A People’s History of the Portuguese Revolution People’s History History tends to be viewed from the perspective of the rich and powerful, where the actions of small numbers are seen to dictate the course of world affairs. But this perspective conceals the role of ordinary women and men, as individuals or as parts of collective organisations, in shaping the course of history. The People’s History series puts ordinary people and mass movements centre stage and looks at the great moments of the past from the bottom up. The People’s History series was founded and edited by William A. Pelz (1951–2017). Also available: Long Road to Harpers Ferry The Rise of the First American Left Mark A. Lause A People’s History of the German Revolution, 1918–19 William A. Pelz Foreword by Mario Kessler A People ’s History of the Portuguese Revolution Raquel Varela Edited by Peter Robinson Translated by Sean Purdy First published by Bertrand Editora as História do Povo na Revolução Portuguesa 1974–75 English language edition first published 2019 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA www.plutobooks.com Copyright © Bertrand Editora and Raquel Varela 2019 The right of Raquel Varela to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 7453 3858 3 Hardback ISBN 978 0 7453 3857 6 Paperback ISBN 978 1 7868 0357 3 PDF eBook ISBN 978 1 7868 0359 7 Kindle eBook ISBN 978 1 7868 0358 0 EPUB eBook This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin. Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Simultaneously printed in the United Kingdom and United States of America I dedicate this book to the historian Valério Arcary from whom I learned the centrality of theory in the history of revolutions. I also learned from him not to be afraid when the empirical evidence forces us to start over again. His intellectual courage is an example for me. I also want to dedicate this book to Peter Robinson, who did an extraor- dinary editing job, adding various notes, ideas and texts from his pen that made the book much better. His gentleness and passion for the revolution that helped build 44 years ago is still evident today. Finally, I want to thank William Pelz (1951–2017), who introduced me to Pluto Press. Born in a working-class district on the south side of Chicago, Bill liked to refer in his biography to his initial hope of pursuing a career as a bus driver, explaining that he later lowered his expectations and became an academic historian instead. Bill never got to drive buses, but was a brilliant historian and author of important works dedicated to the study of the working class. Contents Photographs, Figures and Tables ix Acknowledgements xi Editor’s note on the English edition xii Abbreviations xiii 1. Introduction 1 2. The Seeds of Change 6 3. 25 April 1974: ‘The People are No Longer Afraid’ 16 4. Who Governs? 32 5. The Anti-Colonial Movements and the Myth of a ‘Bloodless Revolution’ 52 6. Strikes and their Reverberations 67 7. Self-Management and the Struggle Against Redundancies 83 8. Women in a Democracy are Not Mere Decoration: Social Reproduction and Private Life in the Revolution 98 9. Artists and the Revolution 109 10. Workers’ Commissions and Unions 119 11. ‘Here is the Nursery’ – Urban Struggles and Residents’ Commissions 128 12. Workers’ Control, 11 March and Nationalisations 139 13. The Birth of the Welfare State 155 14. Scheming for Power 167 15. The Land for its Workers: Agrarian Reform 183 16. The ‘Hot Summer’ of 1975 and the Fifth Government’s Frail Governance 194 17. Spain and other ‘Links in the Chain’ 212 18. The Crisis 225 vii a people’s history of the portuguese revolution 19. Democracy and Revolution: The Meaning of the Carnation Revolution 249 20. In Celebration 266 Chronology 271 Notes 285 Bibliography 315 Index 324 About the author 334 viii Photographs, Figures and Tables Photographs 1 The community of an occupied farm holds a meeting to decide how the work of picking the olives should be shared out 2 2 Workers and Soldiers Demonstration, 16 July 1975. Armed soldiers (and tanks) support a demonstration in Lisbon called by Inter-Commissions (federation of shanty town neighbourhood committees) 4 3 To fight against their bosses’ lock-out, the dry-cleaning workers at Tinturaria Portugal decided, at a plenary meeting on 18 November 1974, to continue occupying their workplace 101 4 Funeral procession of Soldier Luís, killed during the attempted coup of 11 March 1975 189 5 Agricultural workers from the farm ‘Os Machados’ outside the Ministry of Agriculture in Lisbon 190 6 Workers in República, who had taken over their newspaper 196 7 Special English solidarity issue of República, published under workers’ control 199 8 Published by the ‘cultural dynamisation wing’ of the MFA, this children’s comic book explains why people should not vote 206 9 People’s United Front (FUP) demonstration, 27 August 1975 208 10 Examples of stickers produced by worker, grassroots and revolutionary organisations in order to publicise their causes 211 11 Portuguese soldiers reading Socialist Worker, the paper of the International Socialists (UK) 220 12 November 1975, left-wing paras weep with disappointment as they surrender to the commandos, the men who made the coup for the right-wing 244 Figures 4.1 Social Struggles Surged Following the Events of 25 April 1974 50 4.2 Strikes during the 1974–1975 Revolution 51 5.1 Anti-colonial demonstration leaflet 65 ix