Avante!
Avante! (Forward!) is the official newspaper of the Portuguese Communist Party. Founded in 1931, it continues to be published, 74 years after its foundation. Avante! is the newspaper that was illegally printed and distributed for the longest time in the world - from February 1931 until May 1974. It also gives the name to a famous Festival, organized by the Party - Avante! Festival.
The newspaper's motto is: Workers of World, Unite! and has been present in every edition of the newspaper since the first number.
The History
The Early Years
It was first published February 15 of 1931, with an appeal to the Portuguese proletariat, asking it to join the Party's ranks, but it only became a regularly published newspaper in 1941, due to the constant and brutal repression against the Party led by the Portuguese Fascist authorities that constantly assaulted the clandestine printing offices and because the regular persecutions, arrests and torture actions against the Party's members, some of them irresponsible for the newspaper.
The 1940's and the 1950's
After August of 1941, with the deep reorganization of the Party, the newspaper ceased to be pusblished, at least, one time per month and the Party's structure responsible for it, working in remote locations, could now avoid the persecutions with much more efficiency. In that period, the early 1940's, being away from the official censorship, Avante! became one of the very few (if not the only) Portuguese media to freely report the events of the 2nd World War, denouncing the Nazi atrocities and reporting the role of the Allies, particularly the Soviet, in the war.
In the early 1950's, the Fascist repression against the communists grew again, protected by the new western allies of NATO, Salazar was able to keep the dictatorship without major problems, several Party's members were imprisoned, among those was Álvaro Cunhal, that was judged in a fake trial in which he denounced the Fascist crimes. In 1958 the Regime was overrun with snakes, with the popular support to Humberto Delgado, that would won the Presidential election without the extreme manipulations carried out by the government, the PCP was among Delgado's supporters and Avante! noticed his actions several times.
The 1960's
In 1961 the Colonial War in Africa started, first in Angola, and in the next years in Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. Avante! is one of the few newspapers to give voice to the anti-colonialist feelings of a large part of the Portuguese society, noticing the military and political developments and happenings in the colonies. Avante! also notices the several protests and demonstrations against the Fascism, among those, the Academic Crisis, a period of strong tumult carried out by the students, claiming Democracy. In the end of the 1960's thousands of Portuguese citizens were imprisoned for their resistance against the dictatorship, and Avante! regularly expressed the Party's solidarity for them.
The 1970's
In 1974, after 48 years of dictatorship, the Portuguese people became free, after the Carnation Revolution. A completely new cycle in the Portuguese history begun, freedom of speech was restored after 48 years and, in a Democratic regime, the first legal number of Avante! could be published, in May 17 of the same year, the historical first legal edition of Avante! noticed the presence of the Communists in the 1st provisional government. This edition finished a sequence of 43 years of illegal publishing of the newspaper, a World record. In the revolutionary period, some editions of Avante! reached 500,000 copies. Avante! reported the revolutionary events in a pro-working-class point of view, due to that it became one of the most popular newspapers among the Portuguese workers. In 1976 the first Avante! Festival is carried out, in the FIL park, the first edition of one that would figure among the biggest cultural and political events in the country.
Since the 1980's
The right-wing governments and politics carried out after the Revolutionary Process and several conquests of the Revolution are being dismantled, the Party is strongly against such politics and Avante! notices and denounces what the Party considered to be political step-backs and attacks to the Portuguese working class, several strikes and protests were supported with Avante!'s help.
After the collapse of the Socialist Bloc of Eastern Europe, the PCP influence was reduced, but the Party's presence in the Portuguese society is still remarkable, particularly in the areas around Lisbon and in the South of the country. Several governments succeeded and Avante! continued to be published, reporting the Party's objections to the right-wing politics. In this period, Avante! was published every Thursday.
In the 2000's several graphic changes were carried out, the frontpage is now printed in colors and the newspaper has a much more friendly appearance. The Party created an online edition of Avante!, that features all the newspaper content. The Party's official positions about political issues continue to be published every Thursday in Avante!.
Sections
- The Front Page
- Editorial
- Opinion Columns
- In Focus
- Obituary of PCP members
- Articles
- PCP related articles
- Workers related articles
- Portuguese Parliament related articles
- Youth related articles
- News
- National News
- European News
- International News
- Special Articles
- Cartoon
Historical list of Executive editors (incomplete)
- Dias Lourenço
- José Casanova (present)
Avante! Festival
Every year, in the first weekend of September (since 1976) takes part a gigantic festival, the Avante! Festival (Portuguese: Festa do Avante!).
After taking part in different locations around Lisbon, like the FIL Park, Ajuda or Loures, it is now carried out in Amora, a town near Seixal in a ground bought by the Party after a massive fundraising campaign in the early 90s. The campaign was considered by the Party as a the only way to avoid the boycott organised by the owners of the previous festivals grounds, that culminated in 1987 with the festival not being carried out after 11 editions.
The festival is usually visited and participated in by hundreds of thousands of people, making the outside of the ground seem a gigantic camping park. The party itself consists of a three day festival of music, with the participation of hundreds of portuguese and international bands and artists in five different stages, ethnography, gastronomy, debates, a book & music fair, theatre (Avanteatro) and sporting events. Several foreign communist parties also participate.