Raquel Varela: “Learning from Portugal’s Carnation Revolution”

“A revolution took place in Portugal. We can date this precisely: between April 25, 1974 and November 25, 1975. The revolution was the most profound to have taken place in Europe since the Second World War. During those 19 months, hundreds of thousands of workers went on strike, hundreds of workplaces were occupied sometimes for months and perhaps almost three million people took part in demonstrations, occupations and commissions. A great many workplaces were taken over and run by the workers.  Land in much of southern and central Portugal was taken over by the workers themselves. Women won, almost overnight, a host of concessions and made massive strides towards equal pay and equality. Thousands of houses were occupied. Tens of thousands of soldiers rebelled.”