Abstract
Portugal: The Impossible Revolution?(Second Edition) by Phil Mailer. PM Press, 2012. Pp. 300. $24.95 (Paperback). ISBN: 9781604863369[Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org Website: http: //www, trans normativ estudies, org ©2012 by The Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.]It is difficult to imagine waking up one morning and suddenly finding that everything we knew about society has been reset. How would we keep yesterday's iniquities from becoming embedded into the social architecture of tomorrow? That was the question posed to Portuguese activists on April 1974, when a military coup abruptly ended the fortyfour year reign of fascist rule. In Portugal: The Impossible Revolution?, Phil Mailer chronicles the euphoric optimism, crushing disappointments, and hard-fought struggles of the chaotic two years following the coup. Antonio Gramsci, who experienced firsthand the hardships of living under fascism, famously wrote about how the cultural values of a bourgeoisie transform into the 'common sense' values of an entire society. Similarly, Portuguese society had long been adjusted to the values of strong arm bosses and degrading workplaces, the fatalism of poverty, and the chilling fear of torture for speaking out against injustice. Without a fascist leadership to reinforce this cultural hegemony of oppression, the 'common sense' of the Portuguese was radically altered. The people found they could now demonstrate against injustices, make demands for a better quality of life, and use their voice without fear of retribution. For the Portuguese working class, their new-found voices were loudly and fearlessly Marxist. The chance to build a true communist society had come swiftly in the night. In this book, Mailer documents a tiny, yet important, history of working class efforts to achieve this daring task.Portugal: The Impossible Revolution? is a well documented and engaging read about a very fascinating time in Portuguese society. At 300 pages, it is informative, entertaining, personal, and occasionally humorous. Mailer deftly juggles a large roster of actors without letting any single group dominate the narrative. Mailer cares about the tale of the working people here, and their bold, yet unsuccessful, efforts to build a classless society. Rather than trumpeting the achievements of these years, Mailer writes with a critical detachment from the events and political groups of 1974-75, and skewers both the right and far left. This is foremost a cautionary tale for radical activists, with the hopes that others can avoid the pitfalls experienced during the Portuguese revolution. The author drags Leninist vanguard theory, with its much proclaimed pragmatism, under his guillotine for failing the Portuguese working class. Mailer clearly believes that, so long as the masses believe they need shepherds, then they will always be led by the wolves. Portugal: The Impossible Revolution? warns its readers that sometimes a revolution's greatest enemies are the revolutionaries themselves.This newest edition does not begin with a discussion of the history of Portuguese politics. Rather, the author immediately plunges the reader into the chaotic excitement of the first day of fascist-free Portugal. Oddly enough, this works to the books advantage. Mailer, having experienced the revolution firsthand, details his own experiences in a dizzying Kerouac-esque ramble through the chaos and unbridled emotions of a newly liberated nation. The author does an excellent job of portraying the hopes, fears, confusion, and excitement of a people suddenly freed from dictatorial oppression. The firsthand accounts slowly begin to fade away, as he directs his narrative towards the major national actors of this revolution. What follows is an alphabet soup of social movement acronyms competing to fill the void where fascism once was. The main actors here are the Socialist Party (PS), Communist Party (PCP), Maoist militant groups (MRPP), the center-right Popular Democratic Party, and the military regime (MF A), although there are a dozen others. …
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