A People’s History Of The Portuguese Revolution

Description

On April 25, 1974, a coup destroyed the ranks of Estado Novo’s fascist government in Portugal. Ordinary people flooded the streets of Lisbon, placing red carnations in the barrels of guns and demanding a land for those who work in it. This spontaneous revolt placed power in the hands of the working classes, trade unions, and women. In order to understand the Carnation Revolution, we must recognize it as an international coalition of social movements, comprised of struggles for independence in Portugal’s African colonies, the rebellion of the young military captains of the Armed Forces Movement, and the uprising of Portugal’s long-oppressed working classes. Cutting against the grain of mainstream accounts, Raquel Cardeira Varela shows how it was through the organizing power of these diverse movements that a popular-front government was instituted along with the nation’s withdrawal from its overseas colonies. Offering a rich account of the challenges these coalitions faced and the victories they won through revolutionary means, this book tells the tumultuous history behind the Carnation Revolution. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 Photographs, Figures and Tables......Page 10 Acknowledgements......Page 12 Editor's Note on the English Edition......Page 13 List of Abbreviations......Page 14 1. Introduction......Page 18 2. The Seeds of Change......Page 23 3. 25 April 1974: 'The People are no Longer Afraid'......Page 33 4. Who Governs?......Page 49 5. The Anti-Colonial Movements and the Myth of a 'Bloodless Revolution'......Page 69 6. Strikes and their Reverberations......Page 84 7. Self-Management and the Struggles Against Redundancies......Page 100 8. Women in a Democracy are Not Mere Decoration: Social Reproduction and Private Life in the Revolution......Page 115 9. Artists and the Revolution......Page 126 10. Workers' Commissions and Unions......Page 136 11. 'Here is the Nursery' - Urban Struggles and Residents' Commissions......Page 145 12. Workers' Control, 11 March and Nationalisations......Page 156 13. The Birth of the Welfare State......Page 172 14. Scheming for Power......Page 184 15. The Land for its Workers: Agrarian Reform......Page 200 16. The 'Hot Summer' of 1975 and the Fifth Government's Frail Governance......Page 211 17. Spain and Other 'Links in the Chain'......Page 229 18. The Crisis......Page 242 19. Democracy and Revolution: The Meaning of the Carnation Revolution......Page 266 20. In Celebration......Page 283 Chronology......Page 288 Notes......Page 302 Bibliography......Page 332 Index......Page 341 About the Author......Page 351