The Greek military dictatorship installed in April 1967 raised crucial political and strategic questions for Poulantzas. Yet these questions were initially separated (along with his political involvement in the anti-dictatorial struggle) from his more general theoretical interests. Later Poulantzas came to see the intimate connection between such questions and more general problems in Marxist state theory. Indeed he admitted that conflicts over political strategy within the Greek left were premised on very different conceptions of the state (1979Ia, p. 197). Two further events gave fresh impetus to his theoretical and strategic reflections. For the Greek regime surprised many on the left by collapsing without any significant direct involvement of the popular masses. Conversely, at more or less the same time, the so-called "Portuguese Revolution" provided a living laboratory for socialist and communist strategies in a European context. This prompted a lively debate outside Portugal about the course of its struggles for democracy and socialism and their lessons. This was particularly significant in the light of the emerging trend towards Eurocommunism.