Communist Party of Portugal (Marxist-Leninist) (in Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

: Partido Comunista de Portugal (Marxista-Leninista)) was a political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 led by its general secretary Heduíno Vilar (real name Eduíno Gomes), formed after his expulsion from the main Communist Party of Portugal (Marxist-Leninist)

Communist Party of Portugal (Marxist-Leninist)

The Communist Party of Portugal was a political party in Portugal. Also known as the 'Mendes faction of PCP'.PCP was founded in 1970. It published Unidade Popular....

 in May 1974. Like the other PCP(M-L), Vilar's PCP(M-L) had a publication titled Unidade Popular.

PCP(M-L) claimed that after the Carnation Revolution

Carnation Revolution

The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...

, the main threat to Portugal came from social fascism

Social fascism

Social fascism was a theory supported by the Communist International during the early 1930s, which believed that social democracy was a variant of fascism because, in addition to a shared corporatist economic model, it stood in the way of a complete and final transition to communism...

 (represented through PCP

Portuguese Communist Party

The Portuguese Communist Party is a major left-wing political party in Portugal. It is a Marxist-Leninist party, and its organization is based upon democratic centralism. The party also considers itself to be patriotic and internationalist....

 leader Álvaro Cunhal

Álvaro Cunhal

Álvaro Barreirinhas Cunhal, who used the name Álvaro Cunhal , was a Portuguese politician. He was one of the major opponents of the dictatorial regime of Estado Novo. He served as secretary-general of the Portuguese Communist Party from 1961 to 1992...

) and Soviet social imperialism. The party supported the Socialist Party

Socialist Party (Portugal)

The Socialist Party , abbreviated to PS, is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel, by militants from Portuguese Socialist Action ....

 against PCP.

On November 17, 1974, Vilar's party launched the Worker-Peasant Alliance

Worker-Peasant Alliance

Worker-Peasant Alliance was a front of the Communist Party of Portugal of Eduíno Gomes. AOC was founded on November 17, 1974 and ran lists in the 1976 elections. AOC mustered 15,578 votes ....

 (AOC). The party took part in elections through AOC, since the name PCP(M-L) was taken by their adversaries.

Vilar's party had close relations to the Communist Party of China

Communist Party of China

The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...

. It led the Democratic Portugal-China Friendship Association

Democratic Portugal-China Friendship Association

Democratic Portugal–China Friendship Association was an organization in Portugal, supporting closer relations between Portugal and People's Republic of China. The general secretary of ADAP-C was Carlos Ricardo...

(ADAP-C).