NORMAN BIRNBAUM
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then to have become paralyzed and frenetic as their power crumbled into
very small fragments .
I lunched that day with two Socialists , a prominent lawyer and his literary
wife , she a member of the Constiruent Assembly. They had a splendid apart–
ment in old Lisbon, with a terraced garden . My host called for me , easy in his
silk shirt and sports car. These Socialists denounced the course of the revolu–
tion with considerable rage : it would provoke a reaction like that of Pinochet,
they feared. In the meantime, they took particular exception to the preten–
sions of people they described as pseudo-intellectuals, by which apparently
they meant , plebian intellectuals now occupying important posts. My hosts'
revolution was meant to
be
political, not social. They were certainly devoted
to political liberty, but they were disinclined to see their own cultural and
economic advantages diminished. I experienced a twinge of identification : in
sharper and more serious compass, they were dealing with what the rest of us
had to face during the upsurge of the new left. The maid who served lunch was
considerably shorter than her employers: class and nutrition go together in
Southern Europe . An adolescent son made sardonic comments and went off
to watch television (which was showing American films). My hosts denounced
the revolution for attempting to subvert what they termed the' 'healthy"
values of the northern rural population .
It
was just that population which later
erupted in mob violence . When I left, I had the impression of having played a
minor part in a scene by Bunuel.
Later I went to a meeting of workers in the rubber industry. Some of the
enterprises had been expropriated , all were near bankruptcy. The workers had
taken charge . Or had they? The meeting seemed to have been prepared by a
union official and by someone from the Movement of the Armed Forces. The
workers did speak, but TV crews were present. I could not avoid the feeling
that parts
of
the meeting had been staged. Other visits elsewhere did convince
me that spontaneous worker action was real enough-a lot of it in white collar
segments of the economy like the airline, TAP, and the b:l.Oks.
In general, the efforts of the Communist Party and the Movement of the
Armed Forces to mobilize the population seem to have failed . Those segments
of the population which are aroused simply do not follow the official revolu–
tionary line, insofar as one can be discerned . There are two large blocs on their
right. One is a traditional right, based on the peasantry in the north and the
middle classes in the south, ready for a restoration under Spinola. There are
also the democrats and moderates around Soares and his allies in the armed
forces (like Antunes, the Foreign Minister). This group hasn't been disin–
clined to use the traditional (really, fascist) right to oppose the Communists
and the Movement of the Armed Forces . The strategy may have been neces–
sary , but it may yet prove extremely dangerous to the democratic goals of the
