Phil Mailer is a political activist and the former editor of Combate. He lives in Lisbon, Portugal. Maurice Brinton was the pen name under which Chris Pallis wrote and translated for the British libertarian socialist group, Solidarity.
"An evocative, bitterly partisan diary of the Portuguese
revolution, written from a radical-utopian perspective. The enemy
is any type of organization or presumption of leadership. The book
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 "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 "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
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