Monopolist development in Portugal: 1968-1973 - main structures

Abstract

This article intends to give a contribution, even of a relatively limited consequence, to the explanation of a scarcely known phase in the development of the Portuguese capitalism: the «marcelist» phase, which, generally speaking can be placed between 1968 and the 25^th April 1974 revolution. As a matter of fact, within this short number of years, there have been some important qualitative changes in the Portuguese economic structure that give rise to a certain number of basic questions: which are the main structures that supported such changes? Which was the degree of intensification in the monopolist development? How was articulated the processus of acelerated development of monopolist development with the Portuguese social formation? The approach to these questions in the present article centers in three aspects which, in a first approximation, seem to be the most determinant: monopolist structures, capital centralization and concentration and technostructure of monopolist groups. One privileges, therefore, the structural aspects and the role of technocracy. Big capital, technocracy and state apparatus were consolidating their interests and were gearing their own dynamics leading to a high rythm of capitalist concentration. But one asks: will this concentration and a large opening towards the outside have implied a corresponding acceleration in the development of the forces of production and a correction in the precarious material basis of the Portuguese economy? The answer to this question remains postponed to the next article.