The session on the 25th. of November that took place today in the Assembly of the Republic proved to be a moment of confrontation with the April Revolution, its achievements and values, inseparable from the growing promotion of reactionary and fascistic conceptions that were paraded there by the main promoters of this provocation.
The holding of this session is an integral part of the operation of falsification and distortion of history by those who never accepted the advances, rights and freedoms achieved by the April Revolution. This operation aims to devalue and diminish the April 25th. Revolution, which overthrew the fascist dictatorship, ended oppression and repression, ended the colonial war and established the democratic regime enshrined in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.
There have always been those who wanted to rewrite history, but today this offensive has taken on a new threshold by seeking institutional legitimisation, with the political support of PSD and CDS, accompanied by CH and IL, and with the agreement of other political forces, joined by the President of the Republic with his presence at the Assembly of the Republic session. A legitimisation it never obtained among the people, despite multiple manoeuvres, based on blatant lies and even delusions, lies that continue to be repeated, including those that insist on false accusations against the PCP in order to disguise the anti-democratic objectives that motivated them at the time and that they are trying to impose on the life of the country once again.
The promoters of the 25th. of November are those who defend the interests of big capital, exactly those who benefited during fascism, which repressed, tortured and murdered those who resisted and fought for freedom and democracy.
They want to turn the 25th. of November into something it was not. It was the 25th. of April that brought democracy, freedom and rights, not the 25th. of November, as they try to make believe.
The 25th. of November was a counter-revolutionary coup to halt the transformative process of the April Revolution in political, economic, social and cultural terms.
They want the 25th. of November to be what it never was, but what they wish it had been, that would call into question the democratic regime, that would have curtailed freedoms and outlawed the PCP.
The truth is that, despite the 25th. of November, they were unable to prevent the values and achievements of the Revolution from being enshrined in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, adopted on April 2, 1976.
Holding a session on the 25th. of November in the Assembly of the Republic in the year that marks the 50th. anniversary of the April Revolution can only be seen as a provocation and a settling of accounts with the April Revolution.
Because of all this, the PCP could not and will not condone this ongoing operation. We will not take part in or legitimise actions aimed at attacking the April Revolution.
Today, the country witnessed an unfortunate event, with a parade of retrograde, reactionary and fascistic conceptions that are part of the past.
Just a few months ago, during the celebrations of the 50th. anniversary of the 25th. of April, the Portuguese people, leaving no room for doubt and in a very expressive and massive way, without parallel, took to the streets all over the country in defence of the values and achievements of April.
It is therefore April that should be in Portugal's future.
This is what the promoters of the 25th. of November do not want. They do not want April in Portugal's future and do everything they can to distort and destroy April's achievements.
It is April, with its achievements and values, that makes it possible to raise the living conditions and the development and progress of the country.