A People’s History of the Portuguese Revolution - Raquel Valera
Published in English in 2019 by Pluto Press, London, UK
Originally published in Portuguese as Uma História do Povo da Revolução Portuguesa
352 pages
ISBN: 9780745338576
On April 25, 1974, Portuguese citizens flooded the streets of Lisbon, seizing upon a military coup that ended five decades of authoritarian rule. Salazar’s highly repressive Estado Novo regime crumbled down in a single day as the military forced the government to surrender. Celebrations filled the streets, and people placed red carnations into the barrels of rifles, creating a striking image that came to symbolize the “bloodless Revolution.”
The Carnation Revolution was formed out of a coalition between working-class movements and young military captains who, disillusioned with colonial wars, worked together to establish a new popular government and withdraw from its colonies in Angola and Mozambique. While its radical form only lasted around 18 months, the Revolution established radical democracy in Portugal, only to be subsumed by a less radical liberal democratic regime. In the history of revolutions, however, it remains woefully under-examined and overlooked, despite its profound impact on the European continent.
In her 2019 book, A People’s History of the Portuguese Revolution, labor historian Raquel Varela (Professor at the New University of Lisbon) fills this gap in scholarship by offering a comprehensive and critical account of the Carnation Revolution of 1974, which overthrew the Estado Novo dictatorship and led to the establishment of democracy in Portugal. Exploring the events of the revolution as a social history from below, Varela highlights the roles of trade unions, workers, soldiers, women, and other everyday people in shaping the revolution. By focusing on these average figures rather than on the political elites or military leaders of Portuguese society, Varela reveals the successes of revolutionary action, as well as the challenges of organizing and governing in its aftermath.
Overview:
Over 20 chapters, Varela provides a comprehensive step-by-step analysis of the context for the Carnation Revolution, the events of the coup, and the subsequent challenges that the new government faced before succumbing to counter-revolutionary liberal democratic forces. She offers a comprehensive account of the 1974–1975 Carnation Revolution, emphasizing the contributions of workers, women, artists, and grassroots movements often overlooked in traditional narratives. Varela challenges the conventional portrayal of the revolution, highlighting the active participation of ordinary people in dismantling the Estado Novo dictatorship and reshaping Portuguese society.
Varela centers on the experiences of marginalized groups, illustrating how workers' commissions, residents' assemblies, and other grassroots organizations played pivotal roles in the revolution. These movements not only resisted oppressive structures but also initiated social experiments like cooperatives and land reforms. The revolution was also deeply influenced by anti-colonial struggles in Portugal's African colonies. The prolonged colonial wars contributed to the weakening of the Estado Novo regime, setting the stage for the revolution.
The book discusses the social reforms achieved during the revolution and the subsequent counter-revolutionary efforts that curtailed these advancements. Varela examines the involvement of political parties, particularly the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), in the revolution. She critiques the PCP's approach, suggesting that its strategies may have contributed to the revolution's eventual suppression. Varela ultimately argues that the counter-revolutionary transition to liberal representative democracy in November 1975 marked a shift away from the more participatory forms of governance that had emerged during the revolution.
Deeper Dive:
In her introduction, Varela introduces her Marxist-Trotskyist perspective, emphasizing a "history from below" that centers on the experiences of workers, women, and grassroots movements during the Portuguese Revolution. She critiques traditional narratives that overlook the agency of ordinary people in shaping historical events. She also challenges the characterization of Salazar’s autocratic dictatorship as fascist, though she fully respects those who suffered under it to call it such. Instead, she emphasizes how international capitalism was in lockstep with the Portuguese political authority, as Portugal was a founding member of NATO (which contributed to the continuation of the African wars) and international capital benefited from Angola's cheap resources and cheap labor from South Africa (3).
The Second Chapter explores the socio-economic conditions leading up to the revolution, including the repressive legacy of the Estado Novo dictatorship, ongoing and unpopular colonial wars, demographic shifts, and the rise of a new left among workers and students. Varela examines how all these factors set the stage for widespread discontent and revolutionary potential, and how the Movimento das Forças Armadas (MFA) channeled this energy to help usher in the revolution on April 25, 1974.
In the Third Chapter, Varela recounts the events of the Carnation Revolution on April 25th, highlighting the role of the MFA and the mass mobilization of the populace in overthrowing the dictatorship. She emphasizes the significance of the revolution as a popular uprising rather than a mere military coup, writing, “The Portuguese Revolution, which would be the most radical social revolution in Europe in the previous 30-year period, began as a democratic revolution” (26).
The Fourth Chapter examines the formation of the initial provisional government and the dynamics between political parties, the military, and grassroots organizations. Varela also discusses how workers' commissions, resident commissions, and solidarity strikes formed in the immediate aftermath of the revolution. Overall, she highlights the challenges in establishing a new political order amidst all of these competing interests, as “the insistence of workers in the metropole and the liberation movements in Africa created a political situation provoking the fall of the First Provisional Government, which did not even last two months” (51).
In the Fifth Chapter, Varela critiques the common notion of the Carnation Revolution as a "bloodless revolution." To do so, she highlights the significant role of anti-colonial struggles in Portugal's African colonies leading up to April 25th, including strikes and work stoppages in the colonies, desertions from the military by soldiers who morally objected to the colonial regime, and opposition from Maoists, Castoists, and Trotskyists on the far left. These movements contributed to the weakening of the Estado Novo regime and the eventual popular success of the revolution.
The Sixth Chapter delves into the wave of strikes that swept across Portugal following the revolution, including at TAP, the Lisnave shipyard, and various newspapers such as the Diário de Notícias, O Século, and the Jornal do Comércio. Varela examines how these strikes were expressions of worker solidarity and demands for better conditions, playing a crucial role in the revolutionary process. They also threatened the new government, which led to the attempted coup on September 28, 1974. Despite President Spínola calling on a “silent majority” to rise up against the left and reestablish order through the armament of fascists, workers mobilized to disrupt this attempt. Workers set up barricades to block transport, soldiers handed over arms to workers, and newspapers and radio stations made special reports to mobilize the people to action. As a result, the attempted coup failed, leading to Spínola’s resignation as president and a strengthening of the Left (82).
In the Seventh Chapter, Varela explores the concept of workers' self-management, focusing on efforts to democratize workplaces and resist layoffs. She discusses the challenges faced by workers in implementing self-management practices, such as workers navigating poor economic conditions, learning how to manage production, and internal antagonisms between workers and workers’ commissions. Valera is careful to delineate the difference between self-management and workers' control: self-management is a form in which workers become their own bosses, whereas worker control “is a process of dual power that consists of the organization of workers in the production level--whether formalized or not--with a view to taking political power” (96). As such, the government was much more concerned with workers' power than self-management, as it was a direct threat to its power.
The Eighth Chapter highlights the role of women in the revolution, examining their participation in various movements and challenges to traditional gender roles. Varela discusses the heteropatriarchal expectations placed upon women to be model housewives, as well as the sets of laws that further subjugated women during the New State regime, such as being forbidden to leave the country without the permission of their husbands, as well as the lack of suffrage (unless the head of a household). Valera highlights how, after the revolution, women acquired the right to vote and were granted equality in the eyes of the law. Women's involvement during this revolutionary period was pivotal in reshaping societal norms as they secured greater agency for themselves in the political sphere, the legal system, and the workplace.
In Chapter Nine, Varela turns her attention to the contributions of artists to the revolution, including their involvement in propaganda, public art, and cultural movements. Freed from the shackles of censorship, artists in the revolutionary period used their art as tools for political expression and social change. Valera contends that the revolution “opened up the gates of art to the people, not just the artistic elite” (118), as community theater, murals, music, and literature began to proliferate.
Chapter Ten focuses on the role of workers' commissions and unions in organizing labor and advocating for workers' rights. Varela highlights how one of the most difficult tasks of the Communist Party in the autumn of 1974 was the struggle “for a single united union movement (unicidade)” (122). As such, she contemplates the role of the Intersindical in representing the will of the worker (and how it often fell short). Overall, Valera shows how organizations such as unions and workers’ commissions were instrumental in the revolutionary period.
In Chapter Eleven, Varela examines the formation of residents' commissions in urban areas, highlighting their efforts to address housing issues and improve living conditions. She discusses how these grassroots organizations empowered communities and revealed the weaknesses of the State. Local power existed as a parallel power to the State, bringing into question the State’s capacity to impose its power, as evidenced by evictions and a widespread occupation of vacant housing. She also highlights how, in addition to existing as sites of struggle for housing and accommodation, some residents' commissions “considered themselves ‘schools of revolution,’ who called for unity with sailors and soldiers” (137).
Chapter Twelve explores the events of March 11, 1975, when a failed coup attempt led to increased workers' control in various sectors. Afraid of increasing worker control and the radicalization of workers, several high-ranking officers with connections to Spínola and other bourgeois forces attempted to usurp the Provisional Government. Just as they did in September of the previous year, workers barricaded the streets, newspapers and radio stations coordinated efforts to defend the revolution, and the banks were immediately nationalized. As a result of this botched attempt, right-wing generals and some company directors were arrested, Spinola fled to Spain, and the alliance between soldiers and workers was cemented. It also further highlighted the crisis of the State, as workers demanded expanded control, even among waves of nationalizations that worked to deflect these demands.
In Chapter Thirteen, Varela discusses the establishment of social welfare programs following the revolution, including healthcare, education, and social security. She describes how, in the Alazar regime, much of the welfare relied heavily on the charity of the Catholic Church. Social welfare was incredibly poor and restricted during this time, as begging was criminalized and those who opposed the regime were deprived of their social benefits. Thus, as Valera writes, “all other social welfare indicators--health, infant mortality, education, literacy training, leisure, life expectancy--were equal to those of the world’s most backward and underdeveloped countries” (156). As such, Valera examines how these reforms introduced after the revolution aimed to address inequalities and improve citizens' lives.
Chapter Fourteen delves into the political maneuvering among various factions, including the military, political parties, and elites, as they sought to consolidate power and either harness or divert the democracy of the people. These various left-wing political movements—such as the Communist Party (PCP), the Socialist Party (PS), and radical socialist and anarchist groups—competed to shape the future of the country. Varela discusses the tensions between these groups and how, despite their differences, they all contributed to pushing forward a popular agenda.
In Chapter Fifteen, Varela examines one of the most ambitious projects of the revolution was this land reform process, which aimed to redistribute land to peasants, especially in the rural areas of the Alentejo. This was a key aspect of the revolution’s radical potential, but it faced considerable resistance from landowners, the Catholic Church, and conservatives, and ultimately, the program was curtailed by the more moderate forces in the post-revolutionary government. She discusses the challenges and successes of these reforms in transforming rural Portugal. While the “talk of agrarian reform frightened the small farm owners into thinking their holdings would be expropriated” and provoked a backlash in the rural North, these reforms sparked the poor, extremely impoverished, and salaried agricultural workers “to embrace wholeheartedly the cause of ‘the land for its workers’” (193).
Chapter Sixteen focuses on the intense political and social upheaval during the summer of 1975, known as the "Hot Summer." The revolution reached a critical point in the summer of 1975 when the left-wing forces, led by the Communist Party and radical socialists, sought to consolidate the gains of the revolution, while the military and moderate factions sought to limit these changes. This period of political confrontation referred to as the "hot summer," involved widespread strikes, factory occupations, and the threat of civil war. Varela discusses the collapse of the Fourth and Fifth Provisional Governments as they proved unable to manage revolutionary forces. She highlights the conflict between communists and the Catholic Church in the North, while in the South, the conflict focused on the competing interests of the landowners/business owners and the landworkers/waged laborers.
Relatedly, in Chapter Seventeen, Varela explores the international context of the Portuguese Revolution, examining how events in Spain and other countries influenced and were influenced by Portugal's revolutionary process (including the hopes/fears of a “Red Mediterranean”). Varela examines the role of external powers, particularly the U.S. and the European Union, in shaping the post-revolutionary transition. The U.S. government, fearing the spread of communism, provided support to more moderate factions, while the European Economic Community (EEC) pushed for a more neoliberal and capitalist direction.
Chapter Eighteen discusses the economic and political crises that threatened the revolution, including inflation, unemployment, and internal divisions. Varela examines how these crises impacted revolutionary momentum, ultimately leading to the November 25th counter-revolution that saw the end of the radical workers’ democracy of the Carnation Revolution. By 1976, the revolution’s radical impulses had been tempered, and Portugal moved toward a more stable democratic regime with the election of a Socialist government under Mário Soares. The military returned to the barracks, and the land reform process was halted, while neoliberal economic policies began to take root.
In Chapter Nineteen, Valera zooms out to assess the successes and failures of the Carnation Revolution. Varela argues that, while the revolution brought significant democratic gains—such as the abolition of the dictatorship, the establishment of universal suffrage, and the introduction of progressive social policies—the revolution’s more radical goals, such as land reform and workers’ control, were never fully realized. The legacy of the revolution, she suggests, is a complex one, marked by both gains in democracy and the partial defeat of the more radical revolutionary impulses by the installment of liberal representative democracy.
In her concluding chapter, Valera reflects on how the revolution has been remembered and how the popular forces who played a central role in it have often been marginalized in the official historical narrative. Varela calls for a reassessment of the revolution from the perspective of the working class and ordinary people, emphasizing that the real achievements of the revolution were moments of popular struggle and collective self-organization.
Commendations:
There are several notable strengths to Valera’s account. First and foremost, one of the book’s most compelling strengths is its firm commitment to a people-centered narrative. Varela deliberately sidesteps the traditional “great men” histories in favor of centering workers, women, artists, and the rural poor. By focusing on grassroots movements and emphasizing the role of ordinary people—workers, peasants, students, and activists—in the Portuguese Revolution, the book offers a refreshing alternative to more traditional histories that center on political elites and military leaders. Her narrative restores agency to those typically excluded from official accounts of the 1974–75 Carnation Revolution. The revolution was not just a top-down transition to democracy, but a mass social upheaval with radical participatory elements.
Furthermore, Valera does an excellent job of detailing how social movements, labor unions, and popular protests built momentum leading up to the revolution. She highlights the long history of resistance against the Estado Novo dictatorship, showing that the revolution was not a spontaneous event but the culmination of decades of social struggle and discontent. She places the revolution in a broader social and political context, exploring not only the events of April 25, 1974 but also the internal dynamics within Portuguese society before and after the Revolution. This includes issues such as class struggle, the role of the military, colonial wars, and the economic conditions of the time, all of which are essential to understanding why the revolution happened.
Additionally, Valera painstakingly details the role of the people in managing the state and their workplaces in the aftermath of the Revolution. Her incredibly detailed documentation of workers’ commissions, land occupations, self-managed factories, residents’ associations, and radical unions is invaluable to those who are searching for a social history of the Carnation Revolution. By exploring the revolutionary changes that took place after the coup, including land reforms, nationalizations, and workers' control in factories during the post-revolutionary period, Valery aptly provides an in-depth look at the transformative potential of the revolution and highlights the broader goals of social justice and equality that many of the revolutionaries aspired to.
I deeply appreciated her attention to women’s roles, both in the workplace and in the domestic sphere, which adds a vital dimension. The connection she draws between revolutionary practice and social reproduction broadens the typical class analysis in valuable ways, making her analysis more robust and comprehensive. Overall, I also appreciated Velera’s detailed documentation and her inclusion of diverse voices, providing a nuanced perspective on a pivotal moment in Portuguese history. By focusing on the agency of ordinary people in shaping historical events, Valera provides a useful case study in how a revolutionary spirit can be sustained in the aftermath of the revolutionary Event.
One of the most interesting aspects of this work is its examination of how dual power was utilized during the post-revolutionary period, as well as how she frames the legacy of the Revolution. Her granular detail offers evidence of a genuine dual-power situation—a key Marxist concept—emerging in Portugal, however briefly. Few histories so vividly depict how close Portugal came to a truly socialist transformation, and why it was eventually supplanted by liberal democratic forces. As opposed to the common notion that the Revolution paved the way for the rightful installment of representative democracy in Portugal, Valera frames this as a failure. In her view, liberal representative democracy defeated the more radical form of direct democracy. This ended up being one of the most fascinating aspects of this work, and it will be something that I will be thinking about when it comes to analyzing the contrast between liberal democracy and revolutionary direct democracy.
Finally, Varela doesn’t just celebrate the revolution; she critically analyzes its outcomes and limitations. She does not shy away from critiquing the role of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), especially its conservative alliance with the military and its suppression of more radical working-class initiatives. From a Trotskyist or left-libertarian Marxist perspective, this critique is well-founded and necessary. The revolution’s demise wasn't just the result of external forces but of internal contradictions within the left itself. This balanced approach adds depth to the book, as she examines why certain revolutionary ideals were not fully realized and the forces that curtailed more radical social change.
Critique:
On the other hand, A People’s History of the Portuguese Revolution suffers from a few weaknesses. First and foremost, Valera’s journalistic approach and attention to detail can make the text overly dry at times. She assumes that the reader has a passing familiarity with the events of the Revolution, and the deluge of names, strike actions, and political parties can easily overwhelm the average reader.
Additionally, Varela occasionally idealizes the spontaneity and coherence of grassroots action. While workers' commissions and factory occupations were significant, the revolutionary left often lacked the coordination or strategy necessary to challenge the state apparatus effectively. One question that kept hounding me while reading was this: how realistic was it to expect a socialist transformation without a more centralized organization? This is especially salient concerning countervailing forces that continually threatened to overturn the gains of the revolution. The book focuses so intensely on the revolutionary left that it sometimes underplays the strength and tactics of the right-wing counter-revolution, NATO pressures, and bourgeois civil society. A more dialectical account might have explored these dynamics in fuller depth.
While the working class was undeniably important in the revolution, Varela may, at times, overemphasize its role, potentially downplaying the importance of other actors in the revolutionary process, such as the military officers, intellectuals, and political elites who also influenced the course of events. While the book excels in offering a bottom-up perspective, it somewhat neglects the elite perspectives that also played a crucial role in the revolution. Varela’s focus on grassroots movements might leave readers with a limited understanding of the political maneuvering of elites or the complexities within the military and political leadership.
Furthermore, while Varela is right to critique the Portuguese Communist Party’s bureaucratic conservatism, she arguably downplays the material and historical reasons for their strategy. The PCP wasn’t merely reactionary—it was responding to the real threat of civil war, imperialist intervention, and fears of isolation. From a Gramscian lens, it might prove beneficial to explore how the PCP sought to build hegemony within existing constraints, however flawed that approach proved in the end. While there is a good deal of theorization in this work, it came at the very end of the book (specifically within the last two chapters). As such, it was only at the end that I began to get a clearer picture of Valera’s main thesis, as the rest of the chapters can seem disconnected without this theoretical glue holding it together.
Additionally, while Varela addresses the limitations and setbacks of the revolution, there could be more discussion on the disillusionment that many workers, peasants, and activists experienced after the revolution. The book ends rather abruptly, never really diving too deeply into the aftermath of the counterrevolution of 1975. The eventual shift toward a market economy and the political compromises made in the late 1970s left many revolutionaries feeling that their goals had been betrayed, and this theme of burnout and disillusionment could have been explored in more depth.
Finally, like many historical accounts of European revolutions, the book primarily focuses on Portugal and its European context. While the impact of the revolution on Portugal’s colonial empire is discussed, there’s limited engagement with the global political dynamics of the Cold War or the broader decolonization movements, which could have provided more nuance to the revolution's significance in the world context. As such, the book could have been strengthened by examining comparative movements during this era. While she briefly mentions Spain and Italy, the revolution’s broader European context is underdeveloped. More comparative analysis—say, with the Italian Hot Autumn or Chile under Allende—could have enhanced our understanding of the global dynamics at play.
Conclusion:
Overall, A People’s History of the Portuguese Revolution provides a rich, people-centered perspective on the 1974 Carnation Revolution. While it may be overly dry in places and places too much weight on the power of the spontaneous organizing of workers, Valera’s bottom-up approach, focus on popular movements and critical reflection on the revolution's legacy are all valuable contributions to the historiography of the Carnation Revolution. Varela emphasizes the revolutionary potential of the popular masses—workers, peasants, and soldiers—who played an essential role in dismantling the dictatorship and demanding a new society. The book challenges traditional, elite-centered histories of the revolution by focusing on grassroots mobilization and the social movements that fought for radical change.
Though the revolution ultimately resulted in a more moderate, democratic outcome, Varela highlights the unresolved struggles and the unfinished nature of the revolution, which continues to resonate in contemporary Portuguese politics and society. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the deeper, more complex dynamics of the Portuguese revolution beyond the traditional narrative of military leaders and political elites. Valera offers a nuanced view of the complexities of the revolution, recognizing its achievements while also critically addressing the limitations of the changes brought about. It's a powerful reminder of the revolutionary potential of popular movements and the ongoing struggles for justice and equality.
Valera’s account brings to the fore the revolutionary imagination of ordinary people, something often obscured in liberal-democratic histories. For the left, it serves as both inspiration and a cautionary tale: a reminder that revolutions are not only possible to realize, but can also often be crushed by their supposed allies as well as their enemies. In short, Varela’s book reclaims the revolution not as a transition to capitalism with elections, but as an unfinished project of radical democracy from below. This brief period of radical democracy in Portugal serves as a timely reminder of the power of the people, as well as the internal and external pressures to maintain and sustain revolutionary momentum in the aftermath of the Event. April 25th shows us that another world is possible and the promise of radical democracy still rings in the distance, if only we have the will to fight for it once again.
