The revolution devours its children

Abstract

Spinola was succeeded as president by General Francisco da Costa Gomes, the army chief of staff, and his old superior under Caetano. A thin, mournful-looking man, his face always bore an expression of sad resignation towards the burdens that life seemed to have thrust upon him. With none of the panache of his predecessor, he was to bring a much more applied political mind to the game, but he seemed to have no constructive objective except to avoid tomorrow’s bloodshed and stay in office. Compromises and temporary agreements that merely postponed the settling of scores, sometimes only to the next day, were the new president’s stock in trade. Costa Gomes had backed Spinola against the conservative generals under the old dictatorship, and was not without political courage: he had had to pay the price of dismissal under Caetano. But once he had identified the interests of the country with his own position and the need to avoid spilling blood, he spared none of his considerable talent for political manoeuvre to pursue them. He seemed unaware that the longer the swing to the left was allowed to continue, the more violent the pent-up emotions of the right were likely to become.KeywordsCommunist PartyGeneral AssemblySocialist PartyPolitical ManoeuvreChristian Democratic PartyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.