Portugal: The Impossible Revolution

(Paperback)

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What started as a military coup wihin Portugal in 1974 turned into a profound attempt at social change from the bottom up. There were 18 months of intense, democratic social tranformation which challenged every aspect of Portuguese society and caught the world's attention. This is the story of what happened as seen through the eyes of a deeply committed participant. It depicts the hopes, enthusiasm and energy behind the thousands of people who fought for change.

Reviews

"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 Magazine

"Mailer portrays history with the enthusiasm of a cheerleader, the 'home team' in this case being libertarian communism. Official documents, position papers and the pronouncements of the protagonists of this drama are mostly relegated to the appendices. The text itself recounts the activities of a host of worker, tenant, soldier and student committees as well as the author's personal experiences."
--Ian Wallace, Library Journal

"A thorough delight as it moves from first person accounts of street demonstrations through intricate analyses of political movements. Mailer has handled masterfully the enormous cast of politicians, officers of the military peasant and workers councils, and a myriad of splinter parties, movements and caucuses."
--Choice

"What did it all add up to Was the 'Lisbon Commune' the real thing: a popular revolution arising from the masses without leaders or parties or vanguards Phil Mailer claims that it was, or could have been. In a vigorous book that is part blow by blow account, part vivid eye-witness reporting and part unashamedly polemical analysis, he stresses what he sees as the revolution's most important feature--ordinary people spontaneously taking power for themselves. He presents a wealth of fascinating detail about workers' committees and peasant cooperatives which is a welcome antidote to the tiresome journalistic assumption of the time that without a tank, a bomb, or a dispossessed British businessman what happened in Portugal wasn't worth talking about."
--Ben Pimlott, New Society

Author Bio

Phil Mailer is a political activist and the former editor of Combate. He lives in Lisbon, Portugal. Maurice Brinton was the pen name under which Chris Pallis wrote and translated for the British libertarian socialist group, Solidarity.