The revolt of the cod ships: the strike of 1937

Abstract

The recruitment of fishermen for the cod-fishing industry in the seas of Newfoundland and Greenland was one of the most remarkable aspects of the Estado Novo's «cod campaign». This article describes and interprets the fishermen's revolt which broke out in the Spring of 1937 and the various communities on the Portuguese coast from which men went out on the «great fishing expeditions». This was a protest movement which combined some aspects of sabotage with the typical features of a strike. Deconstructing it helps us to understand the hesitations and difficulties faced by those who wished to impose the «order» of the corporate state.