The Revolution Within the Revolution: Workers' Control in Rural Portugal

A splendid study of land seizure and subsequent workers' control in southern Portugal during the early stages of the 1974 Portuguese revolution. The book is grounded in empirical inquiry and informed by theory, though the author is admirably critical of all received opinion. The seizure of land sprang from specific economic conditions and was only after the fact exploited by the Communist Party and later hobbled by the rivalry of left-wing parties. A sophisticated book, written with exceptional lucidity and a sense of drama, a work that transcends the bounds of its subject and demonstrates the great potential of the scholarly monograph.