A People's History of Portugal

'Raquel Varela and Roberto della Santa narrate, with admirable clarity and power of synthesis, the great history of this small country. A history - as they show - full of extremes, marked by intense class conflicts, sometimes delayed, sometimes anticipatory (like the Carnation Revolution), always profoundly intertwined with the social and political events of Europe, Africa and the whole world'

-- Pietro Basso, author of Modern Times, Ancient Hours

'A remarkable achievement—sweeping in scope, beautifully written, and politically alive on every page. Varela and della Santa manage to do something rare: they give us a rigorous, deeply sourced historical narrative while keeping the experiences, struggles, and creativity of ordinary people at the very centre of the story. Their commitment to a democratic, emancipatory understanding of history is genuinely inspiring. This book is not only an essential contribution to Portuguese historiography—it is a stirring reminder that social transformation is made from below'

-- Yassamine Mather, Middle East Centre, University of Oxford

'Raquel Varela and Roberto della Santa restore two hundred years of class struggle in Portugal to where it belongs. In the best traditions of 'history from below', their account ranges from beginnings of workers’ organisation in the early years of the nineteenth century through to present-day resistance to the ravages of neoliberalism. The lessons of these momentous events reverberate through the pages of this book. Never was it more the case, as the authors remind us, that 'it is necessary to know one’s own history to be part of its making as self-determinant agents'.'

-- Andy Durgan, historian and author of Volunteers for the Revolution

'In this forceful, vigorous and passionate book, Raquel Varela and Roberto della Santa help us to make sense of the many enigmas that singularize the history of capital and labor in Portugal. How can we understand the particularity of this small Iberian country that entered commercial capitalism so early, became intensely colonialist, yet never became a central power within the imperialist chain? What did all this mean for the history of the workers’ movement in Portugal? To unravel this question, the authors chose as their guiding thread an examination of the key moments in the history of the struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat in Portugal'

-- Ricardo Antunes, Professor of Sociology at University of Campinas (Unicamp)

'A powerful and original contribution to European social history, placing workers—rather than elites—at the centre of the narrative. Tracing Portugal’s path from dictatorship and the Carnation Revolution to 'Europe with us' and Troika austerity, Varela and della Santa brilliantly show how European integration has operated to discipline labour, privatise the commons, and entrench class power. At the same time, the book recovers a rich tradition of resistance—strikes, councils, and new unions—that keeps alive the possibility of breaking with capitalism’s 'no alternative' script'

-- Clara Mattei, Professor of Economics, The University of T