People's Democracy

Comrade Alvaro Cunhal

The following statement was issued by the Central committee of the Portuguese Communist Party on June 13, 2005.

WITH deep sorrow and emotion, the secretariat of the Central Committee of the Portuguese Communist Party informs the communist militants, the workers and the Portuguese people, that Alvaro Cunhal passed away at dawn, aged 91.

The secretariat of the Central Committee presents its heartfelt condolences to his family.

Alvaro Cunhal dedicated his whole life to the communist ideal and project, to the cause of the working class and the workers, to internationalist solidarity, an endless commitment and dedication to the interests of the Portuguese workers and people, to the sovereignty and independence of Portugal.

Acting within his only Party --- the PCP --- throughout more than 74 years of revolutionary action, he played a unique role in the Portuguese 20th Century history, in the anti-fascist resistance, for freedom and democracy, in the revolutionary changes of the April Revolution and its defence, for a society free from exploitation and oppression, the socialist society.

Subjected to great trials and tribulations, to more than 12 years in jail, barbaric torture and the hard conditions of clandestine life, he always revealed his exceptional militant and human qualities.

Born in Coimbra in 1913, he began his revolutionary activity as a student at the Law Faculty in Lisbon. He participated in the association movement and was elected as a student representative to the University Senate, in 1934. He was a militant of the Portuguese Communist Youth Federation (FJCP) and was elected as its general secretary in 1935, the year he went underground and participated, in Moscow, in the IV International Communist Youth Congress. Member of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) since 1931.

Arrested in 1937 and in 1940 and subjected to torture, after a few months in jail and his release, he immediately returned to the struggle.

He participated in the reorganization of the PCP, in 1940-41. Once again living underground, he was a member of the secretariat from 1942 to 1949.

 He was again arrested in that year. In the fascist Tribunal he made a severe accusation against the fascist dictatorship and the defence of the Party’s policy. Having been convicted, he came to spend 11 continuous years in fascist jails, eight years of which in total isolation. On January 3, 1960, he evaded from the prison-fort of Peniche together with a group of high ranking communist militants. Once again called to the secretariat of the Central Committee, he was elected secretary general of the PCP, in 1961.

Since then, he participated in several congresses and meetings with communist parties and other revolutionary forces and in international conferences.

After the overthrow of the fascist dictatorship on April 25, 1974, he was a minister without Portfolio in the first to the fourth provisional governments and was elected deputy to the Constituent Assembly in 1975 and to the Assembly of the Republic in 1976, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985 and 1987. He was a member of the Council of the State. After he relinquished the position of secretary general of the party following its 14th Congress in 1992, he was elected president of its National Council by the Central Committee.

In December 1996 (in the PCP’s 15th Congress) after the extinction of the PCP’s National Council and the role of the president, he was reelected to the Central Committee, and again in the 16th and 17th Congresses, in 2000 and 2004.

Author of a vast published work, both in the political and ideological field, as well as in the literary field, namely under the pseudonym of “Manuel Tiago”, and also in the field of plastic arts.

Alvaro Cunhal has died, the Portuguese workers and people have lost one of its most consequent and abnegated fighters, but his example of conviction and combativeness constitute an appeal to a redoubled intervention of the communists and all those whose aim is the progressive transformation of society.

The best homage we can pay to Alvaro Cunhal is to carry on the struggle he led to the last days of his life, always trusting the future, in the interests and rights of the workers, for a free and democratic society, for the welfare of our people and our country, for his party as a party of the working class, of the workers, of all those exploited and offended, for a socialist society.