ABSTRACT
In the aftermath of the 25 April 1974 coup d’état, the Portuguese extreme right implement different strategies to contrast the efforts of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and of the extreme-left faction of the Armed Force Movement (MFA, the author of the coup) to lead the transition. On one hand, from April to September 1974, the far right organizes political parties supporting the President of the Republic general António de Spinola and his federalist plan for the Empire as an alternative to the communist decolonization plan under the Soviet influence. On the other hand, the far right suffers the failure of Spinola’s strategies (counter-coups of 28 September 1974 and 11 March 1975) and the consequent wave of repression by the revolutionary factions of the MFA during the so-called ‘Ongoing Revolutionary Process’ (PREC) until 25 November 1975. During the PREC, the far right acts underground through several organizations with linkages to the mainstream parties opposed to PCP, the anti-communist military factions of the MFA and the Catholic Church. The most renewed armed organizations are the Movimento Democrático de Libertação de Portugal (Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Portugal – MDLP) and the Exêrcito de Libertação de Portugal (Portuguese Liberation Army – ELP) based in Francoist Spain.
