BOOK REVIEW MARIA INÁCIA REZOLA The double drama , of Ernesto Melo uma biografia

* política.

Antunes , Âncora, 2012, 792 pp. António Reis ISBN 978 972 780 373 6

t the Colloquium on Freedom and Civic Coherence: A The Example of Ernesto Melo Antunes in Portuguese Contemporary History, which took place at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon in November 2009, I commented on the paper presented by Maria Inácia Rezola and noted that her excellent historiographic analy- sis of Melo Antunes’ role in the Portuguese Revolution was a prelude for a first rate biography and that it was high time such a biography was written. Three years later, the biography has been published by Editora Âncora; it is of course a political biography. The author did not know Melo Antunes personally and, in this case, the temporal and even affective dis- tance prove an asset as they permit a more objective analysis. The lack of a The author’s in-depth knowledge of the personal interview with Melo Antunes history of the 25th April Revolution, of has been overcome by drawing on the PREC and of the Revolutionary Council interviews he granted during his life- are, in fact, of greater importance than time; the following interviews stand out personal acquaintance, which the cir- in particular: with Maria Manuela Cru- cumstances of life never permitted. It is zeiro for the 25th April Documentation this knowledge that makes the author Centre; with Maria João Avilez for the particularly qualified for a work of such Público newspaper; and with Fátima dimension and scope, even though the Campos for RTP television. In addition, biography obviously spans the period the author had access to Melo Antunes’ from before 1974 and beyond 1976. personal archives which are deposited In fact, the historical biography is a his- in the Torre do Tombo and were made toriographic genre that has regained available by Fernando Melo Antunes. strength in the last twenty five years and

RELAÇÕES INTERNACIONAIS SPECIAL ISSUE : 2018 [ pp. 107-113 ] https://doi.org/10.23906/ri2018.sibr04 become increasingly refined. It requires FROM MILTARY OFFICER, OPPOSITION a dialectical interaction between the con- MEMBER AND MAN OF CULTURE text of the era and the subject of the biog- TO MFA REVOLUTIONARY raphy and it cannot be reduced simply to The structure and content of the book are a chronological report of the facts of a of course based on the different dimen- life or limit itself to passively following sions of Ernesto Melo Antunes’ personality the subject’s narratives about him/herself and interventions and these are interwoven or those of his/her contemporaries, no throughout the biographical narrative. matter how important these are. The his- The first part of the book covers the period torian must complete these and even up to 25th April 1974 and focuses on the enhance them with new data and inter- military officer and member of the oppo- pretations collected from the different sition, man of culture and MFA revolution- sources: diverse archives, the press of the ary. Here, the author presents Melo era and interviews with relevant partici- Antunes, part of the 1960s generation, pants in the historical transformations in passionate about the authors and works which the subject of the biography played typically revered by this generation, a leading role. Moreover, when the biog- attracted by existentialists and by Gramsci rapher is constructing the narrative, at and Rocard Neo Marxism, a man who the formal level it is necessary to be able devoured novels and poetry, was in love to separate the essential from secondary with classical music and had a multiplicity information so as avoid going into exces- of cultural interests. This period starts sive details that hamper the desirable flu- with his time at the Army School, where ency. It is also necessary to articulate the Melo Antunes emerged as an avis rara com- chronological thread with the thematic pared to others at the school. But he is construction around the main dimen- also the Melo Antunes who, from a very sions of the subject’s interventions, which young age, sought to reconcile militant sometimes entails advancing and retreat- opposition to the regime with a full mili- ing in time. tary career because he also firmly believed In doing this, the biographer should from early on that the Army was key to the always strive to adopt a discursive style change required in Portuguese society. He that is both rigorous and communicative, expressed this clearly when he spoke to and this is no insignificant challenge. the Cooperative of Studies and Documen- Another such challenge is finding the right tation in 1970 at the invitation of Francisco balance between critical distance and Salgado Zenha, as reported by a PIDE/DGS empathetic intuition, else the biography agent. In fact, it is worth noting here that may take the shape of a hagiography... the archives of the political police are a I finished reading Maria Inácia Rezola’s valuable source to accompany his activity book with the feeling that she was indeed for the opposition in the where his up to the many difficult challenges that candidacy for the Democratic Electoral face the historian-biographer. Commission (CDE) in the 1969 elections

RELAÇÕES INTERNACIONAIS SPECIAL ISSUE : 2018 108 was rejected by the military hierarchy in lution in the scope of the MFA/Coordinat- what was blatant discrimination against the ing Commission; as Minister without military candidates of the National Union. Portfolio in the II Provisional Government But this is also the period of the three com- after Spínola opposed his appointment as missions Melo Antunes served in Prime Minister; and in the III Provisional between 1963 and 1973, where he earned Government when he stood out for his the praise and deep admiration of the men presentation of the Economic and Social under his command. António Lobo Antunes Policy Programme (PPES). In this period, testifies to this in the splendid preface he it is important to stress his reservations wrote for this book: “Contrary to what about the MFA/Parties Pact, which he many believed, Ernesto was not a uni- accepted as “the lesser of evils”, and the formed civilian: he was deeply military... in defence of the elections for the Constituent the sense of servitude, camaraderie and Assembly, opposing the blank vote. loyalty. In Angola, Melo Antunes was loved After the elections for the Constituent and respected.” Also for the extreme cour- Assembly (25th April 1975), he expressed age he demonstrated on the front lines of similar reservations about MFA’s Political combat in particularly dangerous areas. Action Plan (PAP), in which it is defined This does not mean that he did not experi- as a “movement for the liberation of the ence and confess to the trauma of feeling Portuguese people” (“I had nothing to do he was fighting on the wrong side, a trauma with the PAP», p. 299). This was followed that was only overcome by the above-men- by the drafting of the Document of the tioned conviction that the revolution origi- Nine (see below the Socialist ideologue nates from within … model), the approximation to PS and the Ernesto Melo Antunes made his cautious question of leadership of the resistance to approximation to the Movement of Cap- Gonçalvism: who created the conditions for tains step by step. It was only in mid Febru- the leadership of whom? He accused Mário ary 1974 that he set his doubts aside and Soares of believing “he and PS were became fully engaged; he made a point of responsible for everything of importance transmitting this decision to me and Sot- that had happened” and did not hesitate tomayor Cardia at a meeting he requested in saying that “what happened in summer at the editorial office of the Seara Nova 1975 was driven by the so-called Group of journal. This was when he became involved Nine much more than by anyone else” in the drafting of the MFA programme (opinion also expressed in the Silva Lopes (inspiration of the opposition experience), interview). At this point, the biographer after the document (5th March assumes a critical distance and notes the 1974). importance of putting Mário Soares’ and After 25th April 1974, Melo Antunes’ inter- Melo Antunes’ interpretations into per- vention as an MFA revolutionary and polit- spective: “more than attributing a cause- ical strategist intensified. Firstly, in the effect relationship to these two processes immediate aftermath of the 25 April revo- («Socialist challenge-rupture of the nine)

The double drama of Ernesto Melo Antunes António Reis 109 one should refer to the development of two standing role was acknowledged from mutually reinforcing parallel projects” various quarters), special advisor to the (p. 327). President of the Republic, Ramalho Eanes, Also of note in this period we find Melo within the CR, and an attentive and critical Antunes’ confrontation with Vasco Gon- voice on the progress of ’s young çalves at the Tancos Assembly; his role in democracy. This was the time of his the attempt to form the Fabian Govern- involvement in the institutional warfare ment; his opposition to the appointment between the Presidency of the Republic of Pinheiro de Azevedo as Prime Minister, and the AD Government but also when he but also his role as mediator (together with took his position on the 1982 constitu- Mário Soares) in the formation of the VI tional revision, minimising the removal of Provisional Government; the return to the the word socialism from Article 2 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (see foreign Constitution, and welcoming the creation policy below); and, finally, the events of of the Constitutional Court and the Coun- 25th November (opposing a retreat to the cil of State. When the Revolutionary Coun- North and the self-suspension of the VI cil was disbanded (1982), Melo Antunes Provisional Government, but backtrack- moved to the Council of State where he ing; meeting with Álvaro Cunhal at his remained until the election of Mário Soares own initiative; his declaration to RTP on as President of the Republic. The following 26 November defending the need to keep are among his most noteworthy interven- PCP in the revolution and the reactions). tions in this decade: his support for the After the 25th November crisis, Melo dissolution of the Assembly of the Repub- Antunes was a key figure in some of the lic counter to the opinion of the Council debates on the revision of the MFA-Parties of State (1983); participation in PRD meet- Pact (for example, assuring that the Revo- ings and preparatory documents; support lutionary Council (CR) would act as the for the dissolution of the Assembly of the Constitutional Court by means of the Con- Republic following Mário Soares’ resigna- stitutional Committee); he participated tion from the Central Bloc Government; actively in the debate on the presidential his support of Francisco Salgado Zenha candidacy when he supported Eanes (who rather than Maria de Lourdes Pintassilgo was sensitive to his support), despite being in the 1986 presidential elections. in a position himself to run as the MFA Finally, in the 1990s, Melo Antunes joined candidate (cf. Eanes: “he was the one that PS, then led by , after the was best placed to be candidate”). loss in the 1991 election (“manifestation Having revisited the Processo Revolucionário of indignation and revolt to save what em Curso (PREC) (Ongoing Revolutionary could be saved of the Socialist idea”, Process) through the role played by Melo according to Jorge Sampaio); he was a Antunes, the political strategist remained member of the Honorary Committee for active and involved. He was President of Mário Soares’ candidacy for a second term the Constitutional Commission (his out- as President of the Republic, and, again,

RELAÇÕES INTERNACIONAIS SPECIAL ISSUE : 2018 110 of the Council of State (1996); he sup- democracy that should take effect gradu- ported Alegre’s motion at the PS Congress ally and peacefully at a pace that was in in 1999. line with the Portuguese social reality; it would be directed by the MFA, seen not so THE IDEOLOGUE much as a revolutionary vanguard but as Another key dimension of Ernesto Melo a catalyst and guarantor of this transfor- Antunes’ profile is that of the ideologue mation project for Portuguese society. The who defined a model of society conceived proposal of the nine was presented as an on the basis of his cultural background in alternative to the Guideline Document of conjunction with his experience of politi- the People-MFA Alliance, which was cal intervention throughout the PREC; one understood as defending a socialism based in search of a third way between bureau- on popular and anti-democratic power; cratic collectivist socialism and neoliberal however, parties that had been legitimately social democracy (influenced by PSU/ elected expressed reservations and were Rocard and Gramsci Euro-communism), suspicious of a supra-party military author- which granted the State a regulatory role ity with purely revolutionary legitimacy without eliminating the market. setting itself up as the bearer of its own Melo Antunes played a decisive role in the and autonomous project; for the socialists, drafting of the Economic and Social Policy such a conception came close to naivety. Programme (PPES, December 1974-Febru- ary 1975), working with an outstanding THE MAIN ACTOR OF DECOLONISATION team (Rui Vilar, Silva Lopes, Maria de This is the third dimension of Melo Lourdes Pintasilgo); the decision not to Antunes’ political intervention that Maria nationalise private banking and to avoid Inácia Rezola analyses in detail. From his State capitalism with the central direction immediate opposition to Spínola’s federal- of the economy led to the souring of rela- ist project to the very important role he tions with PCP and Gonçalvism (they played in the decolonisation of Angola. accused him of being reactionary and an Special focus is given to his heading up the entrenched social democrat). Among the negotiations that led to the Alvor Accord testimonies the author collected on this and, after its failure on the ground, his matter, those by Diogo Freitas do Amaral assuming responsibility for not having and Silva Lopes stand out; they state that foreseen the struggle for power between the evolution of our economy would have the three liberation movements. Maria Iná- been much better if the PPES had not been cia Rezola closely follows Melo Antunes’ superseded by the nationalisations trig- desperate efforts to obtain an understand- gered by the events of 11th March. ing between the three liberation move- Finally in this respect, mention must be ments and to avoid the exodus of the made of the Document of the Nine, a settlers, which in fact earned the praise of national project for transition to a social- Almeida Santos. Efforts that did not stop ism based on pluralist representative him criticising MPLA for its dependence

The double drama of Ernesto Melo Antunes António Reis 111 on the USSR and that even made him he was of crucial importance. He fought encourage this movement’s approximation for a new vision for Portugal’s place in the to UNITA in order to ward off FNLA - a world; he presented it as a bridge between plan that only failed because of UNITA and Europe and the Third World with priority pressure exerted by North America. Special for the Mediterranean (a naive notion attention is given to his argument to justify according to Kissinger), that he shared the need for the Portuguese State’s rapid with Jorge Sampaio and ex-MES (Movi- recognition of the MPLA government after mento de Esquerda Socialista). He also the declaration of independence on 11th defended: a) national independence in a November 1975. An in-depth analysis is world divided between two blocs of super- also made of the controversy of decolonisa- powers, in search of a third way and in the tion triggered by the well known article scope of a united Europe that counterba- written by António José Saraiva in the lanced the two blocs; b) an approximation Diário de Notícias in January 1979, in to non-aligned countries without ever which Melo Antunes is the target of brutal calling NATO into question, a standpoint attacks. Throughout the controversy, Melo Kissinger considered somewhat contradic- Antunes acknowledged mistakes - some of tory; c) the importance of diversifying which were inevitable, others that arose external relations (Third World, East due to the complexity of the PREC, and Europe, China); d) the importance of Wes- others due to human shortcomings - and tern Europe and EEC support for the con- he assumed his share of the responsibility solidation of Portuguese democracy, with (cf. interview with the Expresso on 17 Feb- praise for the role played by Mário Soares ruary 1999). And he emphasised that “if a in the Socialist International (IS); e) a new situation evolved in which the communist and more just international order. camp was favoured, it was against our His foreign policy interventions were the will”. However, according to Melo Antunes, butt of intense criticisms, notably in the decolonisation was not simply what could context of the institutional warfare between be done under the circumstances, as many Belém and São Bento (due to his role as began to say, but what had to be done; it Eanes’ special envoy or the development was a historical obligation. This did not of his own initiatives), notably by the right stop him recognising that it was a tragedy. wing and Atlanticist sectors of PS. Just as colonisation was a tragedy (cf. inter- His international career came about as a view with RTP on 24th April 1999). natural consequence of his experience as Minister of Foreign Affairs; special note CRAFTSMAN OF PORTUGUESE FOREIGN here goes to his candidacy to Deputy Secre- POLICY AND DIPLOMACY tary General of the UN for Science and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the IV and Technology (annulled by Diogo Freitas do VI Provisional Governments (year and a Amaral, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the half), this is an area in which history did AD Government), and his appointment to not do Melo Antunes justice even though advisor and Deputy General Director/Head

RELAÇÕES INTERNACIONAIS SPECIAL ISSUE : 2018 112 of Cabinet of UNESCO by Amadeu M’Bow. we see today, and which would undoubte- On finishing this book, I confess I felt an dly have led him to search for suitable even greater admiration for Melo Antunes alternatives as he always did and as so and his role in history, despite some criti- many of his MFA comrades do today. But cal reservations I have made in the past of I also believe that, wherever his spirit is, positions he took, notably on the role of he would not be able to resist smiling MFA. This biography clearly highlights the somewhat ironically at a world where the double drama Ernesto Melo Antunes went emerging countries of his beloved Third through and that led so often to his being World deal the cards on the international misunderstood and even hated: stage, inverting the old positions vis-à-vis • the historical drama of tardy decoloni- the First World countries. sation with all its violence and injustice; It would be unforgivable to end this review • the ideological drama of a democratic without making reference to the extraor- socialism that was able to combine not dinary preface written by António Lobo only the representative democracy of the Antunes, in which he gives us a picture in parties and of Parliament with participative words, as only he can do, of the magnitude democracy, but also the role of regulating of Ernesto Melo Antunes’ character: and distributing the State’s wealth with «A profoundly kind man who, largely the market’s role of boosting growth. through his own fault, was often misun- Before concluding, I wonder what Ernesto derstood. He possessed a great capacity Melo Antunes would have said of Portugal for tolerance and a genuine love for today and the world in which we live, at mankind that his stern posture and the so many levels, quite different from when austerity of his ways concealed.” he left us fourteen years ago. His death certainly saved him from all the madness TRANSLATION BY: RACHEL EVANS

António Reis Retired Assistant Professor of the Contemporary Mentalities. He has published a Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Researcher at number of books and dozens of articles in the the NOVA FCSH Institute of Contemporary area of Contemporary History. History. Holds a PhD in Cultural History and > [email protected]

ENDNOTE

* This book review was first published in Relações Internacionais no.45, March 2015.

The double drama of Ernesto Melo Antunes António Reis 113