Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers - Reorganizative Movement of the Party of the Proletariat
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The Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers - Reorganizative Movement of the Party of the Proletariat (in the original, Portuguese, PCTP/MRPP - Partido Comunista dos Trabalhadores Portugueses/Movimento Reorganizativo do Partido do Proletariado) was founded in 1970, its first secretary-general being Arnaldo Matos. It is a left-wing party with Maoist tendencies. In 1971 (before Portugal's April 25th) the party kept a newspaper called Luta Popular (People's Struggle). It was a very active party before the Portuguese Revolution of April 25 1974, especially amongst the students of Lisbon. It kept a very intense activity during the years of 1974 and 1975. At this time, the party had members that later came to be of high importance in the national politics, for example, José Manuel Durão Barroso and Fernando Rosas, who left the party in the meanwhile.
At the time directly after the revolution, MRPP was accused of (mainly by Portuguese Communist Party) of working for the CIA. A belief that was fueled by the cooperation between MRPP and the Socialist Party in the first democratic elections.
In 1976, the party changed its name to Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers and it was then that it started to use the acronym PCTP/MRPP. Its historical leaders are Arnaldo Matos and Saldanha Sanches, who directed the Luta Popular newspaper. Its current leader is Garcia Pereira.