National Antifascist Unity Movement (MUNAF)
In December 1943, the National Antifascist Unity Movement (MUNAF) was founded.
World War II evolved favorably to allied victory and the Portuguese opposition bet on an anti-fascist unity front seeking to explore the combination of the evolution of the world conflict, social unrest and the regime crisis.
In a context marked by the reorganization of the Portuguese Communist Party – which in its Congress approved the “chain line of anti-fascist unity” – as well as the sharpness of the economic and social crisis, hunger and lack of food and the intensification of social struggles and the striker movement, the movement , chaired by General Norton de Matos, had the presence of organizations such as the Republican Portuguese Party, the Socialist Party – SPIO (Portuguese Section of the International Workers’ Office), the Socialist Union or the Communist Portuguese Party. It thus included Republicans, socialists, communists, Catholics, liberals, monarchists, seareiros, Masons, anarcho-syndicators and several independents. All united on an anti-fascist front.
Image: Queue for collection of rationing cards, 1943.
