Table of Contents

Introduction; I. The First Week; II. The Background; III. The First Three Months; IV. The Return to Reality V. The Upsurge; VI. The Agrarian Struggles; VII. The Political Chessboard; VIII. The MFA; IX. Urban Struggles; X. The Elections and Beyond; XI. The Elections and Beyond; XII. Crises; XIII. The Situation in the Class; XIV. De-Socialisation; XV. November; XVI. A Balance Sheet.

Reviews

"A thorough delight as it moves from first person accounts of street demonstrations through intricate analyses of political movements. Mailer has handled masterfully the enormous cast of politicians, officers of the military peasant and workers councils, and a myriad of splinter parties, movements and caucuses." "--Choice "

"Affords a good view of the mood of the time, of the multiplicity of leftist factions, and of the social problems that bedeviled the revolution." --Fritz Stern, "Foreign Affairs Magazine "

"Mailer portrays history with the enthusiasm of a cheerleader, the 'home team' in this case being libertarian communism. Official documents, position papers and the pronouncements of the protagonists of this drama are mostly relegated to the appendices. The text itself recounts the activities of a host of worker, tenant, soldier and student committees as well as the author's personal experiences." --Ian Wallace, "Library Journal "

"What comes through is the joy, enthusiasm, and realism which contrast with the irrelevant manoeuvring of various political factions... One could quote endlessly from this interesting book. I hope much of the revolutionary left will read it. Many anarchists could also think about many of its implications. For people need to eat, to have shelter, before, after and during a revolution and you cannot eat slogans or wear ideologies." --Alan Albon, "Freedom"

"What did it all add up to? Was the 'Lisbon Commune' the real thing: a popular revolution arising from the masses without leaders or parties or vanguards? Phil Mailer claims that it was, or could have been. In a vigorous book that is part blow by blow account, part vivid eye-witness reporting and part unashamedly polemical analysis, he stresses what he sees as the revolution's most important feature--ordinary people spontaneously taking power for themselves. He presents a wealth of fascinating detail about workers' committees and peasant cooperatives which is a welcome antidote to the tiresome journalistic assumption of the time that without a tank, a bomb, or a dispossessed British businessman what happened in Portugal wasn't worth talking about." --Ben Pimlott, "New Society"