revolution. It seems to me that the most rigorous historiography does not question this statement," he added.

Enzo Traverso, who has dedicated himself to the history of political ideas of the 20th century, framed April 25th in the context of the "horizon of expectations that had been established by the October Revolution".

In his view, "this was immediately clear when on May 1, 1974 workers, peasants, soldiers and sailors ran together through the streets of Lisbon: the spirits of October seemed to awaken".

According to the historian, "the socialist dimension of the Portuguese revolution was obvious" in the popular mobilization that led to "land occupation, agrarian reform, factory occupation, nationalization of companies", in the "symbols and words that covered the walls and invaded the streets during the demonstrations", in the "cultural revolution in the art, cinema, music sector".

"[The socialist dimension] was finally enshrined in the 1976 Constitution. Thus, the belonging of the Portuguese revolution to the historical sequence of socialist revolutions of the 20th century was not an illusion of its actors. Socialism was not a fantasy, it was part of the reality of things," he argued.

Enzo Traverso invoked, on the other hand, conversations held at the time between the Americans Henry Kissinger and Frank Carlucci, with Mário Soares and between both, about "how to stop the growth of communism in Europe, because they feared the effects of contagion from the Portuguese events".

According to the historian, "in the end, institutional legitimacy prevailed over revolutionary legitimacy", after a period in which "forms of popular power that clashed with the Constituent Assembly elected in the first free elections" and there was an "effective power held by the Armed Forces Movement (MFA)".

"November 25th meant a return to order. The revolution had to be channeled into the rails of institutional representative democracy, which prevailed over revolutionary democracy and popular power. The army once again became the coercive force of the State, not the armed vanguard of a revolutionary movement," he said.

"The Portuguese revolution won, but its socialist hopes were defeated," he summed up.

Read Also: Persistent and free. Flávia didn't want to wait and was born in an ambulance (Portuguese version)