“…During the summer of 1975, "conflict was fed by the development of strong grassroots political organizations such as the workers' commissions, the growing challenge posed by the extreme left during the crisis, and its influence within the military" (Pinto, 2008). "By August 1975 the MFA had become deeply divided and its authority weakened" (Rezola, 2008), as "democratic socialists, populists, and Marxists-Leninists" (Maxwell, 1995) within the MFA struggled for power. Melo Antunes, one of the original leaders of the MFA, and eight other moderate socialist military officers known as the Group of Nine (Grupo dos Nove) published a manifesto, calling "for a middle way between Russian-style communism and Western European social democracy, but also for a greater respect for public opinion" (Harvey, 1978).…”