For Portugal: “Democracy, Period”

The military rulers of Portugal have decked their regime in ideological trappings that recall bygone times. They have warned the newly legalized parties of Portugal that “bourgeois democracy” is suspect, while “socialist democracy” is the real McCoy. This makes even more memorable the comments of Socialist party leader Mario Soares after the stunning victory of the democratic Socialists and Popular Democrats in the Portuguese elections to the Constitutional Assembly.

When he was asked in a radio interview whether he favored “bourgeois” or “socialist” democracy, Soares replied: “There is democracy, period. It is of the people, for the people, and by the people, and it is not the...