Capitalists and industrialists (1870-1914)

Abstract

Between 1870 and 1914, Portugal witnessed the growth of a big industrialists. This article attempts to give some meaning to the concept of «industrial bourgeoisie» and to analyse its role in the modernization process. It begins with a survey of the main factories built up to 1880; a brief summary of what happened in the ensuing thirty years follows,  before the author proceeds with an analysis of the main features of the group. Many of those factories were either the work of men whose fortunes had been made in Brasil or of foreigners, who had brought capital, technical expertise and knowledge of international markets, along with them. Nowhere was there to be found the cohesive social class, with common traditions, culture and interests, implied in some historical works. At most, one could distinguish between two groups, that of the biggest businessmen who, among their investments, had built some of the biggest factories in the country, and a more numerous circle, formed by modest people, living exclusively of the profits obtained in industry. Finally, the author casts doubt on the prevailing idea that one of the main causes of Portuguese backwardness is to be found in the «mentality» of its industrialists.