Francisco Sá Carneiro
Encyclopedia
Francisco Manuel Lumbrales de Sá Carneiro, GCTE
, GCC
, GCL
(fɾɐ̃ˈsiʃku sa kɐɾˈnɐjɾu; 19 July 19344 December 1980) founded the Portuguese
Social Democratic Party
in 1974 (the year of the Portuguese Carnation Revolution
) and was elected Prime Minister of Portugal in January 1980, but only held office for eleven months, dying in a plane crash with his partner, Snu Abecassis, on December 4, 1980. The accident triggered a number of conspiracy theories.
, Vitória
, the third of the five children of lawyer
José Gualberto Chaves Marques de Sá Carneiro (born 31 August 1897 in Barcelos
) and wife Maria Francisca Judite Pinto da Costa Leite (born 29 March 1908) of the Counts of Lumbrales
in Spain
.
's dictatorship into a Western European democracy.
In May 1974, a month after the Carnation Revolution
, Sá Carneiro founded the Popular Democratic Party
(PPD), together with Francisco Pinto Balsemão
, Joaquim Magalhães Mota
, Carlos Mota Pinto
, João Bosco Mota Amaral
, Alberto João Jardim
, António Barbosa de Melo
and António Marques Mendes
, and became its secretary-general. The PPD was soon renamed the Social Democratic Party (PSD); despite Sá Carneiro's original claims to be leading a left-of-centre party, he and the party soon drifted to the right. He was minister without portfolio
in a number of provisional governments, and was elected as a deputy to the Constitutional Assembly the next year.
In 1976, he was elected to the Assembly of the Republic
. In November 1977, he resigned his office as president of the party, only to be reelected to that office the next year.
In the general election of late 1979, he led the Democratic Alliance
, a coalition of his Social Democratic Party, the right-wing Democratic and Social Centre Party, and two smaller parties, to victory. The Alliance polled 45.2 percent of the popular vote and gained 128 of the 250 seats in the Assembly of the Republic
; 75 of these were from the PSD. President António Ramalho Eanes
subsequently called on him to form a government on 3 January 1980, and formed Portugal's first majority government
since the Carnation Revolution
of 1974. In a second general election held in October that year, the Democratic Alliance increased its majority. The Alliance received 47.2 percent of the popular vote and 134 seats, 82 of them from the PSD. Sá Carneiro's triumph appeared to augur well for the presidential election two months later, in which Sá Carneiro was supporting António Soares Carneiro
(no relation).
, the Cessna 421
he was on crashed into a building in Camarate
, Loures
, soon after takeoff from Lisbon Airport
. Eyewitnesses claimed they saw pieces falling from the plane just moments after it took off. Rumours have continued to fuel conspiracy theories
that the crash was in fact an assassination
, but no firm evidence has come to light. There are even different theories as to whom would have been the target of such an assassination, as Francisco de Sá Carneiro was travelling with the Defence Minister, Adelino Amaro da Costa
, who had said he had documents relating to the October surprise conspiracy theory.
Dependent to a considerable extent on Sá Carneiro's personal popularity, the Democratic Alliance was unable to maintain its momentum in the wake of his death. Faced with a national crisis, the public rallied behind the incumbent President, António Ramalho Eanes, who easily defeated the Alliance candidate in the presidential election a few days later.
The airport where Sá Carneiro was heading has been named after him as Francisco de Sá Carneiro Airport, despite objections that it would be in bad taste to name an airport after someone who died in a plane crash.
In recent news, one former bodyguard has come forward and revealed that there was a payment made for sabotaging the plane which resulted in the Prime Minister's death. However, he refuses to reveal who the people behind this are. In Portuguese law, after 25 years have passed and no one has been found guilty of the crime in question, the person involved can come forward without any repercussions.
, Miragaia, 1 October, 1936), and had five children:
Later in life he lived together with Snu Abecassis, who died in the same accident as Sá Carneiro.
), being his first activity in civic life to write a letter to Marcelo Caetano
requesting the return of the António VIII Ferreira Gomes, the exiled
pro-democracy bishop of Oporto
. He probably had links with the catholic syndicalist organizations and Christian Socialism
in general. He was very influenced by catholic Personalism
and Humanism
(especially its Christian version
).
Sá Carneiro tried to adapt the social-democratic ideas of the likes of Eduard Bernstein
, Karl Kautsky
, and the post-1945 SPD
to the cultural context of Portugal and its traditionally Catholic
society. The Godesberg Program
had a very important influence in his social democratic thought as it became the model for his party and its cut with Marxist socialism
.
Despite having an anti-collectivist and anti-statist party with an emphasis on personal rights
and duties
that was responsible for privatizing the industrial sectors nationalized during the revolutionary period, he increased social spending during his term, supported land reform
and its redistribution
in Alentejo and he was proud that his party had been adopted by the working, middle class
blue collar worker
and middle-low class workers and that his party defended «the construction of a socialist society in liberty». Due to all this specificities he called his party's ideology "Portuguese Social Democracy".
He was recognized as populist
by both supporters, neutral analysts, and opponents.
Order of the Tower and Sword
The Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of Valour, Loyalty and Merit is a Portuguese order of knighthood and the pinnacle of the Portuguese honours system. It was created by King Afonso V in 1459....
, GCC
Order of Christ (Portugal)
The Military Order of Christ previously the Royal Order of the Knights of Our Lord Jesus Christ was the heritage of the Knights Templar in Portugal, after the suppression of the Templars in 1312...
, GCL
Order of Liberty
The Order of Liberty, or Freedom, is a Portuguese honorific civil order that distinguishes relevant services to the cause of democracy and freedom, in the defense of the values of civilization and human dignification...
(fɾɐ̃ˈsiʃku sa kɐɾˈnɐjɾu; 19 July 19344 December 1980) founded the Portuguese
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...
Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Portugal)
The Social Democratic Party , is a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Portugal. It is commonly known by its initials, PSD; on ballot papers, its initials appear as PPD/PSD, with the first three letters coming from the party's original name, Democratic People's Party...
in 1974 (the year of the Portuguese 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...
) and was elected Prime Minister of Portugal in January 1980, but only held office for eleven months, dying in a plane crash with his partner, Snu Abecassis, on December 4, 1980. The accident triggered a number of conspiracy theories.
Background
Sá Carneiro was born in PortoPorto
Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, Vitória
Vitória (Porto)
Vitória is a Portuguese parish of the municipality of Porto. It is 0.31 km² in area with 2,720 inhabitants as of 2001.Vitória is one of the four districts within the UNESCO World Heritage Classified Zone of Porto, the others being São Nicolau, Sé, and Miragaia.A major landmark of Vitória is...
, the third of the five children of lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
José Gualberto Chaves Marques de Sá Carneiro (born 31 August 1897 in Barcelos
Barcelos
Barcelos Municipality is located in Braga District, in the north of Portugal. It has a total population of 123,831 and an area of 378.9 km². With 89 parishes, it is the municipality with the highest number of parishes in the country, as well as the city of Barcelos...
) and wife Maria Francisca Judite Pinto da Costa Leite (born 29 March 1908) of the Counts of Lumbrales
Lumbrales
Lumbrales is a municipality located in the province of Salamanca, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 2,049 inhabitants....
in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Career
A lawyer by training, Sá Carneiro became a member of the puppet National Assembly and, in turn, one of the leaders of the "Liberal Wing" which attempted to work for the gradual transformation of António de Oliveira SalazarAntónio de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...
's dictatorship into a Western European democracy.
In May 1974, a month 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...
, Sá Carneiro founded the Popular Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Portugal)
The Social Democratic Party , is a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Portugal. It is commonly known by its initials, PSD; on ballot papers, its initials appear as PPD/PSD, with the first three letters coming from the party's original name, Democratic People's Party...
(PPD), together with Francisco Pinto Balsemão
Francisco Pinto Balsemão
Francisco José Pereira Pinto Balsemão, GCC , is a former Prime Minister of Portugal, who served from 1981 to 1983.-Background:He is the son of Henrique Patrício de Balsemão and wife Maria Adelaide van Zeller de Castro Pereira , granddaughter in male line of an adulterine son of King Pedro...
, Joaquim Magalhães Mota
Joaquim Magalhães Mota
Joaquim Jorge de Magalhães Saraiva da Mota , was a Portuguese lawyer and politician.-Background:...
, Carlos Mota Pinto
Carlos Mota Pinto
Carlos Alberto da Mota Pinto, GCC, GCIP, was a Portuguese professor and politician.-Career:He graduated as a Licentiate in Law and Doctorate in Judicial Sciences from the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra. He was also a Professor at the Portuguese Catholic University and several foreign...
, João Bosco Mota Amaral
João Bosco Mota Amaral
João Bosco Soares da Mota Amaral , is a Portuguese politician. He served as the first President of the Autonomous Regional Government of the Azores from 1976 to 1995.-Career:...
, Alberto João Jardim
Alberto João Jardim
Alberto João Cardoso Gonçalves Jardim, GCIH |Santa Luzia]], Funchal, Madeira Island) is a Portuguese politician who has been the President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal, since 1978. He is currently among the most controversial politicians of Portugal.-Early years:Jardim was born...
, António Barbosa de Melo
António Barbosa de Melo
António Moreira Barbosa de Melo, GColL , is a Portuguese lawyer, politician and parliamentarian on several occasions.-Career:...
and António Marques Mendes
António Marques Mendes
António Joaquim Bastos Marques Mendes is a Portuguese lawyer and politician.-Background:He is a son of Joaquim Marques Mendes , Director of Services in the Correios, Telégrafos e Telefones, and wife António Joaquim Bastos Marques Mendes (b. Porto, Paranhos, March 30, 1934) is a Portuguese lawyer...
, and became its secretary-general. The PPD was soon renamed the Social Democratic Party (PSD); despite Sá Carneiro's original claims to be leading a left-of-centre party, he and the party soon drifted to the right. He was minister without portfolio
Minister without Portfolio
A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...
in a number of provisional governments, and was elected as a deputy to the Constitutional Assembly the next year.
In 1976, he was elected to the Assembly of the Republic
Assembly of the Republic
The Assembly of the Republic is the Portuguese parliament. It is located in a historical building in Lisbon, referred to as Palácio de São Bento, the site of an old Benedictine monastery...
. In November 1977, he resigned his office as president of the party, only to be reelected to that office the next year.
In the general election of late 1979, he led the Democratic Alliance
Democratic Alliance (Portugal)
The Democratic Alliance was a coalition in Portugal between the Social Democratic Party , the Democratic Social Center and the People's Monarchist Party , including also a group of...
, a coalition of his Social Democratic Party, the right-wing Democratic and Social Centre Party, and two smaller parties, to victory. The Alliance polled 45.2 percent of the popular vote and gained 128 of the 250 seats in the Assembly of the Republic
Assembly of the Republic
The Assembly of the Republic is the Portuguese parliament. It is located in a historical building in Lisbon, referred to as Palácio de São Bento, the site of an old Benedictine monastery...
; 75 of these were from the PSD. President António Ramalho Eanes
António Ramalho Eanes
António dos Santos Ramalho Eanes, GColTE, GCL, CavA, KE is a Portuguese general and politician who was the 16th President of Portugal from 1976 to 1986.-Background:...
subsequently called on him to form a government on 3 January 1980, and formed Portugal's first majority government
Majority government
A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...
since 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...
of 1974. In a second general election held in October that year, the Democratic Alliance increased its majority. The Alliance received 47.2 percent of the popular vote and 134 seats, 82 of them from the PSD. Sá Carneiro's triumph appeared to augur well for the presidential election two months later, in which Sá Carneiro was supporting António Soares Carneiro
António Soares Carneiro
António da Silva Osório Braga Soares Carneiro, GCTE is a Portuguese military officer and politician...
(no relation).
Death
His victory was short-lived, however. On 4 December 1980, while on his way to a presidential election rally in PortoPorto
Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, the Cessna 421
Cessna 421
-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Taylor, John W.R. . Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1976-77. London:Jane's Yearbooks, 1976. ISBN 0-354-00538-3....
he was on crashed into a building in Camarate
Camarate
Camarate is a civil parish in the municipality Loures, district of Lisbon, Portugal. With a population of 23,000 inhabitants in 2001, the parish of Camarate extends into an area of 5.52 km².-History:...
, Loures
Loures
Loures Municipality is a municipality to the north of Lisbon. Created on 26 July 1886 by a royal decree, the municipality currently occupies an area of 169 km² and has about 200,000 inhabitants . It borders the municipalities of Odivelas, Sintra, Mafra, Arruda dos Vinhos, Vila Franca de Xira...
, soon after takeoff from Lisbon Airport
Portela Airport
Lisbon Portela Airport, also known as Lisbon Airport , is an international airport located north of Castle of São Jorge in the city of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal...
. Eyewitnesses claimed they saw pieces falling from the plane just moments after it took off. Rumours have continued to fuel conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
that the crash was in fact an assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
, but no firm evidence has come to light. There are even different theories as to whom would have been the target of such an assassination, as Francisco de Sá Carneiro was travelling with the Defence Minister, Adelino Amaro da Costa
Adelino Amaro da Costa
Adelino Manuel Lopes Amaro da Costa, GCIH was a Portuguese Politician.-Background:...
, who had said he had documents relating to the October surprise conspiracy theory.
Dependent to a considerable extent on Sá Carneiro's personal popularity, the Democratic Alliance was unable to maintain its momentum in the wake of his death. Faced with a national crisis, the public rallied behind the incumbent President, António Ramalho Eanes, who easily defeated the Alliance candidate in the presidential election a few days later.
The airport where Sá Carneiro was heading has been named after him as Francisco de Sá Carneiro Airport, despite objections that it would be in bad taste to name an airport after someone who died in a plane crash.
In recent news, one former bodyguard has come forward and revealed that there was a payment made for sabotaging the plane which resulted in the Prime Minister's death. However, he refuses to reveal who the people behind this are. In Portuguese law, after 25 years have passed and no one has been found guilty of the crime in question, the person involved can come forward without any repercussions.
Family
He was married to Isabel Maria Ferreira Nunes de Matos (b. PortoPorto
Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, Miragaia, 1 October, 1936), and had five children:
- Francisco Nunes de Matos de Sá Carneiro, unmarried and without issue
- Isabel Maria Nunes de Matos de Sá Carneiro, unmarried and without issue
- Maria Teresa Nunes de Matos de Sá Carneiro, and had two sons:
- Francisco de Sá Carneiro e Nogueira (b. PortoPortoPorto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, Santo Ildefonso, 9 November, 1986) - Lourenço de Sá Carneiro e Nogueira (b. PortoPortoPorto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, Santo Ildefonso, 7 December, 1988)
- Francisco de Sá Carneiro e Nogueira (b. Porto
- José Nunes de Matos de Sá Carneiro (b. PortoPortoPorto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, CedofeitaCedofeitaCedofeita is a Portuguese parish, located in the municipality of Porto. It has a population of 24,784 inhabitants and a total area of 2.66 km²....
, 1 April, 1963), married in MealhadaMealhadaMealhada Municipality is located in Aveiro District in Portugal. It has a total area of 110.7 km² and a total population of 21,282 inhabitants, and 17,043 electors . The city of Mealhada itself has a population of 5.000....
, LusoLuso-Other:* a prefix meaning Portuguese .* Historical, legal, geographical, and political writing to refer to those countries that have a significant Portuguese influence in language and Portuguese cultural heritage.* a term used to describe a person of Portuguese heritage, origin, or ethnicity.*...
, on 8 September, 1991 Isabel Maria Guedes de Macedo Girão (b. PortoPortoPorto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, Ramalde, 25 January, 1965), and had an only daughter:- Inês de Macedo Girão de Sá Carneiro (b. PortoPortoPorto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, Santo Ildefonso, 21 March, 1992
- Inês de Macedo Girão de Sá Carneiro (b. Porto
- Pedro Nunes de Matos de Sá Carneiro (b. PortoPortoPorto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, 12 September, 1964, married to Maria Benedita de Matos Chaves Pinheiro Torres, of the Barons of a Torre de Pero Palha, born on May 28, 1967, and had an only daughter:- Maria Teresa Pinheiro Torres de Sá Carneiro (b. PortoPortoPorto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, 17 August, 2000
- Maria Teresa Pinheiro Torres de Sá Carneiro (b. Porto
Later in life he lived together with Snu Abecassis, who died in the same accident as Sá Carneiro.
Ideological assessment and legacy
Sá Carneiro started his political life in the youth of the Acção Católica (the Portuguese Catholic ActionCatholic Action
Catholic Action was the name of many groups of lay Catholics who were attempting to encourage a Catholic influence on society.They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries that fell under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, Italy, Bavaria, France, and...
), being his first activity in civic life to write a letter to Marcelo Caetano
Marcelo Caetano
Marcelo José das Neves Alves Caetano, GCTE, GCC, also spelled Marcello Caetano , was a Portuguese politician and scholar, who was the last prime minister of the Estado Novo regime, from 1968 until his overthrow in the Carnation Revolution of 1974....
requesting the return of the António VIII Ferreira Gomes, the exiled
Exiled
Exiled is a 2006 Hong Kong action crime drama film produced and directed by Johnnie To, and starring Anthony Wong, Roy Cheung, Francis Ng, and Simon Yam. The action takes place in contemporary Macau.-Plot:...
pro-democracy bishop of Oporto
Roman Catholic Diocese of Porto, Portugal
The Portuguese Roman Catholic diocese of Porto is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Braga. Its see at Porto is in the Norte region, and the second largest city in Portugal.- History :...
. He probably had links with the catholic syndicalist organizations and Christian Socialism
Christian socialism
Christian socialism generally refers to those on the Christian left whose politics are both Christian and socialist and who see these two philosophies as being interrelated. This category can include Liberation theology and the doctrine of the social gospel...
in general. He was very influenced by catholic Personalism
Personalism
Personalism is a philosophical school of thought searching to describe the uniqueness of a human person in the world of nature, specifically in relation to animals...
and Humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
(especially its Christian version
Christian humanism
Christian humanism is the position that universal human dignity and individual freedom are essential and principal components of, or are at least compatible with, Christian doctrine and practice. It is a philosophical union of Christian and humanist principles.- Origins :Christian humanism may have...
).
Sá Carneiro tried to adapt the social-democratic ideas of the likes of Eduard Bernstein
Eduard Bernstein
Eduard Bernstein was a German social democratic theoretician and politician, a member of the SPD, and the founder of evolutionary socialism and revisionism.- Life :...
, Karl Kautsky
Karl Kautsky
Karl Johann Kautsky was a Czech-German philosopher, journalist, and Marxist theoretician. Kautsky was recognized as among the most authoritative promulgators of Orthodox Marxism after the death of Friedrich Engels in 1895 until the coming of World War I in 1914 and was called by some the "Pope of...
, and the post-1945 SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
to the cultural context of Portugal and its traditionally Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
society. The Godesberg Program
Godesberg Program
The Godesberg Program was the party program outline of the political course of Germany's social-democratic party, the SPD. It was ratified on November 15, 1959, at an SPD party convention in the town of Bad Godesberg, which is today part of Bonn....
had a very important influence in his social democratic thought as it became the model for his party and its cut with Marxist socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
.
Despite having an anti-collectivist and anti-statist party with an emphasis on personal rights
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
and duties
Moral responsibility
Moral responsibility usually refers to the idea that a person has moral obligations in certain situations. Disobeying moral obligations, then, becomes grounds for justified punishment. Deciding what justifies punishment, if anything, is a principle concern of ethics.People who have moral...
that was responsible for privatizing the industrial sectors nationalized during the revolutionary period, he increased social spending during his term, supported land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
and its redistribution
Redistribution (economics)
Redistribution of wealth is the transfer of income, wealth or property from some individuals to others caused by a social mechanism such as taxation, monetary policies, welfare, nationalization, charity, divorce or tort law. Most often it refers to progressive redistribution, from the rich to the...
in Alentejo and he was proud that his party had been adopted by the working, middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
blue collar worker
Blue collar
Blue collar can refer to:*Blue-collar worker, a traditional designation of the working class*Blue-collar crime, the types of crimes typically associated with the working class*A census designation...
and middle-low class workers and that his party defended «the construction of a socialist society in liberty». Due to all this specificities he called his party's ideology "Portuguese Social Democracy".
He was recognized as populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
by both supporters, neutral analysts, and opponents.
Works
Sá Carneiro was the author of various works, among them:- Uma Tentativa de Participação Política (An Attempt of Political Participation) (1973)
- Por uma Social-Democracia Portuguesa (For a Portuguese Social Democracy) (1975)
- Poder Civil; Autoridade Democrática e Social-Democracia (Civilian Power; Democratic Authority and Social Democracy (1975)
- Uma Constituição para os Anos 80: Contributo para um Projecto de Revisão (A Constitution for the '80s: Contribution for a Project of Revision) (1979).