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PM Press - Phil Mailer

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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.

Informations

Publié par	PM Press
Date de parution	22 mars 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781604866971
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	8 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

PORTUGAL THE IMPOSSIBLE REVOLUTION? PHIL MAILER

Portugal: he Impossible Revolution? Pil Mailer ©  PM Press All rigts reserved. No part of tis book may be transmitted by any means witout permission in writing from te publiser.

ISBN: –––– Library of Congress Control Number: 

Cover and interior design by briandesign

         

PM Press PO Box  Oakland, CA  www.pmpress.org

Printed in te USA on recycled paper, by te Employee Owners of homson-Sore in Dexter, Micigan. www.tomsonsore.com

Publised in te EU by he Merlin Press Ltd.  Crane Street Cambers, Crane Street, Pontypool NP ND, Wales www.merlinpress.co.uk ISBN: ––––

CONTENTS

III

INTRODUCTION

GLOSSARY

THE FIRST WEEK Day : hursday, April ,  Day : Friday, April  Day : Saturday, April  Day : Sunday, April  Day : Monday, April  Day : Tuesday, April  Day : Wednesday, May 

THE FIRST THREE MONTHS Sizing hings Up Timex, Sogantal, Mabor, CTT he Cultural Nonrevolution Collapse of te First Provisional Government

THE FIRST SIX MONTHS he Return to Reality TAP, Lisnave, and Oter Big Disputes he Antistrike Law and te Resurgence of te Rigt September  he hird Provisional Government

THE UPSURGE he Committees he Trade Union Question he Emergence of Inter-Empresas

iii

vii

       

    

     

   

THE AGRARIAN STRUGGLES he Rural Structure Early Confrontations Taking te Land

THE POLITICAL CHESSBOARD he Rigt he Centre he Left he Polarisation

VIITHE MFA Beginnings April ,  Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Committees Wat Political Role? Marc , 

VIIIURBAN STRUGGLES Background he Occupations Housing Struggles Inter, CRAM, SAAL, and te Santies Macismo and te Women’s Movement

BEYOND THE ELECTIONS AND POLITICAL PARTIES Electoral Aritmetic “Popular Power” and te Military heRepúblicaand Rádio Renascença Aﬀairs COPCON and te MRPP

THE GREAT NONPARTY Autonomous Workers’ Struggle Inter-Empresas and te Unions he “Revolutionary Workers’ Councils” he Cooperative Movement Land Occupations

   

    

     

     

    

     

CRISIS LOOMING Backlas in te Nort he Road to State Capitalism he Crisis and te Emergence of te “Group of Nine” he Sixt Government and te Advance of “he Nine”

XIITHE SITUATION IN THE CLASS Popular Assemblies Everyday Life in te Cooperatives Beyond Local Workers’ Committees?

XIIIDE-SOCIALISATION he Media of Control and te Control of te Media Military Factions Towards Breaking Point

XIVNOVEMBER 25

XVA BALANCE SHEET

AFTERWORDby Maurice Brinton

CHRONOLOGY

APPENDIXTranscript of Rádio Renascença Broadcast

    

   

   











INTRODUCTION

he military coup in Portugal on April , , ending nearly ﬁfty years of fascist rule, was followed by eigteen monts of intense social trans-formation tat callenged every aspect of Portuguese society. Wat started as a military coup turned into a profound attempt at grassroots social cange tat made eadlines on a daily basis around te world due to te intensity of te struggle and te presence of te rigt-wing, moribund Francoist regime in neigbouring Spain. here was muc uncertainty at te time as to ow tese struggles migt aﬀect Spain and Europe at large. his book is a personal description of tese events from te day of te coup and its tumultuous aftermat up to November , wen anoter military coup reinforced liberal parliamentary democracy and brougt Portugal into te mainstream of European capitalism. Today, very few outside Portugal can remember tese events. Wit te failure of te revolution, Portugal was quickly recuperated into te European Union and te wole experience was considered a tempest in a teacup barely wort mentioning. But inside te country, te experience was profound: many com-panies were taken over by teir workers; Neigbourood Committees occupied empty ouses and ran crèces and oter community services. he police were rendered ineﬀective and te army (usually te last bastion of te state) divided into opposing factions, wit te revolutionary left factions being in control of te state apparatus for quite some time. he retoric of revolution was everywere and tere were ints as to wat a modern revolution migt entail. But in , tere was no Internet, no mobile/cell pones. he two main TV stations were state-controlled and tere were only a alf dozen radio stations in te country. Workers tried to organise in tis vacuum. he problems of self-organ-isation and political manipulation wen workers were forbidden to carry any political party banners or trade-union banners at demonstrations

vii

INTRODUCTION

are igligted in te latter alf of te book. he control of te media (television, radio, and newspapers, especially te Catolic Curc radio station occupied at te time by te far-left) and teir problems are also discussed in great detail. hrougout te book I ave also sougt to pay particular attention to te problems of rank-and-ﬁle soldiers organising witin te army. he split in Portuguese society after te  coup was treefold: among te various state capitalist ideas (and parties), tose wo wanted to install liberal parliamentary democracy, and te various attempts of People Power to increase te direct inﬂuence of te workers from te bottom up. his latter eﬀort by te workers is well documented ere, mostly in teir own words, in its struggle to develop organisational auton-omy and economic self-management. In tis, my account of te events in Portugal may diﬀer from oters of its kind. hroug ﬁve successive military governments, te Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) installed state capitalism trougout te country and te various far-left parties largely actively collaborated wit tis project. he Socialist Party, owever, was divided between tose wo wanted to go along wit te military governments and te Communist Party, and tose wo wanted a European-style liberal capitalism and tus conspired wit te Rigt and extreme Rigt and te U.S. Embassy. he Social Democrats, situated to te rigt of te Socialist Party, were trying to ﬁnd new clotes for te old regime. Today’s Portugal is te outcome of tese struggles. he Socialist Party (PS) and te Popular Democrats (now PSD) are te power-mongers wile te PCP remains te main left opposition group and is in control of te trade union movement. he far-left groups, wit all te colourful acro-nyms you’ll encounter trougout te book, are now all allied into te Left Wing Alliance (BE, Bloco de Esquerda) wile te Maoists ave tankfully mostly disappeared altogeter. In reediting tis book of events tat occurred over tirty-ﬁve years ago, it is sometimes diﬃcult to imagine te intensity of te moments. As I reread my account, I ad to frequently ask myself,did this really happen? But, yes, it did appen; I still ave all te documents to prove it. For a younger generation, it may truly seem impossible! Maurice Brinton’s afterword deals wit tat word in te title of tis account in some detail. At te time of tese events, tere was endless discussion across continents as to weter tere sould be a question mark after te word “impossible.” Suc were te times. I still support te question mark.

viii

INTRODUCTION

At te time I wrote tis book, state capitalism was considered to be as big a danger (if not bigger) to Portugal tan private capitalism. his was te main empasis of my analysis of te grassroots movement as well as political party analysis in tis book, altoug neoliberalism and market economics became te dominant ideology in te Portuguese (and world) ruling class instead. his did not seem so obvious in –. Today, Portugal is a country fully integrated into modern capitalism wit all te iniquities tat implies. At reissue, te book is essentially te same as te  edition tat was publised jointly by Solidarity in London, Black Rose in Canada, and Free Life Editions in New York. I ave omitted a capter on Portuguese istory, as I found it a bit too long-winded and statistical, obstructing te narrative; for tose eager to seek furter information, te subject as been dealt wit amply and better elsewere, in oter books or on te Internet. I ave edited some sections sligtly, omitting parts tat I felt went into too muc detail and were not relevant today. I ave omitted te twenty-six appendices originally at te back of te book as tey, too, are available elsewere. Maurice Brinton’s introduction, wic I feel continues to be a valid contribution, is now an afterword; I am indebted to im in so many ways for getting tis book oﬀ te ground from te start. A few names ave been restored to teir proper Portuguese spelling, and a few errors about geograpical location of factories and barracks ave been rectiﬁed. Very little else as canged. It is wat it is.Vamos ver.

I would like to dedicate tis edition to te memoryof Maria Teresa Viana(–) wo inﬂuenced it in so many subtle ways. Phil Mailer Lisbon, 