The Captains’ Coup: From Dictatorship to Democracy in Portugal (1974-1976)

The first English edition of a legendary journalist’s eyewitness account of the near-bloodless coup and the Carnation Revolution that ended fascism in Portugal

Wilfred Burchett went to Lisbon in 1974 to cover the military overthrow of the fascist dictatorship that had ruled the country for nearly five decades. Burchett’s on-the-ground reporting details the immediate aftermath of the coup and the civilian uprising that followed, which took its name, the Carnation Revolution, from the flowers demonstrators handed out to soldiers and placed in their rifle muzzles. The people’s victory began a transition to democracy. It prompted the withdrawal of troops from Portugal’s colonies, bringing independence to Guinea Bissau and soon to Angola, Mozambique and other colonial territories.

On the fiftieth anniversary of the revolution’s end, The Captains’ Coup offers an insightful, poignant narrative never before available in English from a journalist of international repute. The text is based on the author’s original typescripts, discovered recently in the National Library of Australia.

Included are a foreword and introductory essay that explore the political and journalistic significance of Burchett’s work. Illustrated by contemporary photographs and political posters, the volume is complemented by the editors’ annotations, providing essential historical context.

Also included is an afterword by historian and filmmaker Tariq Ali.

Wilfred Burchett (1911-1983) was a well-known but controversial Australian journalist. Described as ＂one of the most important journalists of the twentieth century,＂ Burchett was the first Western civilian reporter to enter Hiroshima after the United States’ nuclear attack (June 1945). His accounts of the ＂atomic plague＂ (radiation poisoning illness) precipitated vehement US military denials and propelled him to international notoriety. An avowed socialist who presented stories from a non-Western perspective, his reporting from Russia, Vietnam, Korea, Portugal, and Angola reflects a keen understanding of modern revolutionary processes, placing him among the most impactful figures of Cold War generation political journalism.