The Limitations and Ambiguity. Portuguese workers' Movement during the 1914-1918 War

Abstract

The hesitations, the tactical ambiguity, the uncoordination of action, a certain permeability to demagogy, the «explosiveness» of some actions were the main characteristics of the Portuguese workers' movement within the period of 1914-1918. Its limitations were therefore obviously heavy. Particularly significant was the confidence entrusted by the National Workers Union to Sidónio Paes, dictatorship during its first two monthes, allowing it to become firmly rooted. The workers' movement was not able to understand the political contradictions among the different «fractions» of the dominant classes. Such characteristics of the workers movement can only be understood if the Portuguese sodo-economical structures at the time are considered, namely the large heterogenity of the social composition of the working classes. Within these, workers in entreprises which employed more than 10 men, did not amount to 20% of industrial workers.