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José Hipólito Raposo is a Portuguese lawyer, writer, integralist politician and the current Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Portugal, being in power since the Integralismo Lusitano Coup of early 1926. As one of the founders of the IL back in 1914 and the first truly "national populist" head of government in the world, Raposo has become an idol among global far-right organisations, especially in the Romance-speaking world, and has inspired many similar movements in South America, such as the Brazilian Integralists or the Liga Patriótica Argentina.
History
Early Life
José Hipólito Raposo was born in a small village in the Gardunha Mountains in Central Portugal. After attending school in nearby Castelo Branco, he enrolled at the University of Coimbra to study law and theology, aiming to become a lawyer. He graduated in 1911. Already during his time at the university, he came in contact with Christian student fraternities and began writing for local newspapers. After finishing his studies, he started teaching at the Conservatório Nacional and the Liceu Passos Manuel in Lisbon, where he settled down.
Founder of Integralismo Lusitanio
In 1914, Raposo was one of the founders of the self-titled Integralismo Lusitano, a political-cultural movement with the goal to restore the Portuguese monarchy, which had been abolished during the Portuguese Revolution of 1910, and to establish a decentralized, national syndicalist and deeply traditionalist catholic state to counter dangerous democratic influence. The IL was inspired by the French Action Française, which already had been founded in 1899.
Many of the IL's co-founders were former colleagues of Raposo from the law faculty, like Alberto Monsaraz, Luís de Almeida Braga, José Pequito Rebelo and, most prominently, António Sardinha, who would become the movement's leading figure until his death in 1925. In the first years of the movement's existence, Raposo's was mainly occupied with editing various integralist and Catholic-aligned newspapers and magazines, like Nação Portuguesa (the IL's official organ), O Occidente, Atlântida, Contemporânea and A Monarquia.
While initially supporters of the dictatorship of Sidonio Pais (1917-1921), who ended the anticlerical rhetoric that had dominated the Portuguese Republic for the last few years, the IL became desillusioned with him when they realized that Pais would not restore the monarchy and instead would concentrate all the power on himself. Many IL members, including Raposo, therefore joined the opposition, hoping to topple the "King-President" as soon as possible. Eventually, Pais was assassinated in 1921 and the old Republican elites returned to their positions - However, this meant the return to anticlericalism and therefore the IL remained in the opposition, plotting against the Republic.
The Portuguese Restoration
The IL's closest ally and biggest hope would become Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro, a former colonial governor with strong monarchist views, who had sympathies for the IL's traditionalist agenda. In secret, they would set up a royalist army, hoping to strike in the right moment to finally end the tumultous Republic and put King Manuel II back on the throne.
The perfect moment arose in November 1921. During an army revolt, which was not related to the monarchists or the Integralismo Lusitano, the Republican government led by Prime Minister António Granjo was forced to resign; However, President António José de Almeida refused to appoint the new government which was proposed by the rebels. What followed would be known as the Noite Sangrenta ("Bloody Night"), during which the rebels abducted several ministers, including Prime Minister Granjo, and murdered them in a gruesome way.
In the end, the revolt did not lead anywhere, but it severely weakened the Republic and plunged the nation into chaos, which gave the counterrevolutionaries room to act. On 5 December, Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro and his most loyal men would march onto Porto, declaring the reestablishment of the monarchy. Whilst the republic struggled to respond, a separate mutinous army, backed by both the Integralists and the Clergy, marched on Lisbon a week later completely unopposed. With the main 2 cities under siege by Royalist forces, and the army beginning to mutiny across the nation, President Antonio Jose de Almeida realised the republic was dead. Meeting with Paiva Couceiro on the 17th, the two would agree to restore the monarchy, and establish a provisional military government to stabilise the nation. Manuel II, having been taken by surprise by the restoration, graciously accepted his throne. On 5 January 1922, King Manuel II would be coronated and the Kingdom of Portugal would be formally restored, with the Monarchist Cause in control.
The Integralist Coup
The Integralismo Lusitania's goal had finally been fulfilled: The Republic was gone and the traditionalists stood triumphant. However, while on paper victorious, the IL had not really gained anything from the coup; They struggled to find a proper support base in the Kingdom, as the famous and influential Paiva Couceiro had been appointed Prime Minister, leaving the IL essentially powerless. With the economic and political situation in Portugal finally stabilizing under Paiva Coucerio, the need for radical political parties declined with every day and the IL became more and more irrelevant. The death of their leader Sardinha in early 1925 would be seen as the IL's death blow by many of the movement's critics; The future of the Integralismo Lusitano was indeed dire. Raposo was appointed the new chairman of the IL after Sardinha's early death, taking over in a time of severe internal crisis.
Everything would take a surprising turn of events a few months later, however. With the British Revolution and the Collapse of the British Empire in full swing, the Portuguese economy, closely aligned to Britain, was in free-fall again. Things would even get worse in November; When Portuguese colonial troops tried to seize Nyasaland from the collapsing Brits, they were presented an ultimatum by the Germans to immediately withdraw, embarassing the Kingdom of Portugal on the international stage. Paiva Coucerio's popularity was at an all-time low and many feared another Republican revolution.
Raposo knew that he had only one chance to make the IL relevant again; He had to capitalize immediately on this situation and launch a coup against the government before the Republicans would do. He knew that he was gambling, as the IL's influence in the military had been greatly diminished over the last few years; But to do nothing was no possibility either, and therefore Raposo and the IL had to act quickly. Lacking the proper political capital to take over by themselves, the Integralists began cooperating with other catholic monarchist movements, including the popular Catholic Center.
On March 13th, an army headed up by Jose Hipolito Raposo personally would march on the Royal Palace in Lisbon, where one simple demand would be made: Install the Integralist-Catholic coalition into power, or suffer the consequences. Though they did not control huge amounts of the military, their political influence with the coalition was concerning to Manuel. A man of peace, he would take the choice to avoid bloodshed and allowed the Coalition into power, dismissing Paiva Coucerio as Prime Minister and installing Raposo in his place.
Prime Minister of Portugal
Raposo and his Integralists had a great plan to put into place, however they couldn't act on their ideas. The coalition government was necessary to become strong enough to lead the nation, and though theysupported some of the Integralists reforms, many would never get out of the Chamber of Deputies.
Though Manuel would relinquish some of his prerogatives to Raposo, he wouldn’t allow major political changes to occur on accounts of potentially destabilising the monarchy.
The Integralists would therefore focus on other areas. The economy would be improved by, put simply, trading with anyone who would buy their products. Much of this would take the form of Germany which, though unpopular due to the Second Ultimatum, would be fairly effective.
Once the economy was on the mend (a process which would take years, due to the Integralists fairly hands off approach to economic matters), the reforms would go elsewhere. The administration of the colonies would be overhauled, with bureaucracy cleared out and the Governor-General of the province being empowered further.
The army would be reorganised, with the previous militia based system removed for a more conventional one. Finally, concerted efforts were made to begin industrialising the nation. These wouldn’t be hugely effective, but they’d give the economy a necessary boost to keep it out of recession.
Many had expected Raposo's radical coalition to fall apart in months. However, through compromise and agreements the Integralists, the Catholic Center and various smaller parties would form a stable government. In fact, Raposo's position would be strengthened further in 1930. The Chamber of Deputies and the Chamber of Lords voted for unification, citing the current, slightly strange, arrangement to be confusing and overly bureaucratic, leaving the democratic Republicans outraged.
The most important factor which would help the coalition continue to prosper however was the King himself, Manuel II. Not very assertive and always wanting to compromise with everyone around him, he barely intervened actively in politics and gave the integralists much freedom to pursue their goals.
Power Struggle with King Duarte II
But then, on the 2nd July, 1932, King Manuel II would die in his sleep, aged just 42. Childless, the Pact of Dover stipulated that Duarte Nuno, the former Miguelist candidate, would succeed the throne as Duarte II of Portugal. And such he did, finally uniting the succession branches after around 100 years of conflict.
Duarte would quickly prove to be a far different king than his predecessor. Interventionist and politically astute, friction would rapidly begin to grow between Duarte and Prime Minister Raposo. Duarte expected to have a bevy of royal powers, orientating himself towards the monarchs of Germany, Romania or neighbouring Spain, but the agreements between Manuel and Raposo had left the King with few other powers, and broad public support for the Integralists meant they couldn't be easily ousted, not without a seriously destabilising event.
The King and the Prime Minister quickly grew to hate each other, though publically they supported each others actions. This reflected the situation within the Royal Congress too. Though the two maincoalition parties, the Integralists and the Catholic Center, openly supported each other, behind the scenes the situation began to get much more factional.
As the Integralists personal support has begun to slowly level off in recent years, mainly due to the beginning of a slow global recession, the King has been making many meetings with former members of the Paiva Coucerio cabinet, as well as prominent coalition leaders outside of the Integralists. Whispers of a “National Restoration” can be heard through the Congress, something Raposo, who soon will be entering his 10th year as Prime Minister, simply brushes aside. For now, Portugal's Integralist leadership seems deeply entrenched; However, should the opportunity arise, Duarte surely would not hesitate to get rid of Raposo and his henchmen and steer the monarchy into a much different direction.