Lisbon from Aljube the Clandestine Opposition
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LISBON FROM ALJUBE THE CLANDESTINE OPPOSITION An itinerary through the clandestine houses of the dictatorship period Support texts The Clandestine Opposition. An itinerary through the clandestine houses of the dictatorship period the dictatorship houses of the clandestine through Opposition. An itinerary Clandestine The Lisboan fom Aljube Lisboan fom 1 «What was clandestinity? Clandestinity was nothing other than the passage to anonymity, Support texts and Freedom Aljube Museum Resistance with the aim of escaping the persecutions of the PIDE and fighting fascism, Salazar and his cronies, more easily.» (Aida Magro in Rose Nery Nobre de Melo, Mulheres Portuguesas na Resistência, Lisboa, Seara Nova, 1975, p. 140.) 2 3 THE CLANDESTINE HOUSE MEMORIES (MARQUES, J. A. Silva, «Relatos da Clandestinidade – O PCP visto por dentro», Lisboa, Ed. Jornal Expresso, 1976, pp. 300-302) "The "Houses of the Party" were houses rented clandestinely and inhabited by the clandestine cadres of the Communist Party. (...) The rule was those who lived in clandestinity had to rent their own "facilities". The direction designated an area within which they could search for a house and it would be in this area that they would have to find it. If they concluded that it was impossible, the direction would designate another area. In any case, the individuals would always have to find a house within an area previously delimited by the direction. This to prevent the coincidence of having two or more officials installed in the same area, with all the inconvenience that could result from it, particularly if someone was under surveillance. When renting a house, the clandestine individuals would proceed like anyone else. The Clandestine Opposition. An itinerary through the clandestine houses of the dictatorship period the dictatorship houses of the clandestine through Opposition. An itinerary Clandestine The With the only difference that they would use fake identification details. However, there was an additional difficulty: the guarantor. The clandestine person should not provide a guarantor when renting a house, even because it was very difficult to find one. It couldn't be one of his or her acquaintances, because then, they would know their location. A person who was not their acquaintance would very hardly accept Lisboan fom Aljube Lisboan fom to be a guarantor. To overcome the difficulty, the official would almost always have to give a few more months of deposit than what was normally required. However, the landlords were curious and suspicious, so they asked all sorts of questions. So, renting a house was one of the most unpleasant and difficult things for someone who was a beginner in the clandestine life. After a few years, it became a rou- 3 tine, and since so many stories and justifications had already been made up, there was a whole scheme of types of explanations that were handled with relative ease, adjusting to each situation the most appropriate kind of story. The hard part was dealing with the furniture. So much so that the clandestine in- dividuals would usually have to rent the most expensive houses, because the cheaper ones had already been rented by people who had, for long, been looking for them. Since the rent of the house was expensive, the problem became conciliating it with the furnishings. Paying a high rent, and having half a dozen pieces of furniture, could be noticed. The most common solution was to arrange the entrance room accordingly. This allowed the curious neighbours to see the entrance without noticing the "misery", which would become the object of conversations, reflections and general questionings. Sometimes, to better guarantee the serenity of the spirits, the clandestine per- Support texts and Freedom Aljube Museum Resistance son would talk about the furniture he or she had left at some family member’s house, due to his/her professional activity, since moving furniture, when it is expensive and of good quality, should always be avoided, because there is always the risk of breaking or scratching something. The ideal clandestine house was a single-family house near or even within an al- ready important urban agglomeration. A very rare thing to find. The opposite end was a dwelling in a village or rural area. Because it was isolated, the movements were very easily noticed, and the contact with the neighbours was diffi- cult to avoid or to keep at a convenient distance. A building with plenty of floors was still a preferable choice and the easiest to find. Especially in areas with a very floating population." (Joaquim Pires Jorge, Com uma imensa alegria. Notas autobiográficas, Lisboa, Editorial «Avante!», 1984, pp. 46-47) "Those who lived in hiding had to cut ties with everything, with family and with the simplest things of everyday life – go to a movie theatre, buy a newspaper, grab a coffee, read a book. For many years, we lived connected to rural areas. We found pretexts to rent a house in a village: we said we were going there because we were sick, or because the wife was sick and we were going to get some fresh air, or because we were travelling salesmen. We stayed in the village for six months or a year; then we moved to another village. 4 5 However, in the meantime, the police realised that we were living in villages and sent circulars to all the city councils: if unknown individuals showed up in villages to rent hous- es, they should communicate it to the Police, quietly. This caused some problems and raised the need for us to take a turn. Go to the cities and merge with the city population. But how would we get the money to live in the city, to rent houses, to get matching clothes, take on the appearance of a technical agent, or an engineer, or a doctor, to stop riding a bicycle and start getting cab rides? We made great sacrifices with the help of many organisations and many comrades, particularly the intellectuals, to raise the mon- ey to make this turn. Of course, apart from this new look, we kept the standard of living we had before. The furniture was lumber bought in the old scrap yard and boxes, and we had to move during twilight so people wouldn't see us." (Joaquim Gomes, Estórias e emoções de uma vida de Luta, Lisboa, Editorial «Avante!», 2001, pp.74-76) "Although more experienced comrades said that renting a house was easy, the truth is that, in the early days and even afterwards, it was a terrifying task whenever it had to be accomplished. It is clear that the difficulties resulted not only from the lack of experience of this or that comrade but also of the landlords, who could be good or bad people (some even helped solving problems which were sometimes difficult to address, such as that of the guarantors, etc.). (...). The Clandestine Opposition. An itinerary through the clandestine houses of the dictatorship period the dictatorship houses of the clandestine through Opposition. An itinerary Clandestine The Of course, there was no handbook of rules that could prepare you for every situation that could emerge in the clandestine life of each party official. However, it is true that there was a vast amount of experiences that were shared from comrade to comrade and that it was of the utmost importance to know. However, here, more than in other things in Lisboan fom Aljube Lisboan fom life, the situations were never entirely the same, so the answers could not be the same either. When renting a house, it was necessary, among other things, to reveal our pro- fession, and choosing that profession involved taking into account the place where we were going to live. To introduce oneself as a member of a technical staff, for example, when one wanted to rent a house in a popular neighbourhood, could attract people's at- tention. Likewise, it would hardly go unnoticed to say that one was a construction worker 4 5 when trying to rent a house in an apartment neighbourhood! It could also be noticed or even create some problems to say you were from a particular region when you knew nothing about it - habits, speech, gastronomy, etc.... " SOURCES (PIDE/DGS, SC SR 1098/60, NT 3004, fls. 7-10) "Copy of a confidential circular from the PIDE to different police bodies about the most common behaviours of clandestine people to facilitate the detention of fugitives" Support texts and Freedom Aljube Museum Resistance Circular 76 – SR Confidential Dear Sirs To all facilities of the PIDE, District Commanders of PSP, Traffic And Transit Police, Judicial Police, General In- tendancy of Supplies, General Commander of PSP and General Commander of the Portuguese Legion I have the honour of sending photographs of the individ- uals identified below, the first ten all "officials" and leading "members" of the so-called "Portuguese Communist Party", who, on the night of the 3rd of the current month, escaped from the Prison of the Fort of Peniche, and the last, a sol- dier of the GNR working in that prison establishment, who disappeared from his post, I ask you to make sure that all necessary measures are adopted to recapture the fugitives. (...) I take this opportunity to inform that the individuals who live in "illegality" as "officials" and "leaders" of the aforementioned "Portuguese Communist Party", among which the fugitives, usually settle in small and large regions, in the following manner: 1 - By using a false identity which they prove with iden- tity cards that are filled in legal forms, containing their photographs and fingerprints. Both the identification elements 6 7 and the white stamp and seal of the Director of the Archive are false.