Local political elites and the Revolution: Portalegre 1941-19971.

Maria Antónia de Figueiredo Pires de Almeida

Introduction.

Who directs local politics? Which social and professional groups directed city

and village councils in Portugal? What was their evolution and behaviour for the second

half of the twentieth century, during the final years of the Estado Novo and the political

transition provided by the Revolution of April 25th, 1974?

To answer these apparently simple questions there is a long work to be done,

which includes the research on local administration sources and the memories of the

local citizens. Only recently have these studies been of any interest to historians.

Integrating a theme called the Social History of the Administration, some thesis have

been produced on the subject, specially since the pioneer works of Maria Manuela

Rocha and Hélder Fonseca, about Monsaraz and Évora. Their sources include, among

others, farming records and accounts of the most important local families. Rui Santos,

concerning the elites of Mértola in the XVIIIth century, wrote that they were: “Lords of

the land, lords of the village...”. He analysed this group’s engagement and leadership in

the City Council and the Misericórdia (a private welfare institution), the two most

important local power institutions. On the ISCTE several Masters thesis have been

written on this subject: João Manuel Pereira and Venerando António Aspro de Matos

(separately) about Torres Vedras, Carla Faustino about Arraiolos, myself about Avis,

Ana Paula Teixeira Torres about Oeiras, Teresa Pereira about Lisbon. Yet, none of them

studied the second half of the XXth century.

Essentially this type of research is based on the books of acts of the

municipalities, on voter’s registers (they provide professional categories until the late

sixties), and on a detailed inquiry on local economic and social elites, using sources

such as the registers of the Misericórdias and other political power institutions (for

example corporate ones, like the Grémios or Casas do Povo). But other sources are very

important, especially the ones that are not so formal: people and their memories, houses,

1 This text is the english version of Maria Antónia F. Pires de Almeida – “As elites municipais e a revolução: Portalegre 1941-1997”, in António Costa Pinto e André Freire (org.) – Elites, Sociedade e Mudança Política, Celta Editora, Oeiras, 2003, pp. 9-42.

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graveyards, statues and local monuments, the names of the streets, and so on. A

watchful walk on the streets of a small village may reveal a lot more than could be

expected. Names that are exposed generally coincide with the ones that show up on the

registers and reveal the importance of the families and their local image.

To begin this authentic marathon through the country, I began in Avis and then

extended my research to the all district of Portalegre. As a future project I intend to

study the rest of the country.

The district of Portalegre.

This district is composed of fifteen municipalities, where there were 152 Mayors

(Presidents of the Council) in the period of 1941-1997, including deputy mayors who

replaced mayors (but not the temporary ones, who would add more than one third to this

number). Of those 152 names, 90 of them presided over city councils from 1941 to

1974; 17 presided over administration committees nominated during the revolutionary

period until the first local elections; and 47 were elected between 1976 and 19972.

Finding out their professional categories was not an easy task, just as presenting

them in tables was a quite a challenge. Most of them could fit into two or three

professions and it was hard to choose which was the main one and which was

secondary. This is a problem found in rural areas, where land ownership and even

agricultural work can be (and it is quite frequently) associated with other professions.

The following criterion was established to build these tables: the main profession was

the one that provided the principal source of income. It was considered that a large

estates landowner’s main income comes from his agricultural activity, even if he is a

lawyer or a doctor (some of them did not practice), while a small farmer with another

profession (specially if he has a graduate education) surely earns more money in his

profession than he takes from his land. If we are dealing with a shopkeeper with a few

small properties, for example, he fits into the category of shopkeeper; a lawyer who

teaches in high school is considered a teacher, not a lawyer; notaries are in the

graduate’s group, which includes those degrees that are more often found in these

2 This adds up to 154, but in two cases, Ponte de Sor e Marvão, the presidents of the administration committees were elected afterwards.

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districts: Law, Medicine, Pharmacy and Agronomy. However, in these last few years,

some mayors came out with different degrees, such as an economist in Fronteira (he

was elected on 1993, but was included in the militaries, because he is a retired Major); a

sociologist in Portalegre (elected on 1989, he was included in the clerks group, because

he was a social worker who obtained his degree afterwards); another sociologist in Avis

(elected on 2001, a member of the Communist Party with a political career) and a

theologian in Marvão (elected on 1997, included in the clerks group). These last two

mayors are out of this paper’s chronological limits. The clerks group includes local

public servants, such as local treasury officers, public servants who worked in Lisbon

and retired to their home countries (specially after 1975), railroad employees, social

workers, accountants, shop assistants and others. Table I summarizes the professional

categories of district of Portalegre’s mayors in ten year periods, and shows the clear

difference that occurred with the revolution of April 25th, 1974.

Table I:

Mayors: Professional Categories 1941/1950

1951/1960

1961/1970

1970/1974

1974/1976

1977/1979

1980/1989

1990/1997

Totals %

Large estates Landowners 8 4 6 5 1 24 12.6Large estates landowners graduated in Medicine, Veterinary, Law or Agronomic Sciences

13 3 2 4 1 1 0 24 12.6

Graduates: Agronomic Sciences, Medicine, Veterinary, Law, Pharmacy

8 9 9 2 3 4 5 40 20.9

Small estates landowners, farmers, tenants 1 2 5 3 0 11 5.8School teachers 1 1 2 2 2 2 10 5.2High-school teachers 2 2 1 4 1 10 5.2Nurses 1 1 0.5Clerks 2 3 5 7 17 8.9Shopkeepers 2 1 1 5 2 1 0 12 6.3Industrialists 1 2 2 2 1 0 8 4.2Clearing-agents 1 1 1 1 0 4 2.1Farm workers 1 0 1 0.5Bricklayer, locksmith 1 2 0 3 1.6Bank clerks 1 1 1 2 3 3 11 5.8Priests 1 1 0 2 1.0Agricultural technician 1 1 3 2 7 3.7Military 3 1 1 2 7 3.7

Table II:

Mayors: Professional Categories (%) 1941-1974

1974-1997

Large estates Landowners 19 1Large estates landowners graduated in Medicine, Veterinary, Law or Agronomic Sciences

18 3

3

Graduates: Agronomic Sciences, Medicine, Veterinary, Law, Pharmacy

24 15

Small estates landowners, farmers, tenants 10 0

School teachers 5 5High-school teachers 4 8Nurses 0 1Clerks 0 23Shopkeepers 4 9Industrialists 3 6Clearing-agents 4 0Farm workers 0 3Bricklayer, locksmith 0 4Bank clerks 3 10Priests 1 1Agricultural technician 2 6Military 3 5

Until 1974.

All those authors who studied the local elites of the Alentejo province (southern

Portugal) characterized them as large estates landowners who controlled local politics.

That was also the general rule in the district of Portalegre. In my case study, the

municipality of Avis, the group that controlled local political power since late

eighteenth century was clearly identified with land possession or tenancy3. Large estates

landowners and tenants who worked properties with average sizes ranging 500 to 1.000

hectares ruled this municipality’s political, economic and social scene for over two

hundred years, building strong marks of their presence. This is the group that can be

found on the lists of eligible people to this village council, for example, on 1799-1801.

On these lists we can also point out the druggist, whose local influence was acquired by

his profession, rather than economic power. On the other hand, municipal solicitors

came from lower professional categories: shopkeepers, clothes merchants,

woodworkers, bricklayers, and people who lived off rents. Avis entered the twentieth

century with the grandchildren of those rural elites occupying the same positions in

local society and local power institutions. The big difference was land property transfer:

the largest tenants became the largest landowners (they acquired mostly the land they

used to rent) and the largest land-taxpayers. Some of them acquired or enlarged their

village residences and moved from their farms to the village. Others embellished

3 For further details see IDEM – “Património e poder local: os senhores e os seus rendeiros (Avis, 1778-1993)”, First Congress of Rural Studies, Vila Real, 16-18 September 2001, available on www.utad.pt/~des/cer/.

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farmhouses or build true palaces on their country houses. These acquisitions were made

during the nineteenth century, using money obtained in agriculture or private loans.

Revolutionary transitions that occurred in Portugal during the first half of the

twentieth century did not affect this group in Avis. Both in the Republican period and in

the Estado Novo, mayors were members of the same families, and the local

Misericórdia purveyors were the same priests or doctors who were also landowners.

With the Estado Novo, mayors were appointed by the government and some remained

with the regime transition of 1926. The introduction of corporate institutions, such as

the Grémios and Casas do Povo (People’s Houses), although it suffered from some

resistance from the landowners, did not affect local traditional balances of power. On

the contrary, their structure reinforced the social and economical leadership of the rural

elites, who rapidly appropriated the presidency and management of these institutions.

Traditional lords of the land remained in charge of the local political power until 1950.

This was the year when the mayoralty was given to another elite group: graduates

without landownership and with strong connections to the regime’s single party, the

União Nacional, first a chemist, then a high-school teacher from 1963 to 1974. Also in

these late years of the regime several sons of the largest landowners graduated in

Agronomy and Veterinary, became professionals of agricultural activities, and

developed and mechanized their farms.

This was the path followed by the political elite in Avis. Other municipalities in

the district of Portalegre had similar experiences. For example in Campo Maior, Castelo

de Vide and Ponte de Sor mayors were large estates landowners in the twenties and

remained so in the thirties. But in Campo Maior on 1934 there was a mayor who was a

doctor, followed by a chemist on 1935 and a shopkeeper from 1936 until 1949. In Alter

do Chão, Nisa, Elvas and Marvão those first years of the Estado Novo watched the rise

of the military, the same as Lisbon.

For the mayoralty, a management organ for municipal affairs, preference should

be given to vowels of the Municipal Council, to old members of the council, or to

college graduates. Mandates had a length of four years, twice renewable (ordinarily) or

thrice (by decree). Deputy mayors were also appointed by the government and had to be

present in council sessions and reunions. Members of the council ranged from six to

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twelve and were elected for four-year periods by the Municipal Council. José António

Santos adds that the mayor had the following tasks: to inform the District Governor of

all public interest affairs, to provide the execution of laws and regulations, to inspect

civil parishes and to oversee moral and civil behaviour. As a police authority, the mayor

had to watch over order and tranquillity, and assure law and order in shows, public

meetings and religious solemnities, as well as control foreign citizens. He also had to

investigate crimes4.

Mayors were not paid for this job. This was a selection criterion5 and forced

them to continue the exercise of their previous occupations. It also led to the much-

publicised sentiment of “sacrifice for the Nation”, and resulted most of the time in the

delegation of the job on deputy mayors.

Analysing mayors’ professions in this district until 1974, we can assert a

majority of large estates landowners, specially graduates (a total of 37 percent).

Graduates who did not depend on landownership for income totalled 24 percent, but if

we add them to landowners with a college degree we obtain a 42 percent total. These

values characterize Mediterranean and/or underdeveloped countries, where there is a

shortage of mid management workers to fill these jobs. They also reveal the continuity

of old elites in local political institutions, where there was usually a direct or indirect

succession: fathers to sons, or brothers, brothers-in-law and nephews6. These elites not

only possessed large rural estates, but they also owned real estate in the villages, usually

with the largest dimensions and best locations, sometimes to rent. Their residences were

sumptuous and left their mark on the scenery and architecture of the villages and cities

of the Alentejo. Some of these houses were later sold or donated to public institutions

and used as headquarters. Such is the case of Nisa’s Misericórdia.

From the 1950’s on and especially on the 1960’s one can observe the beginning

of change in mayor’s professions. This change was consecrated after the revolution.

Avis on 1950 (a chemist) and Portalegre on 1964 (a school teacher) had an early start

and definitely removed landowners from the job and local political power (at least direct

4 José António Santos – “Municípios”, in António Barreto e Maria Filomena Mónica (coords.) – Dicionário de História de Portugal – Suplemento F/O, volume VIII, Livraria Figueirinhas, Porto, 1999, pp. 571-574.5 Naturally there is not a single farm worker, craftsman or clerk.6 For example in Arronches the president in 1961-1966 was succeeded by his son (1966-1974).

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political power). However, if landowners in these municipalities were replaced by a new

group of liberal professionals without land property, this did not result on a loss of

influence of the regime. On the contrary, appointees had strong connections to the

União Nacional, a fact which contradicts “the slow agony of Salazarism since 1950”, at

least on a local level.

In Avis, this particular transition occurred because of a political episode related

to the 1949 elections to the National Assembly. In Portalegre there was a dispute among

the União Nacional’s candidate, Jaime Joaquim Pimenta Presado (a doctor from Avis,

married to a landowner), and a candidate from an opposition party, José Adriano

Pequito Rebelo, a famous lawyer, enormous landowner and an aviator who supported

Franco during Spain’s Civil War, who dared to represent a list called Regionalista

Independente (independent regionalist). Pequito Rebelo, who for most of his life wrote

and commented political events, specially the ones related to agriculture in Alentejo7,

was supported by Avis’ mayor, Luís Mendes Vieira Lopes, brother-in-law and enemy of

his opponent, Presado. With the defeat of Pequito Rebelo8, the “representative of

Alentejo’s agriculture” and “large landowners who do not evolve”, and with the victory

of the “Alentejo’s masses, the good people, who represent the finest qualities of the

Portuguese nation”, according to Presado’s speech on the National Assembly

(December 16th, 1949), Avis’ mayor was replaced, just as Gavião’s, the municipality

where Pequito Rebelo lived and owned his estates. At least in these municipalities, and

as a reaction to this political event, there seems to be a growth of the regime’s influence

and its representatives, in opposition to conservative landowners with monarchic

tendencies.

Other municipalities in the district suffered changes on the professional group of

their mayors, but those changes were not definitive ones: in Arronches and Castelo de

Vide on 1951 (two school teachers) and in Alter do Chão on 1959 (a small landowner

and insurance agent), these individuals were succeeded by large estate landowners.

There was one municipality where there was never a member of this group in local

power. Marvão had the following sequence of mayors: priest (1930), military (1939),

7 His bibliographic list is huge (he published from 1918 until 1982) and quite interesting because of his radical points of view on most of the main events of the twentieth century.8 Biterly contested in his book As Eleições de Portalegre (Documentos), Edição do autor, Lisboa, 1950.

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industrialist and clearing-agent (1945), medical doctor (1956), clearing-agent (1964, not

the same one as before) e industrialist (1974).

Small estate landowners, farmers and tenants also had a considerable weight of

ten percent in this period, but they were totally annihilated from local power, as well as

from the social and economic life of this region after the 1974 revolution, at least as a

single professional category. While a small farmer from the North of the Alentejo could

afford some social weight with his agriculture activity before 1974, on these last few

years the same farmer saw the need to complement agriculture with another profession.

This situation, if not a new one, considerably worsened and people who exercised

agriculture as an exclusive profession completely lost their public representation.

These were the professions of the district of Portalegre’s mayors on the eve of

the revolution:

Table III:

Alter do Chão Large estate landowner, agricultural engineerArronches Large estate landownerAvis High-school teacherCampo Maior Large estate landownerCastelo de Vide Agricultural engineerCrato LandownerElvas (a)Fronteira Large estate landowner, VeterinaryGavião School teacherMarvão IndustrialistMonforte Large estate landownerNisa Large estate landownerPonte de Sor Large estate landowner, EngineerPortalegre School teacherSousel Farmer, small estate landowner, tenant

(a) There was no access to the books between 1967 and 1976.

Table IV:

Mayors on April 25th, 1974: Professional Categories %

Large estates Landowners 40School teachers 18Graduates: Engineer, Veterinary 24Industrialists 6Farmer, small estate landowner 12

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Transition period: 1974 – 1976.

The Revolution was accepted in these municipalities with some reserve. On the

first few days, telegrams were sent to the Junta de Salvação Nacional (National

Salvation Council). It is of interest to compare official reactions on the books of acts for

both revolutionary periods of 1910 (Republic) and 1974. For example in Avis, the

extraordinary session of the council that took place on October 10 th, 1910 (five days

after the republican revolution) was presided by the deputy mayor, Canon José Ricardo

Freire d'Andrade, and was assisted by younger members of the council, who were very

pleased with the change of the regime, as it can be read on the day’s act: “Considering

that the official news of the proclamation of the Republic in our country was recognized

by most of the inhabitants of this municipality, with loud and clear manifestations of

applause and exult, in which most social classes took part; considering that such

applause and exult originate not only on the anxious thirst of political, social and

economic regeneration which would release the country from degradation to which

monarchic governments dragged It for a long time, stealing It’s independency and

secular prestige with credits (…) for all of these motives, I propose: 1st that this

municipal council proclaims its firm approval and fidelity to the republican regime; 2nd

that it should congratulate with the people of the municipality for such desired event,

vowing for the beginning of a time of regeneration and political and social progress in

our homeland; 3rd that these resolutions should be immediately known by their

Excellencies the Minister of the Interior and District Governor; 4 th that in sign of rejoice

this session is closed”. The mayor did not show up to the session and was promptly

replaced.

Six decades and two revolutions latter, in this same municipality there was a

“Deliberation” on May 5th, 1974, written by the mayor, Fernando Nuno Belo Gonçalves

Coelho, which is simply a formality and reveals the total absence of emotion or

satisfaction with the revolutionary process. It was immediately followed by the mayor

and deputy mayor exoneration requests, assuring the continuity of their duties until

properly replaced. The same thing happened in Nisa, where the mayor requested his

exoneration to the District Governor on May 28th, 1974, but remained in his charge until

his replacement, “in order not to create difficulties to the National Salvation Council”.

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By the contrary, in municipalities such as Castelo de Vide and Fronteira there were

enthusiastic manifestations of rejoice.

Decree number 236/74 (June 3rd, 1974) gave competence to the Minister of the

Internal Administration to dissolve, by governmental order, all administrative bodies,

regardless of any formality, and appoint administrative committees in their substitution.

Until the formal appointment of these committees, members of the council temporarily

assumed mayoralties. A limit to end mayor’s mandates was set on June 18th, 1974 and

was scrupulously enforced. Administrative committees were invested with a

considerable variation, from Avis’ on July 12th, (five days before the publication of its

appointment’s governmental order, number 28/74, July 17th, 1974), up to Fronteira’s,

whose investment took place on February 1975. Most of the fifteen municipalities, eight

of them, were invested on November 1974.

Meanwhile, the consecrated expression “assault on councils” used on several of

this period’s sources does not seem to be quite literal on this district, where there was

exult, but not enough to be used on physical violence acts. Mayors went away

peacefully. The same cannot be said of other local public figures. Again the example of

Avis, where class hatred seems to have been stronger. The deputy mayor (in 1974) and

the former mayor (1950-1962) were literally expelled from their houses and the village,

“accompanied by acts of hatred and savagery”9. There was no physical assault due to

strong protection from local police (GNR – Republican National Guards). Meanwhile,

the mayor decided to send his family abroad a few days after the first “Free May 1st”

manifestation, when he began to see the path political events were taking.

The administrative committees’ most urgent concerns seem to have been, in

most of the cases found in the books of acts, the occupation of houses considered under-

used by the people of the villages or former colonies returnees. For such process,

dwellers committees were created on civil parishes and several houses were

dispossessed in their name. Closely related to this political process, there was a strong

movement of land occupations, known as Agrarian Reform, which had, in this region, a

direct connection to social and economic structure. Groups that led local power in this

period are representative of the movement’s strength or lack of it in each municipality.

9 Words of Fernando Nuno Belo Gonçalves Coelho, Avis’ mayor until 1974.

10

According to Afonso de Barros’ map with the percentages of land occupations in

Portalegre’s municipalities, these are the following values:

Nisa e Marvão = 0%. Crato = less than 5%.Arronches = between 5% and 20%.Castelo de Vide, Portalegre, Gavião, Monforte and Elvas = between 20% and 50%.Avis, Ponte de Sor, Alter do Chão, Campo Maior, Fronteira and Sousel = more than 50%10.

It was precisely on those municipalities with the largest land occupation that the

change in local political elites was more obvious. In Fronteira the president of the

administrative committee claimed he was a “Farm Worker”. Curiously, in Avis’ first

session of the administrative committee, “Mister” was written before the name of each

appointed individual, a fact meant to establish a newly obtained position in a society

where Mr. “X” was different than his servant. In the municipalities where there were

practically no land occupations, presidents of the administrative committees were very

similar to former mayors: in Nisa there was as a landowner with a Law degree; in

Portalegre there also was a landowner who taught in an Industrial School; in Crato there

was a doctor and in Castelo de Vide there was also a doctor who was a landowner and a

former member of the council, therefore he belonged to the local traditional elite.

Table V:

Presidents of Administrative Committees, 1974-1976

Professional Categories

Alter do Chão ShopkeeperArronches School teacher, industrialistAvis NurseCampo Maior School teacherCastelo de Vide Landowner, Medical doctor, former member of the councilCrato Medical doctorElvas ShopkeeperFronteira Farm WorkerGavião Clerk

10 Afonso Barros – A Reforma Agrária em Portugal. Das ocupações de terras à formação das novas unidades de produção, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Centro de Estudos de Economia Agrária, Oeiras, 1979, p. 78. According to my research, Avis had a 71 percent land occupation.

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Marvão ClerkMonforte ShopkeeperNisa Large estates landowners, LawyerPonte de Sor Cork IndustrialistPortalegre Landowner, teacherSousel Chemist

Table VI:

Presidents of Administrative Committees, 1974-1976: Professional Categories

%

Large estates landowners, Lawyer 6Chemist 6Shopkeepers 18School teachers 19Nurses 6Clerks 13Industrialists 13Medical doctors 13Farm workers 6

On the presidents of administrative committees profession’s list it is clear to

watch the increase of professional variety, as well as the introduction of new

professions, such as clerks, nurses and farm workers.

Since 1977.

First municipal elections held place on December 12th, 1976. Legislation that

came out of the 1974 revolution, like the one that came out of the 1926’s, made former

mayors unable to take part on the elections to form the Constituent Assembly11, but did

not prevent them from running to mayoralty. If most of them did not apply, some of

them dared and won. Such was the case of Manuel Rui Azinhais Nabeiro, coffee

industrialist from Campo Maior who had already been mayor on 1972. There is

something to be said about the fact that he employed most of this municipality’s people.

Also in Castelo de Vide, the mayor who was elected on 1976 was the son of a former

mayor (1957-1960): Dr. José Vicente Branco do Casal Ribeiro, a veterinary with a PhD

and a large estate landowner.

11 Decrees number 621-A and 621-B/74, November 15th, 1974. They were also unable to be elected to the cooperatives social organs, Decree number 390/75, July 22nd 1975.

12

This district’s first electoral results were quite diversified. The Socialist Party

was a clear winner, with an 80 percent result and twelve mayoralties, a fact that

distinguished this district from its neighbours Évora and Beja, where the Communist

Party won these elections.

In the district of Portalegre, municipalities of Ponte de Sor, Avis and Sousel

were the only ones where the Communist Party won; they are politically closer to the

other districts of the Alentejo region. Electoral behaviour of these three municipalities is

directly connected to land and property structure, which is mostly made of large estates,

different from the majority of the district of Portalegre, where smaller farms are in large

number and land occupations was reduced.

Generally we can say that political elites were replaced. In a few of these

municipalities, it was a definitive replacement. Back to table I we can see the enormous

professional variety of mayors from 1974 onwards: we can point out clerks with 23

percent, college graduates with 15 percent (without landownership), teachers with 13

percent, shopkeepers with ten percent and bank clerks with nine percent. The first group

of elected mayors lists as bellow:

Table VII:

Mayors elected on December 1976: Professional CategoriesAlter do Chão Bank clerkArronches BricklayerAvis Tenant, taxi driverCampo Maior Industrialist (the same as on 1972)Castelo de Vide Large estates landowners, VeterinaryCrato PriestElvas ?Fronteira ShopkeeperGavião ClerkMarvão Military (Sergeant of the fiscal guards)Monforte Shop managerNisa Public servant

13

Ponte de Sor Cork industrialistPortalegre Bank clerkSousel Farm worker – shepherd

Table VIII:

Mayors elected on December 1976: Professional Categories

%

Large estates landowner, Veterinary 7Bank clerks 15Shopkeepers 7Clerks 22Industrialists 14Military (Sergeant of the fiscal guards) 7Tenant, taxi driver 7Priest 7Bricklayer 7Farm worker 7

Presently, professional groups that control mayoralties in Portalegre are

connected to services jobs and have a scarce (or mostly inexistent) relation to

landownership. Recruitment criterions turned almost exclusively to political affiliation,

but personal charisma was also important, especially in the first democratic elections.

During the following two decades, the Socialist Party won in this district, and the

Communist Party can no longer hold a second place as easily as in the early years of the

democratic regime: in 1993 the Social Democratic Party conquered the second place,

but in 1997 it returned to third. Only one municipality remained faithful to the

Communist Party (or its coalitions) after all these years: Avis still has over fifty percent

vote on the PCP. Since the first constituent elections that took place on April 25 th, 1975

that the Communist Party wins in this municipality, not only in local elections, but also

in national ones. And this is a tendency that still lasts: for example on the October 10 th,

1999 national elections, the Communist Coalition won with over fifty percent only in

two municipalities all over the country, and they were Avis and Serpa. Avis’ electoral

behaviour is closer to the one of the districts of Beja and Évora, than the one of its own

district. Its first elected mayor was a small tenant and cab driver, but in his professional

status he wrote he was an “agricultural labourer”. It is not to be neglected that this

individual that presided over local politics from 1977 until 1980 was the same one that

led the Agrarian Reform process in the municipality of Avis and its neighbours.

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On all the other municipalities of the district of Portalegre there has been some

party rotation, motivated by personal sympathy, according to oral sources. For example

in Ponte de Sor and Sousel the Communist Party won the majority in 1976, but in 1993

the first one voted Socialist Party and the second voted Social Democratic Party, while

the municipalities of Crato and Nisa, where the Socialist Party had won, both changed

to the Communist Party. This personalization of politics on municipalities results in a

large number of mayors who are doctors, social workers (included in the clerks group),

shopkeepers, bank clerks and agricultural technicians, undoubtedly people with jobs and

professional skills that deal directly with the voters and deliver services of local utility

and prestige. It is their proximity with the voters that became an eligibility criterion

which was not necessary on the earlier regime, simply because there were no elections

to be held.

The group of mayors that was elected on December 1993 and exercised its

mandate until December 1997 had the following professional categories:

Table IX:

Mayors on 1994-1997: Professional Categories

Alter do Chão AgronomistArronches Large estates landowner, public servant,

descended from the old elitesAvis Agricultural technicianCampo Maior Public servantCastelo de Vide High school teacher, descended from the old

elitesCrato Public servantElvas Swimming teacherFronteira Retired Military (Major), EconomistGavião School teacherMarvão Public servantMonforte Shop managerNisa Medical doctorPonte de Sor Medical doctor

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Portalegre Public servant, SociologistSousel Medical doctor

Table X:

Mayors on 1994-1997: Professional Categories %Graduates 32Large estates landowner 6Agricultural technician 6Clerks 33Teachers 17Military 6

We can see in this list that the economist and sociologist mentioned earlier fit

into college graduates but also into the military and the clerks group. Clerks and college

graduates still represent the professional majority of this universe in study. There is a

new category that should be emphasized, even though it is not on the tables: retired

people, who have an important representation in the district of Portalegre. The mayor of

Fronteira, an economist, is a retired military, a Major, just as Campo Maior’s in 1986

was a retired public servant and Fronteira’s in 1990 was another retired military, a

sergeant. There are several cases of mayors and members of the council who exercised

their professional lives in Lisbon and returned to their hometowns after they retired,

dedicating their final years to local politics.

These sources made possible other studies, such as the length of mayor’s

mandates:

Table XI:

Permanency of mayors Number of mayors since 1941 until 1974

Average years on the mayoralty

Number of presidents of administrative committees, 1974-1976

Number of mayors since 1977

Average years on the mayoralty

Alter do Chão 4 9 1 3 8Arronches 8 4 2 2 12Avis 3 11 1 2 12Campo Maior 8 3 1 3 7Castelo de Vide 8 4 1 4 6Crato 4 8 1 4 5Elvas 7 5 1 5 4Fronteira 5 8 1 5 5Gavião 4 9 1 4 6Marvão 6 6 1 2 11Monforte 6 6 2 1 21

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Nisa 10 4 1 3 8Ponte de Sor 5 7 1 3 8Portalegre 7 5 1 4 5Sousel 5 7 1 2 11

Total 90 96 17 47 129Average 6.4 8.6

Table XI reveals a larger permanency average for post-revolution mayors than

for earlier ones. This is related to the fact that Estado Novo’s mayors could not renew

their mandates more than three times (as mentioned), while nowadays there is nothing

to prevent a mayor to be forever a candidate. In Portalegre only ten mayors of the earlier

regime fulfilled a twelve years mandate. Up to the revolution the highest permanency

averages can be found in Avis (eleven years), Alter do Chão and Gavião (both with nine

years), and the total average is 6.4 years. After the first 1976 elections, Monforte has the

longest permanency time: 21 years with the same mayor, while Avis’ reached 20 years

in 2000. This was the year the mayor asked for his mandate’s suspension, was replaced

and then retired. The highest averages are to be found in Monforte (21), Arronches and

Avis (12), Marvão and Sousel (11), and the total average is 8.6 years.

This phenomenon originated the rise of local administration professionals,

which was quite impossible before 1974 because, as previously mentioned, mayors

were not paid for their job. While during the Estado Novo, mayors and members of the

council did not abandon their professional activities, nowadays people who are elected

for local public office turn a political career into their main job and source of income.

This is also due to the larger complexity of municipal administration. At the end of

mandates, if they are not re-elected, former mayors of the district of Portalegre usually

return to previous occupations. When they remain in charge for a long time, they go

directly to retirement. Only a few former mayors take the path of central government,

generally the ones from Lisbon, Porto and other important cities. Some of them are

deputies of the Assembleia da República (Portuguese National Assembly) and one of

them became the President (Jorge Sampaio was the mayor of Lisboa from 1990 until

1996).

It was also possible to verify feminine presence in the district’s municipal

councils:

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Table XII:

Municipalities First Woman:Alter do Chão Member of the council, 1994, Socialist PartyArronches Member of the council, 1990, Social-Democratic PartyAvis Member of the council, 1998, Communist CoalitionCampo Maior Member of the council, 1998, Socialist PartyCastelo de Vide 0Crato Member of the council, 1986Elvas Member of the council, 1998, Socialist PartyFronteira Deputy mayor who replaced the mayor on 1991-1993Gavião 0Marvão 2 Members of the council on 1977, member of the council, 1998, Socialist

PartyMonforte Member of the council on 1973, wife of a lawyer, large estate landowner

Nisa Member of the council, 1998, Communist CoalitionPonte de Sor Vowel on 1957-1961Portalegre Member of the council on 1973, another on 1983 and another on 1998Sousel 0

The municipality of Ponte de Sor was the first to include a woman in its council

in 1957. Monforte and Portalegre also had women members of the council before 1974,

both from traditional elite families. After the 1974 revolution Marvão had two women

in its council in 1977 and one of them was related to a former mayor (a clearing agent

who was in charge from 1964 to 1973). With time, these municipal councils included

more women in their lists of members. In 1991 the mayor of Fronteira (elected in

December 1989 by the Communist Party) became ill and was replaced by his deputy

mayor, a woman named Luísa Maria Oliveira Correia, a designer from Alter do Chão

who worked in the city hall. This clerk was the first woman mayor in the district.

A few final notes:

This paper was meant to contribute to a larger characterization of the Portuguese

local elites. In the Alentejo region, while in the period of the Estado Novo there was a

clear prevalence of large estates landowners and college graduates among local political

elites, after the April 25th, 1974 revolution these groups were replaced with others with

completely different origins and professional categories, among which clerks, graduates

and teachers prevail. Definitely, landownership no longer rules the countryside. The

only exceptions are to be found in Arronches and Castelo de Vide, where present

mayors descend from traditional landowner elites, but had also public service and

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teaching careers: the first one as a social security worker and the second as a high-

school teacher.

There are a few possible explanations to this fact. One of them is the Agrarian

Reform, which occurred throughout this region. Although it did not result in a definitive

transfer of propriety, it definitely removed ancient elites from local politics, and, in most

cases, from agriculture. There were many of these families whose members had other

professions, but there was always one of the members who devoted their lives to

agriculture as a main activity, even if he had another profession. Land occupations from

1975 until 1989 (in some cases until 1993) forced most landowners and their children to

follow different professional paths, alternative to agriculture rather than complementary.

When Portugal was an agricultural country, central government had agricultural policies

that included cereal prices protection aimed especially at southern large estates that

allowed landowners to keep a high profile lifestyle. This was evident to all: not only

cars and houses were in contrast to surronding poverty, but also this group’s attitude and

social behaviour set them apart from the rest of the population. In the second half of the

twentieth century there was a tendency to subordinate agriculture to other economic

activities. This was particularly emphasized with Portugal’s adhesion to the EEC and

the introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy, which made agricultural activity

economically impracticable and placed serious difficulties to this profession, especially

on small and medium size farms. Present day’s farmers of the Portalegre district still

hold large estates, located mostly on the municipalities of Alter do Chão, Avis, Campo

Maior, Fronteira, Monforte, Ponte de Sor and Sousel, where cork forest and cattle

breeding prevail. Many of them descend directly from the elites that two hundred years

ago rented the nobleman’s estates. Others arrived recently and bought land, just like

many industrialists and some other urban groups did in mid nineteenth century, trying to

acquire the social status they lacked. Yet, nowadays landowning no longer provides the

economic status that it did fifty years ago. Therefore, landowning in the Alentejo is now

more of a recreational activity for a few privileged people and the fulfilment of a

fashion desire: leaving polluted and stressing cities on the weekend in order to have

better “quality of life”, but maintaining their urban professional activities, their main

source of income. This tendency does not apply to large estates and cork forest

landowners, who can still live rather well exclusively from their agricultural activity.

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These characteristics of the rural world in the south of Portugal have direct

consequences on former elites absence from local politics: they are tourists and

complete outsiders, away from local social life and the general population, with stronger

ties to Lisbon, where they arrive in little over one hour. Also, low use of local workers

in present day’s agriculture diminishes contact with local population. Fifty years ago

these farms hired dozens, sometimes hundreds of journeymen during the crops, not

counting permanent staff. Nowadys, hired staff is minimal, machines do all the work

and specialized jobs are done by outsiders. There is a situation of large estates owned by

a few who do not participate on social and economic life, contrasting with a population

of elder people, with practically no job opportunities and whose children moved to

Lisbon or abroad. This situation makes way to resentment and reflects on electoral

results. The Communist Party still has a strong presence in this region and it will take a

few generations for local voters to remove, forget and overcome the motives that led to

the Agrarian Reform.

For two centuries, landowners and tenants in fact controlled local politics,

resisting changes and revolutions. Although some of them resisted regime transitions at

first, all of them adapted to change and controlled local power institutions. In the words

of Rui Santos, the “Lords of the land” remained “Lords of the village”, until the 1974

revolution cleared them away definitely.

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