The «integralismo lusitano» («Lusitanian integralism») in the origins of Salazarism

Abstract

The building of the New State («Estado Novo») was, under the ideological point of view, the result of several ideological trends that were amalgamated in it. Coming from a military coup d'état, the political intentation of which was rather the negation of a regime than the clear affirmation of a system alternative, the New State was after all the combination of an original Christian-democratic matrix and several other political and ideological influences, among which the Lusitanian integralism has indeed a very special place. In the making of this political and ideological synthesis of class interests, salazarism established compromises, safeguarding or sacrificing now and then some of the elements of the movements and ideologies that joined it. This was what happened to the Lusitanian integralism too. Studying the Lusitanian integralism, its appearance and evolution, mainly as far as their relations with the New State are concerned, as well as its theoretical political proposal, will enable us not only to understand better the origins of
salazarism but also its political and ideological configuration.