[1] The newspaper started to be an irregular publication due to the constant repression against the Portuguese Communist Party led by the authorities during the Estado Novo regime, who consistently assaulted the clandestine printing offices.

The festival usually boasts participation from hundreds of thousands of visitors, making the outside of the grounds seem like a giant camping park.

Despite this, it only started to be a regularly published newspaper in 1941 due to the constant and brutal repression against the PCP led by the Ditadura Nacional authorities, who consistently assaulted the clandestine printing offices as well as the regular persecution, arrest and torture actions against the members of the Communist Party, some of whom were responsible for the newspaper.

Protected by the new western allies of NATO, Salazar was able to keep the dictatorship without major problems, and several Communist Party members were imprisoned.

In 1958 the Regime was shaken, with popular support shifting to Humberto Delgado, who seemed slated to win the presidential election, but did not, due to extreme manipulations carried out by the Fascist government.

was one of the few newspapers to give voice to the anti-colonialist feelings of a large part of the Portuguese society who were noticing the military and political developments in the colonies.

also documented several of the protests and demonstrations against the Estado Novo regime, among these, the Academic Crisis, a period of upheaval, led by students in support of Democracy.

A completely new era of Portuguese history began: freedom of speech was finally restored and, under the new Democratic regime, the first legal edition of Avante!

took action, denouncing what the PCP considered to be political regression and attacks to the Portuguese working class.

After the collapse of the Socialist Bloc of Eastern Europe, the PCP's influence was reduced, but the party's presence in Portuguese society continued to be strong, particularly in the areas around Lisbon and in the south of the country.

After rotating through different locations around Lisbon, including the FIL Park, Ajuda or Loures, the festival now has a home in Amora, a town near Seixal, on grounds bought by the Communist Party after a massive fundraising campaign in the early 1990s.

The festival usually boasts participation from hundreds of thousands of visitors, making the outside of the grounds seem like a giant camping park.

In 28 editions, the Festival counted with the presence of several famous artists, either Portuguese or foreign, like Chico Buarque, Baden Powell, Ivan Lins, Zeca Afonso, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Holly Near, Johnny Clegg, Charlie Haden, Judy Collins, Richie Havens, Tom Paxton, The Soviet Circus Company, the Kuban Cossacks Choir, Dexys Midnight Runners, The Band, Hevia, Adriano Correia de Oliveira, Carlos Paredes, Jorge Palma, Manoel de Oliveira and many others.