The Avante Festival, an event organized by the Portuguese Communist Party, is described as an irony difficult to ignore, suggesting it may be today the last place in Portugal where it is still possible to believe, for three days, that the PCP is not dead. The article acknowledges the singularity of the phenomenon, even for those who have no sympathy for the festival, its aesthetics, or the political imaginary it represents.
The text notes that elements like sickles, hammers, portraits of revolutionaries, and nostalgia for political experiences that produced some of the most spectacular economic failures of the twentieth century now belong more to European ideological archaeology than to any credible future project. Nevertheless, Avante has become a kind of natural reserve of Portuguese communism.
During the event, which takes place at Quinta da Atalaia, a progressively marginalized political force manages to annually recreate the illusion of centrality it had in other eras. Flags multiply, comrades reunite, and the old language regains its solemnity, but then Monday arrives and people return to the real country.
The most interesting aspect highlighted by the article is that Avante seems to survive better than the party itself. Many of the young people who pass through the gates of Quinta da Atalaia are not going to celebrate the proletarian revolution, indicating a transformation in the profile of participants. The text, authored by João Tovar, was published in the ECO newspaper in April 2025.
