Francisco Rolão Preto

Francisco de Barcelos Rolão Preto, GCIH (February 5/February 12 [Probably the day of his Christening.] , 1893, Gavião—December 18 1977, Hospital do Desterro, Lisbon) was a Portuguese politician, journalist, and leader of the Movimento Nacional-Sindicalista (MNS, also the "Blue Shirts" - "camisas azuis", following the tradition of uniformed far right and leftist groups), an organisation advocating Syndicalism and Unionism, against the Corporativist state advocated by Fascism and Benito Mussolini's Italy. MNS was also built on previous allegiances to "Integralismo Lusitano", in turn not inspired by the "Action Française" as alleged by their adversaries [José Hipólito Raposo, "Dois Nacionalismos - L'Action française e o Integralismo Lusitano, Lisboa", Férin, 1929.] .

He advocated especially the personalism of Emmanuel Mounier and some of the aspects of unionism which are reminiscent of Leftist ideas of social justice, such as "a minimum family wage", "paid holidays", "working class education", and a world in which workers are "guaranteed the right to happiness".

Early life

Cutting short his lyceum studies, Rolão Preto left for Galicia in Spain, where he joined monarchist army officer Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro in his 1911-1912 failed attempt to topple down the Portuguese Republic. He then left for Belgium and worked for the integralist magazine "Alma Portuguesa", while completing secondary studies at the "Liceu português" in Louvain, and then attending the Université Catholique.

Rolão Preto had to flee Belgium when World War I began, and took refuge in France; he finished studies at the University of Toulouse, earning a degree in law, and returned to Portugal. He replaced the jailed Hipólito Raposo as editor of the journal "A Monarquia". A member of the "Junta Central de Integralismo Lusitano" from 1922, he began close collaboration with President of Portugal Gomes da Costa even before the 28th May 1926 coup d'état which established the Ditadura Nacional, and edited the "12 points" the coup leaders published in Braga.

Against Salazar Regime

In 1930, he approached David Neto and other "sidonistas" (conservatives, initially members of the Partido Republicano Nacionalista), with whom he created the "Liga Nacional 28 de maio", self-proclaimed defender of the "National Revolution"; Rolão Preto gathered notoriety as an advocate of National Syndicalism and editor of the "Diário Académico Nacionalista da Tarde" (first published in 1932), soon turned into the "Diário Nacional-Sindicalista da Tarde". The Blue Shirts he founded, which used the Order of Christ Cross, gave the Roman salute, became very popular in universities and with the youngest officers of the Portuguese Army.

He was briefly detained and then exiled, and his MNS banned (together with the MNS journal "Revolução"), after Antonio Salazar, often considered a fascist himself, came to power and established the Estado Novo régime; perhaps unsurprisingly, Preto ended up opposing the dictatorship of Salazar and Marcelo Caetano from the left. The order for a ban on the party stated that the Blue Shirts had taken inspiration in "foreign models". A part of his movement had decided to join Salazar's União Nacional in 1934. Rolão Preto resided for a while in Valencia de Alcántara, nearby the border with Castelo de Vide, and then in Madrid, as a guest in the house of José Antonio Primo de Rivera - with whom he collaborated in formulating a program for the Falange. He returned to Portugal in February 1935, and was detained after instigating a September rebellion with the crew of "Bartolomeu Dias" and the garrison in the Lisbon area of Penha de França. Again exiled, he fought in the Spanish Civil War on Francisco Franco's side.

Later years

After World War II, Rolão Preto joined the left-wing forum Movement of Democratic Unity, and published a volume entitled "A Traição Burguesa" ("The Bourgeois Betrayal"). He also backed more liberal candidates to the Presidency, such as Quintão Meireles, Francisco Higino Craveiro Lopes, and ultimately Salazar's enemy Humberto Delgado. He also attempted to unite the monarchist movement within Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles' Movimento Popular Monarquico.

He wrote critiques of Mussolini's ideas, immediately after his definitions of Fascist Doctrine in the beginning of the 1930's . Preto was one of the leaders of the People's Monarchist Party in the period between the Carnation Revolution and his death.

Marriage and children

He married Amália de Brito Boavida Godinho (b. Fundão, Alpedrinha), and had two children:
* Francisco Godinho Rolão Preto (b. Fundão, Soalheira), married to Maria Isabel Correia da Silva Mendes
* Maria Teresa Godinho Rolão Preto (b. Fundão, Soalheira), married to Eduardo Teixeira Gomes

References

External links

* [http://www.gratisweb.com/resistenciae/t006.htm "El Nacional-Sindacismo Lusitano" (spanish) ]
* [http://www.iscsp.utl.pt/cepp/anuario/secxx/ano1932.htm Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político: Ano 1932 (portuguese) ]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/pq/unica/il_frp_francisco_rolao_preto.htm Rolão Preto short biography (portuguese) ]
* [http://amt.no.sapo.pt/novaversao/opiniao/opi012.htm Integralismo Lusitano - uma síntese (portuguese) ]