The children of the Carnation Revolution? Connections between Portugal’s anti-austerity movement and the revolutionary period 1974/1975

Abstract

Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with the anti-austerity movement in Portugal and a frame analysis of calls for protest, the paper explores the relation between collective memory of a country and collective group memory. The Carnation Revolution which began on 25 April 1974 is the most important event in Portugal’s recent history. Most activists in the anti-austerity movement did not experience this event personally, so their memory depends completely on the existing, politically contentious collective memory of this event. The paper shows (1) the way in which group memories of the Revolution are constructed and (2) the functions these group memories have for the activist groups. It argues that collective memory of important historical events impacts on social movements’ identities, their aims, repertoire of contention and framings. Activist groups engage in the construction of their group memories, and by doing so they refer to collective memory at the national level. These processes are not purely strategic and are sometimes counterproductive in terms of possible success.