PORTUGAL THE IMPOSSIBLE REVOLUTION?
by Phil Mailer Afterward by Maurice Brinton
“An evocative, bitterly partisan diary of the Portuguese revolution, written from a radical-utopian perspective. The enemy is any type of organization or presumption of leadership. The book affords a good view of the mood of the time, of the multiplicity of leftist factions, and of the social problems that bedeviled the revolution.”- Fritz Stern, Foreign Affairs
After the military coup in Portugal on April 25, 1974, the overthrow of almost 50 years of Fascist rule, and the end of three colonial wars, there followed 18 months of intense, democratic social transformation which challenged every aspect of Portuguese society. What started as a military coup turned into a profound attempt at social change from the bottom up and became headlines on a daily basis in the world media. This was due to the intensity of the struggle as well as the fact that in 1974-75 the right-wing moribund Francoist regime was still in power in neighboring Spain and there was huge uncertainty as to how these struggles might affect Spain and Europe at large. This the story of what happened in Portugal between hopes, the tremendous enthusiasm, the boundless energy, the total commitment, the released power, even the revolutionary innocence of thousands of ordinary people taking a hand in the remolding of their lives. And it does so against the background of an economic and social reality which placed limits on what could be done.
978-1-60486-336-9 $24.95 6×9 Paperback 300 pages History/Politics
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