zar died, as when he took power 40 years
earlier, except for an increased consciousness and awareness in the colonies and at
home of a people that saw a world
changing around them that did not include Portugal. Salazar's prime preoccupation throughout his reign was the establishment and maintenance of order and
the strengthening of Portugal's finances.
Colonial policies were never questioned,
and when wars broke out in the early
sixties the logical response was the deployment of more and more military
force. Gold and foreign reserves may
have accumulated, but the economy stagnated trapping the majority of the people
into near subsistance existence. A feudal
agricultural model, an all powerful church
that was a vital part of state machinery,
leaderless urban workers straightjacketed
into state controlled unions, and a population that was 40 per cent illiterate all
worked together to insure the maintenance of control by the Salazarist elite.
A long history of political repression as
the response to any form of political
opposition, dealt with any forces that
questioned  the  fascist power structure.
However, because these political and economic structures were clearly not moving,
new forces developed towards the end of
his rule which emphasised the necessity
for some kind of change after his death.
The economic standstill, which reduced
Portugal to the poorest country in Europe,
forced large numbers of workers to emigrate due to the lack of jobs. This eventually created labour shortages, and increased the opposition from those workers
who did return. The forced conscription
of all men between the ages of 18 and 45,
and the drain that the wars had on the
economy, led to more frequent questioning of colonial policies and increased
support  for  the  liberation movements.
This was the situation when Caetano
moved in. Some kind of change was
apparent. But the important point about
the changes which have occurred is that
they have been designed to preserve the
status quo. Caetano was the right hand
man of Salazar for many years, and had
played a vital role in the drafting of the
1933 constitution which established the
fascist ^unitary and corporate republic)).
They   had   their   differences,   but  these
were mainly on the tactics and methods
of maintaining and sustaining the fascist,
corporate state. They were in agreement
on ideology. For, in fact, it is Caetano's
adherence to this ideology, which in an
historical context must be viewed as
«Salazarism)>, that encourage modification
in tactics in order to ensure the continuance of unitary, state power.
Continuity with reform—not liberalisation
Caetano's sensitivity to internal and external pressures, and awareness of more
sophisticated tactics can be seen on many
levels. First, there are the concrete
changes to attack the problems of the
economy, to neutralise growing discontent among the politically unorganised
social groups, and to divert and stifle opposition to colonial policies. Working
with this is the psychological aspect,
which attempts to sell to the Portuguese
people, as well as to the outside world,
that there are, and most important, that
there will be «changes». Yet as he himself, refers to it, it is not liberalisation,
but «renovation)).
The machinery of the state must be remoulded to fit the pressures of the times.
But the fascist state will continue to exist.
The allocation of power will not change,
and the basic contradictions and conflicts
within Portugal will still remain. For
these cannot be resolved within the context of small modifications in the fascist
state. If we examine the first three years
of Caetano's rule, we can see the nature of
this renovation, the political strategy
behind it, and the growing consciousness
within Portugal of the vacuous nature of
this so-called change.
« Liberal» reforms
From the time that Caetano took office,
he tried to avoid strong identification
with the previous regime. He barely mentioned Salazar's name, though he was
alive for another two years. In his first
speech as Prime Minister, his adherence
to doctrine while maintaining a flexible
strategy became clear, as he emphasised
that ((fidelity to a doctrine is not obstinate attachment to formulas and solutions)).    Yet in all that was to follow,
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