The «Revolta do Grelo»: an attempt at political analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to try to determine the limits of a political system (in this case of the so called «Portuguese Monarchist Rotativismo») in relation to its social context. It consists mainly of an analysis of the riots, which took place in Coimbra in March 1903 and were contemptuously described by the Lisbon press as the «revolta do grelo». The author was inspired by the work of historians like A. Soboul, R. Cobb, and G. Rude, who have recently transformed the traditional methods of studying popular protest. The limits of the political system in question are defined at the end of the article, by showing, on basis of the results of the previous analysis, which were the social groups the system included and which were the ones it excluded.