Political Mobilization and Social Unrest in Rural Portugal in the Early Twentieth Century: The Example of Montemor-o-Novo between 1908 and 1918

Abstract

This article studies the different expressions of political mobilization and social unrest that occurred in rural Portugal during the early twentieth century. To do so, it offers an investigation at local level, using as an example the municipality of Montemor-o-Novo, part of the Alentejo region, in the southern half of the country, and covers the years of unrest marked by the fall of the monarchy and the early years of the Republic (1908–1918). This research focuses on the analysis of three aspects: the acts of political mobilization associated with the republican movement; the expansion of associations and conflict associated with the workers’ movement; and the protests associated with the absence of basic foodstuffs resulting from the Great War. In doing so, the article aims to show how the rural Portuguese population in the early twentieth century played an active and dynamic role in the political and social life of the country by means of very different forms of collective mobilization (such as meetings, demonstrations, strikes and riots), resulting from a wide variety of political, economic, or labour-related circumstances.