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THE TEAM
CONTACT
A central point in explaining national affirmation in the 14th century was "the profound economic renewal of the country." It was the response to the external demand for wine and salt, olive oil, and fruits. Exports of honey, wax, leather, pelts, and wool were also noted. Joining the inland economy with that of the coast al regions would be accomplished. "In land, the agricultural and pastoral work; on the coast, the exploitation of salt and the fishing that has extended from our coast to abroad." Thus, "a new type of national life was created: long-distance maritime trade, based on agriculture." "In Portugal, it was from the very movement of the communes that the supreme concept of the Nation would be born; and once the causes that hindered the development of the popular classes here, even more than in the rest of Europe, had disappeared, democratic principles would resume their march until the advent of the Republic. ." Thus, he sought what might be called "the democratic conception of Portuguese history?" It is possible. "But in any science, what matters is that its conceptions are...scientific." Special attention was given to the revolution of 1383: "Portugal comes of age; its domestic politics are dominated by secular and civilist trends, an essential condition for the dignity and freedom of peoples; and the State reaches the form of organisation that allows it to solve the great problem of Europe’s expansion and the understanding of the planet." (Cortesão, Os factores, pp. 14-15, 89-91, and 157).
The Seara group, formed in 1921, rapidly paved the way as a movement of ideas, occasionally influencing political power. It was continuously committed to maintaining the republican regime and public freedoms. Thus, it distanced itself from military coups and fought the situation created on 28 May, particularly through Raul Proença’s writings. Later, some of its members would conspire and take up arms in the revolution of 3-7 February 1927—against the military dictatorship—and Cortesão was one such case. Some would exile themselves shortly after the military uprising—this was the case of Sérgio, who left when he was warned that he was about to be arrested. Others would be dismissed and persecuted by the troops, the monarchists, and the clerics who had joined them. This is clearly evidenced in the pamphlets written by Raul Proença in 1926. Some went into exile, while others were imprisoned. Cortesão would go to France and Spain, and in 1940, he would even be banned from his homeland upon his return. Seara Nova would no longer be able to maintain the same reformist concerns in the years that followed : its focus would shift to the possible resistance against the Estado Novo. Sérgio would experience this through his internal exile, beginning with his return in 1933, and Cortesão in Brazil after 1940. Thus, the history of Seara Nova would remain, as perhaps José Rodrigues Miguéis would have written, as one of the group’s "imperfect chapels," though with some accomplishments.
