José Relvas: A republican politician

Abstract

José Relvas was a republican politician and diplomat who fulfilled important functions within the regime. As the Provisional Government’s Finance Minister, his monetary reforms led to the creation of the Escudo as the national currency. As ambassador in Madrid during the Monarchist incursions, he played a significant role in the relations between the two countries. Having also served as an MP, he temporarily abandoned politics in 1915, retiring to his home, Casa dos Patudos, in Alpiarça. With the country divided by the Civil War provoked by the Northern Monarchy, in 1919, Relvas was asked to head a coalition government comprised of all the republican parties in order to face the Monarchist forces, dissolve Parliament, reinstate the Constitution of 1911, and open negotiations between the parties in the hope of reaching a compromise. His strategy consisted in removing the Democratic Party from power and in re-establish a republican right that would govern after elections were held. In opposition, there was to be a radical left that could alternate power with the conservatives in a rotationist system derived from the British model. His plan failed due to old sectarian divides between the parties. Feeling isolated and leading a powerless government, he resigned in late March, 1919.