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Book Review Portugal: The Impossible Revolution Reviewed by Fred Freedman Every revolutionary struggle is accompanied by a flurry of "left" books on the subject. Portugal is of course no different. The problem is one of truth, interpretation, and who to believe. The left press is no less guilty of fraud and lies in reporting revolutionary events than the bourgeois press. Phil Mailer's Portugal: The Impossible Revolution? is a
clear analysis of the events in Portugal from April 25, 1974 to
November 25, 1976 with a background chapter. It is clearly and simply
written with little rhetoric. It is also openly libertarian, documenting
the struggle of the Portugese people against both fascism and domination
by Leninist parties whose picture of state power differs little
from the fascists. The Portugese revolution is one of the three
or four most important struggles for western leftists to understand
and this goes a long way to shed light on the inevitable final battle
that any successful revolution faces: the people vs. the parties.
In Portugal this took on a special meaning, as the book makes clear.
Published in Volume 2, Number 1 of The
Red Menace, February 1976. See also:
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