Portuguese transition to democracy  Portugal's transition to democracy before the Carnation Revolution of 1974 had not been particularly successful. Its First Republic lasted only sixteen years, from 1910 to 1926. Under the republic, parliamentary institutions worked poorly and were soon discredited. Political corruption and economic mismanagement were widespread. The 28 May 1926 coup d'état ended the First Republic and ushered in first the Ditadura Nacional and then the "Estado Novo" ("New State") period. The republic was replaced by a military dictatorship that promised order, authority, and discipline. The military regime abolished political parties, took steps against the small but vocal Marxist groups, and did away with republican institutions. In 1928 it invited University of Coimbra professor António de Oliveira Salazar to serve as minister of finance. In 1932 he became Prime Minister. That year marked the beginning of his regime, the New State ("Estado Novo"). Under Salazar (1932–68), Portugal became, at least formally, a corporative state. The new Constitution of 1933 embodied the corporatist theory, under which government was to be formed of economic entities organized according to their function, rather than by individual representation. Employers were to form one group, labor another, and they and other groups were to deal with one another through their representative organizations. In reality, however, Salazar headed an autocratic dictatorship with the help of an efficient secret police – the PIDE. Strict censorship was introduced, the politically suspect were monitored, and the regime's opponents were jailed, sent into exile, and occasionally killed. Portugal drifted and floundered under this repressive regime for several decades. Economic conditions improved slightly in the 1950s, when Salazar instituted the first of two five-year economic plans. These plans stimulated some growth, and living standards began to rise. The 1960s, however, were crisis years for Portugal. Guerrilla movements emerged in the Portuguese African overseas territories of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea that aimed at liberating those territories from "the last colonial empire". Fighting three guerrilla movements for more than a decade proved to be enormously draining for a small, poor country in terms of labour and financial resources. At the same time, social changes brought about by urbanization, emigration, the growth of the working class, and the emergence of a sizeable middle class put new pressures on the political system to liberalize. Instead, Salazar increased repression, and the regime became even more rigid and . When Salazar was incapacitated in an accident in 1968, the Council of State, a high-level advisory body created by the Constitution of 1933, chose Marcello Caetano to succeed him.