Helena Neves
Biography
Maria Helena Augusto das Neves Gorjão was born in Lisbon on June 17, 1945. At 17, while still a high school student, she joined the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP). At the Faculty of Arts, she served on the party’s Secretariat and helped organize strikes and demonstrations. During one of these demonstrations, she was beaten with a rifle butt by a PIDE agent. Suspended from the faculty, her scholarship was revoked, and she went to teach at the Santo Amaro Academy.
She helped found the Women’s Democratic Electoral Movement in the Lisbon district and served on the first board of the Women’s Electoral Commission. She was a member of the Democratic Electoral Commission (CDE) when she was arrested in 1969. Released three months later, she was barred from teaching, dedicating herself to journalism for publications such as Diário Feminino, Diário de Lisboa, Modas e Bordados, and República, where she coordinated the supplement Presença da Mulher. Between 1971 and 1972, she headed the Press Office of the Office Professionals Union and participated in the organization of the Intersindical movement. In 1973, she joined the National Committee of the Third Congress of the Democratic Opposition of Aveiro and ran as a candidate on the CDE/Electoral Commission for Democratic Unity (CEUD) lists. While distributing manifestos, she was again detained by the PIDE/DGS. In early April 1974, she was arrested again in Caxias, being released on April 25th.
After leaving the PCP in the early 1990s, she later joined the Left Bloc and served as a member of the Assembly of the Republic.
Date of Collection: 13.03.2019
Keywords: Women, Family, Students, Catholic Religion, Class Difference, Comunist Party, Culture and Recreation Collectives, Women’s Movements, MDM, Prison, Interrogation, Torture, Journalism.
