José Carlos Rates was one the first General Secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party, after the Party's foundation in 1921. Rates was chosen, in 1923, to lead the Party by the delegate of the Communist International in Portugal, Jules Humbert-Droz, after several problems inside the newly founded Party. He was replaced by Bento Gonçalves, in 1929, and latter left the party. He joined the National Union in 1931.