Portuguese Revolution

Ronald H. Chilcote is professor of economics and political science at the University of California, Riverside.

This book interprets the Portuguese revolution of 1974–75 and emphasizes its significance as a political and economic rapture. It describes the events leading up to the coup of April 25, 1974, the coup itself, the role of the Armed Forces Movement (MFA), subsequent institutional conflict among the MFA and the political parties including the Portuguese Communist Party, and the impact of labor unions and new popular and social movements. Advancing a class theory of the state, Chilcote (Univ. of California, Riverside) argues the November 25, 1975, countercoup ended prospects for any socialist transition and ensured the state's control over the eventual consolidation of capitalism and parliamentary democracy. He believes Portugal's revolution failed for many reasons, including the country's conservative nature, its traditionally weak proletariat, and a lack of an independent workers' movement under the António Salazar/Marcelo Caetano regime. Chilcote's key argument, however, is that the continuity of the state throughout Portugal's uneven movement from authoritarianism to liberal democracy best explains the revolution's political and economic outcomes. This analysis is well grounded in extensive archival research, numerous interviews of the revolution's participants, and a careful reading of the academic literature's vast coverage of the topic. Summing Up: Recommended.

• Preface: Portugal and Comparative InquiryIntroductionChapter 1: Capitalism and the Bourgeois RevolutionPart I: State Forms, Enterprise, and Continuity in the Consolidation of CapitalismChapter 2: Origins and Evolution of the StateChapter 3: Economic Groups, Public Enterprises, and Multinationals: Links to the StateChapter 4: Continuity of the State in the Political EconomyPart II: Class and Movement in the Struggle for a Socialist Transition and Popular DemocracyChapter 5: Class and Movement in the Struggle for a Socialist Transition and Popular DemocracyChapter 6: The April 25 CoupChapter 7: Institutional Conflict and the MFAChapter 8: The New Popular and Social MovementsChapter 9: Social Classes in StruggleChapter 10: Legacies of the RevolutionChapter 11: The AftermathConclusion: Assessment and Implications