Volume 21, Number 10 · June 13, 1974
Portugal: A Neat Revolution
By Kenneth Maxwell
Portugal e o Futuro: Análise da Conjuntura Nacional [Portugal and the Future]
by António de Spínola
Arcadia (Lisbon), 244 pp., 100 Escudos
The collapse of fascist Portugal was sudden and paradoxical. After forty-six years of authoritarian rule, aborted coups, and quixotic gestures of opposition, a meticulously planned putsch by junior officers deposed the old regime in less than twelve hours. In Lisbon and Oporto, hundreds of thousands of people pouring into the streets welcomed the army as liberators. To head a 'junta of national salvation,' the captains called in a general of impeccable fascist credentials who spoke the platitudes of liberalism as if they were revolutionary truths. Remarkably, once in power he did not hesitate to act on them.
Review, 5546 words
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