September 24, 2024 • 24 mins
Andrew talk with Garrison about the history of Brazilian Anarchism in the late 19th and early 20th century.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Alz Media.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome to krapp and Here I'm Andrew Sage, a futue
channel andrewism.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
I'm joined by Garrison Davis.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello there, once again Hello, and today I regret to
inform you that you must come to Brazil.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
I've heard mixed things about Brazil currently, but I'm not
against the idea. I have considered it before.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yes, well, we're not going to the Brazil of present times.
Will actually be time traveling, continuing the somewhat informal series
I've been doing on Latin American anarchism. Will be dipping
our tours into the sand and the sea, the farmlands
and jungles, the mountains and deserts, the cities and villages
that make up the land and ground of the potential
(00:48):
liberty of the people Brazil, particularly the struggles for anarchism
that they would have had in the late nineteenth.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
And early twentieth century.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
All this is of course down to the scholarship of
people like Edgar Rodriguez, Jesse Cone, Philippe Corea, Rafael Vienna,
the Silver Quan, William Dosantos, Edeline Toledo, and Luigi Biondi.
And without further Ado, let's get into it, so the
Portuguese landed in the region, they will become known as
(01:21):
Brazil in fifteen hundred. Prior to their colonization, the land
was home to ethnic groups linked to four main language groups,
the Irawak, the Tupi, Guarani, the Je and the Kalinago.
Some of the specific ethnic groups included the Portiguara, Trema, Membe, Tabajara, Kayete,
and so on. After Pedro Alvarez Cabra landed, the following
(01:45):
centuries were marked by colonization and enslavement. His lands were
dispossessed and cleared. Plantations were established, roads were laid, bridges
were built, and so on, all by the auctioned and
purchased efforts of whipped and exploited human muscle the president.
Slaved Africans in the society would sometimes flee into the
jungles and form quilombos or fugitive slave settlements, including the
(02:09):
famous Palmeris, which survived for almost a century with a
population of between eleven and twenty thousand. After Brazil gains
independence from Portugal in eighteen twenty two, retaining its own monarchy,
it experienced numerous maroonaghes, reforms and popular revolts, including the
Setembrada and Novembrada revolts, the uru Preto Opriisin, the Sabinada
(02:31):
and Bailadda revolts, the Carmanachem revolt, the Guera dos Ferapos revolts,
Liberal Revolution, the Prior Revolution, the extremely late abolition of
slavery in eighteen eighty eight, and the proclamation of the
First Brazilian Republic in eighteen eighty nine. It was in
this tumultuous sociopolitical landscape that anarchism would take root. As
(02:52):
in much of Latin America, anarchism would be brought by
immigrants through port cities like Rodighenio and Santos. Revolutionary ideas
would also come to Brazil by way of Brazilians themselves.
Some went to France and Portugal for their studies and
discovered anarchism there. Others would find the words of Kropotkin
and Malchesta in the bookstores of their native cities. Doctor
(03:13):
Fabio Luis, a Bahian hygienist and doctor, wrote two novels
which sort to grapple with the social question of exploitation
of man by man in Brazil. Doctor Luis also spent
his time working alongside unions and helping to fight the
yellow fever and smallpox epidemics of playing his Natia. Another novelist,
Manuel de men Doncha, also published in this time, contributing
(03:37):
to a slow growing libertaria and literary universe. These anarchist intellectuals,
alongside others, would go on to launch a popular university.
Other contributors the propagation of anarchism in Brazilian soil included
Alisio de Carvallo, j Martins, Fontes, Pedero, Docuto Rocha, Pombo Due,
Gonzalves de Silver, Maximino Maciel, Benja min Moota.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
Francisco Viot, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Anarchism in Brazil was actually quite diverse as well, as
it found immigrants from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Germany,
Canada and England. Alongside former black slaves and mestizos. It
found children, and it found women. Limo Berreto Domingos Pasos,
who was kind of known as the Brazilian Bcunan, Nino Vascos,
(04:25):
Edgar Luinroth, Jose Oitica, Mariela le Serda de Mura and
Maria and Helios Suarez all made key contributions to development
of anarchism in Brazil. Dozens of newspapers like clichiaf Pianchi, Levine,
Livitario and O Desperta would also be published. Hundreds of
(04:46):
lectures would be hosted, alongside language classes and artistic activities
at anarchist cultural centers or at ten ems and schools
like the Iliziuricluse School and the Modern Schools in South Paolo,
which also provided letters courses, a vocational trainer. Revolutionary plays
we put on in theaters by groups such as Grupo
at the Instructure How and Group of Dramatical Heremina, blending
(05:09):
entertainment with the syndicalist propaganda and front raising efforts for
the labor movement. Worker's festivals featuring poetry, song, dance and sport,
raise money for anarchist syndicalist organizations and reinforced a sense
of solidarity. The anarchist workers, being so numerously immigrant, attempted
to create a cosmopolitan counterculture centered on working class values
(05:31):
and priorities. So all these projects and institutions, with the
results of their efforts, over one thousand foreign agitators would
be deported from Brazil as a result of their radical efforts,
and a few would even be killed. The first anarchists
be murdered by the state in Brazil was the Italian
Polonice Mattei, killed in South Paolo on the twentieth September
(05:52):
eighteen ninety eight. Earlier that year, the first gathering of
socialist leading workers in Brazil would take place in Rio
Grande Rossou, attended by delegates from various associations, anarchist groups
and a newspaper. As usual, the Italian immigrants were heavily represented.
The anarchist immigrants you've managed to establish a settlement known
(06:12):
as the Guera Rima anarchist colony organized by Italian anarchists
ar Tour Campanili. Perhaps the most notable contribution to anarchism
by the Italians in Brazil was the Cecilia Colony, which
deserves special attentions, mentioning, of course, that this project, as
with everything taking place in Brazil in this time, took
place on colonial land, which seemingly went unacknowledged by the
(06:35):
anarchists themselves, but it was regrettably common in the colonial
conditions of Brazil. In the southern state of Perana, in
the ural municipality of Palmira. A group of Italian anarchists
(06:55):
led by Giovanni Rossi and Gigi Damiani founded the Cecilia
Colony in eighteen ninety The land was originally granted to
them by Emperor Pedero dis second, but after the proclamation
of the First Brazilian Republic, the new government did not
acknowledge that land grant, and so the anarchists had to
purchase it instead. The anarchists sought to experiment and creating
a society based on collective ownership and free love. They
(07:18):
built of communal shared for shelter and began the process
constructing individual homes. The population of the colony quickly grew
to almost three hundred people, including the Rossi himself, but
by the end of eighteen ninety one, the colony was
facing its first big challenge. They'd outgrown the infrastructure. With
only twenty wooden houses in one community shed, the settlements
(07:39):
simply couldn't sustain the influx of people had to make
matters worse. Many of the settlers were industrial workers with
little or no agricultural experience, and this lack of farm
and knowledge made it difficult for them to produce enough
food to feed themselves. They tried to organize tasks based
on people's existing skills. Artisans stuck to their trades, but
the farmers struggled, especially with the differences between Italian and
(08:02):
Brazilian soil. While they managed to plant crops like maize,
the results weren't immediate. The money they brought they could
buy groceries, tools, and seeds, but it wasn't enough to
sustain them until their crops started yielding results, so many
settlers had to seek work elsewhere, with some even taken
government jobs. The colony wasn't just about farming, though. Over
(08:22):
the years, they built roads, sheds, barns, a mill.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
And even a fish tank.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
They planted a huge cornfield, dug wells, and set up
a nursery for seedlands. They even tried out free love
with rossiumself participates in a polyamorous relationship. Many such cases,
many such cases. But despite all these efforts, the cracks
were starting to show. In eighteen ninety two, seven families
(08:47):
packed up and returned to Italy. By the end of
the year, the colony's population had dwindled to just twenty people.
Oh dang, yeah, it's a very very rapid decline.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
The sustainability was typed projects is always like the big thing,
and especially when it comes to like food and farming
like that is unfortunately the joke whenever people talk about
these sorts of projects. Now all of these artists and
craftsmens don't want to spend out time toiling away in
the fields.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, yeah, it's a challenge that the pasisticity.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
So far, it seems like there's like a decent mix
of like labor organizing, like social organizing, like with like newspapers,
like theaters, plays like that kind of like more like
cultural engagement stuff with like unions and this little like
anarchist society that they try. They've kind of like like
sped run through a whole bunch of like I don't
(09:42):
want to say like social anarchism, because that is a
term that means something else. But there is a lot
of stuff that's kind of very similar to that, at
least like so far, and I'm not hearing very much
stuff that leads me to believe there's like you know,
a large degree of conflictuality towards the actual Brazilian Republic.
But was that also like an aspect during this time
period they.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Would end up engaging in a lot more heavy, like
you're talking about like direct engagement with the state.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I think in this early period, when they were still
building up and spread in the wood, it was sort
of a honeymoon period for the movement in a sense.
A lot of the dramatic confrontations are very soon pendent. Okay, okay,
So the cracks were certain to show. Families had packed
up and returned to Italy. The colony had gone down
(10:31):
to just twenty people, and because a lot of the
colonies made up of intellectuals, doctors, engineers, artisans, many of
them left for nearby cities where they founded the juessepe
Garibali Society, which I couldn't find much information on that
particular society from that particular historical period in my research,
but it seems to have been a mutual aid society.
(10:54):
I'm not one hundred percent sure.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I mean that would make sense as it it's like
within like a bigger city.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
Yeah, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
And Garibaldi has a rather interesting history that I'm only
recently learning about. And I didn't even know he went
all the way to South America and sclevantin and stuff,
But like I learned very recently that he had married,
I believe, an indigenous or a Mestizo woman while he
was in South America, and they had like this very romantic,
(11:25):
dramatic life together, leading battlefield side by side and.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
All that stuff.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So I'm.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Not surprised that the Italian anarchists were perhaps inspired by Garibaldi,
even if he himself was not an anarchist. Sure so, anyway,
by eighteen ninety three new settlers had arrived, thankfully, and
the colony was trying to manufacture shoes and wine barrels
so they could make some sort of an income. They
(11:54):
eventually grew to sixty four residents, and they established two
wells and a new access road. But even with those
new developments, the colony was still struggling. They were dealing
with material poverty, the neighboring Catholic communities were extremely hostile
toward them, and they also had to deal with very
poor sanitation conditions. And then in their fourth year they
(12:15):
also had a crop epidemic that pretty much decimated the colony.
And of course, as high minded as the ideas may
have been, they were the internal struggles.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Free love and communal living may have been central to
the colony's philosophy, but not everyone adapted well to the ideals.
In theory, they embraced the values, but in practice there
were some insecurity and jealousy that other rose out of.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
That also, many such cases.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Many such cases. By the end of eighteen ninety three,
it was abundantly clear that the colony couldn't survive. Labor
was in high demand the nearby cities, and despite efforts
to attract new settlers through socialist propaganda in Europe, the
colony just couldn't maintain its proper and eighteen ninety four
Celie Colony officially came to an end. They have in
many players and dramatizations of the story Cecilia Colony. Most
(13:09):
of them, as you would imagine, are in Brazilian Portuguese,
so good luck finding them.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
I'll try to find a dub somewhere.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Maybe yeah, and Ittilian Portuguese, but anyway, so, the experiment
had held on for four dramatic years, defined pressure from
the newly established Brazilian Republican government, heavy taxes and even
military inclusions, eventually material conditions disease and until the conflicts
brought to tone. And how are we entering into the
(13:51):
twentieth century nineteen oh three, so the founding of the
first four wal structure, inspired by international syndicalism, the Federation
of Class Associations. This organization would take part in the
first Workers Congress in nineteen oh six, which brought together
forty three delegates, predominantly anarchist from across Brazil, in over
twelve sessions, discussing twenty three items of discussion. Giovanni Rossi,
(14:14):
the guy behind the Cecilia Colony, was among the attendees.
The Congress sought to advocate for economic resistance societies and
laid the foundation for the Brazilian Workers Confederation or COBB
for Sure, in nineteen oh eight, which united over fifty unions,
primarily from Rio Deshaneiro, South Paolo and Rio Grande Rossul.
(14:35):
Between nineteen oh five nineteen oh eight, the workers movement
witnessed a surge in strikes, notably among shoemakers, raallymen and
other industrial sectors. Portoalle des cre saw at the general
strike in nineteen oh six. South Paulo was the scene
of insurrectionary strikes in nineteen oh six and nineteen oh
seven as part of the campaign for the eight hour workday,
(14:55):
in Santos. The strike for the eight hour day only
ended in nineteen twenty one, meaning they spent well over
a decade close to two decades fighting for.
Speaker 5 (15:05):
The eight hour day.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
The workers movement also held several congresses in this time,
including the first and second Sal Paulo State Congresses, the
first mass Cares, the first mass Heires State Labor Federation Congress,
and the Parana Labor Congress, which affirmed the movement's commitments
to anarchist cynicalism, and as with other anarchist groups around
the world, they organized a demonstration to commemorate the death
(15:27):
of Francisco Ferrer, the Modern School founder who inspired rational
education efforts across Brazil. They also supported the Russian workers
in both nineteen oh five and nineteen seventeen, sported Mexican
workers and peasants in nineteen ten, and commemorated the Chicago
Martyrs on subsequent mediates. Nineteen thirteen marked the second Brazilian
Labor Congress, much larger than the first, were delegates from
(15:50):
one hundred and seventeen bodies across eight states debated twenty
four items. In nineteen fourteen, anarchists in Sal Paulo organized
a conference and select two delegates to represent Brazil at
the London Anarchist Congress, which is eventually and unfortunately canceled
due to the outbreak of War one.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
This is such an interesting moment in like international anarchism
that at least right now, just like we have like
the Internet, but that sucks. Like this style of like
actual like like international like anarchism. It's just something that
is I've I've never really been able to like experience before.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
But Garrison, you forgets in something we have discourse.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Oh I'm sure they also had discourse, but they got
to go to London to do their discourse, which sounds
which sounds much better than doing it from my toilet
on Twitter dot com.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Sorry x X dot com. My apologies.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
No, that's that's true, though, I would much rather the
discourse take place in person over you know, the discord
suvas and the Switzer and Breddit threads.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
I mean, like especially in that like international aspect. Like
there's there's certainly like like anarchists gatherings and like conferences
and convergences, you know, within within countries.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
I've been to many in the United States.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
But yeah, this sort of like like having anarchists in
Brazil go to London to talk with anarchists from everywhere
else in the world, like compare their experiences and compare notes. Yeah,
then talk about like what their actual like political goals are.
It's something that I think is just steally doesn't really
exist anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
And that's really a vital component of international solidarity, because
that's kind of solidarity, that kind of portunity is very
difficult to find just through virtual interaction. There's something meaningful
in shaking a Pulson's hand and embrace in them and
laughing and crying together in Pusa and sharing a meal.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
I think really makes a difference.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
I mean, yeah, especially when you have, like the spread
of anarchism is so built on that internationalism, like you
have anarchists from Portugal and Italy and Spain.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
The immigrant influence exactly is very very profound.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
But although there was the break of war one closer
to home, the anarchists were still involving themselves in that
sort of regional discourse.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
They may have been.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Flying to London, but they managed to meet with delegates
from Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay at the International Peace Conference
and the South American Anarchist Congress in October nineteen fifteen,
all in an aim to foster both regional and international
anarchist cooperation as the war raged on. In addition to
the anti war propaganda, Brazil's anarchists continue to rally against
(18:30):
unemployment rise and living costs scarcity of basic foodstuffs, while
resisting the capitalists the clergy in the state, which sent
young men to the slaughter on the battlefield. In response
to the pressure levied by the libertarian proletaria, the government
gave the go ahead for direct sale by the producer
to the consumer without taxes levied, easing the hugging crisis
(18:51):
in the country. So their struggles worked. This period and
particularly from nineteen twelve to nineteen twenty, marked significant working walization.
The period from nineteen seventeen to nineteen twenty in particular
was marked by significant strikes, including the South Paulo General
Strike of nineteen seventeen, which saw seventy thousand workers participate
(19:12):
with sympathy strikes in Rio Grande, Rasul and Pirana, demanding
better working conditions, wages, and dad hour workday. This period
also witnessed an increase in unionization and the growth of
the workers Press, which provided critical platforms revolutionary ideas. In
nineteen nineteen, an uprising exploded in Rio de Janeiro, leading
to the death of three workers and the imprisonment or
(19:35):
deportation of nearly one hundred. The government deployed police, troops
and even naval warships to crush the resistance of the workers,
and they also attempted to exploit racial divisions. They would
take Afro Brazilians and use them as scabs, and then
once the strike was over. Once they broke up this strike,
they would fire those same black workers to reaffirm the
(19:56):
privilege of white labor. Eventually, the government would concede and
was capitalists to make some concessions where wages were concerned,
but this came at a cost. Alongside the mass imprisonment
and deportations, the state's efforts included infiltration of the unions,
which eventually stayed reformist unions into the leadership position of
the working classes, supplanting the more revolutionary organizations. Thus, anarchism
(20:20):
arguably entered a new era. In the nineteen twenties, there
were still anarchist led labor congresses, including the Third Brazilian
Labor Congress and the second and third Riuro granded as
Seoul Labor Congresses, the latter of which endorsed a declaration
of principles from the IWA and established an International Anarchists
Uidiarity Pact. But by the four to three or Granded
(20:41):
there are Seul Labor Congress attended by sixteen workers organizations,
two newspapers, six anarchist groups, sub power militants and delegates
from Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. Anarchist efforts in Brazil had
to become much more clandestine following the deportations, the state intervention,
the general repression of the success of priscils in regimes.
(21:01):
The anarchist movement had indeed weakened, and I took another
blue with the establishment to the Brazilian Communist Party the PCB,
partially inspired by Bolshevism in nineteen twenty two, which absorbed
many former anarchists, including Edgar Lunov, who authored its charter,
and Astriguilo Perera, who served as its secretary general for
nearly a decade before he was expelled. The PCB competed
(21:24):
for union leadership and worked with the governments of Artur
Bernandez Washington. Louise and Catulio Vargas, the suppressed the libertarian
movement and the free trade unions. The Brendees government, by
the way, sent to thousands of political prisoners, including anarchists,
into the remote penal colony of Clevelandia, thousands with the
harsh conditions killed hundreds. Wow, And the Louis san Vargas governments.
(21:48):
Of course we're not any better.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
I was also wondering, like where are these people like
deported to Like it sounded like they've been in Brazil
for quite a while. When you were like mentioning there
was all those all those other people who were deported
out of the country, Like where where did they go?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah, there was a story reading about that. I didn't
maintaince in my notes. Some only half remember in it,
but one of my sources would have had it of
the names that listed at the beginning.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
But they were spoken.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
About how there were these I believe Portuguese people in Brazil,
as in Portuguese from Portugal who have been there, in
there and working there and whatever for years and years
and years, and because they hadn't naturalized, they were like
subject to like these heavy attacks. And I believe some
of them were deported as well, And so I'm assuming
(22:36):
whenever a country of origin they could be traced to,
they would be deported there, or they're'd be deported to
a neighbor in South American country.
Speaker 5 (22:43):
But I didn't really find.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Specific details on where they were sent. I assume it's
mostly their home countries or neighboring countries.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
Between that and like setting thousands of people to appeedal
quality with hundreds dying like that, this is a massive
way of of repression they're dealing with in like the
early twenties here.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Indeed, indeed, and unfortunately, their supposed allies weren't exactly a help.
In nineteen twenty seven, the anarchists Antonio Dominguez and Damiao
the Silver who murdered by the communists, who also wounded
another ten members of the printers Union and attacked and
stole the assets of the footwear workers Union start further
(23:24):
weakened the anarchists struggle when they were already dealing with
that government repression. And in a sense, anarchists are like roaches.
We just keep on shruggling and surviving, and the persistence
of anarchist resistance in spite of all this repression, what
would trigger a further backlash by the bourgeoisie, which should
also arise to challenge the survival of anarchism and the
(23:47):
left in general in Brazil. From the very same Italy
that brought Many an anarchist, also came Many a fascist,
which brings us to the Brazilian integralist movement. But to
find out what happened in the nineteen twenties and thirties
and onward, you'll have to wait for the next episode.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
I have an Andrew sage.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
You can find me on YouTube dot com slash Androwism and
feature in dot com slast Sage True and this has
been It could happen here.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
All power to old people.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
It could happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media.
For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website
Polzonemedia dot com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can
now find sources for it could Happen here listed directly
in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.
Alz Media.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome to krapp and Here I'm Andrew Sage, a futue
channel andrewism.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
I'm joined by Garrison Davis.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello there, once again Hello, and today I regret to
inform you that you must come to Brazil.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
I've heard mixed things about Brazil currently, but I'm not
against the idea. I have considered it before.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yes, well, we're not going to the Brazil of present times.
Will actually be time traveling, continuing the somewhat informal series
I've been doing on Latin American anarchism. Will be dipping
our tours into the sand and the sea, the farmlands
and jungles, the mountains and deserts, the cities and villages
that make up the land and ground of the potential
(00:48):
liberty of the people Brazil, particularly the struggles for anarchism
that they would have had in the late nineteenth.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
And early twentieth century.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
All this is of course down to the scholarship of
people like Edgar Rodriguez, Jesse Cone, Philippe Corea, Rafael Vienna,
the Silver Quan, William Dosantos, Edeline Toledo, and Luigi Biondi.
And without further Ado, let's get into it, so the
Portuguese landed in the region, they will become known as
(01:21):
Brazil in fifteen hundred. Prior to their colonization, the land
was home to ethnic groups linked to four main language groups,
the Irawak, the Tupi, Guarani, the Je and the Kalinago.
Some of the specific ethnic groups included the Portiguara, Trema, Membe, Tabajara, Kayete,
and so on. After Pedro Alvarez Cabra landed, the following
(01:45):
centuries were marked by colonization and enslavement. His lands were
dispossessed and cleared. Plantations were established, roads were laid, bridges
were built, and so on, all by the auctioned and
purchased efforts of whipped and exploited human muscle the president.
Slaved Africans in the society would sometimes flee into the
jungles and form quilombos or fugitive slave settlements, including the
(02:09):
famous Palmeris, which survived for almost a century with a
population of between eleven and twenty thousand. After Brazil gains
independence from Portugal in eighteen twenty two, retaining its own monarchy,
it experienced numerous maroonaghes, reforms and popular revolts, including the
Setembrada and Novembrada revolts, the uru Preto Opriisin, the Sabinada
(02:31):
and Bailadda revolts, the Carmanachem revolt, the Guera dos Ferapos revolts,
Liberal Revolution, the Prior Revolution, the extremely late abolition of
slavery in eighteen eighty eight, and the proclamation of the
First Brazilian Republic in eighteen eighty nine. It was in
this tumultuous sociopolitical landscape that anarchism would take root. As
(02:52):
in much of Latin America, anarchism would be brought by
immigrants through port cities like Rodighenio and Santos. Revolutionary ideas
would also come to Brazil by way of Brazilians themselves.
Some went to France and Portugal for their studies and
discovered anarchism there. Others would find the words of Kropotkin
and Malchesta in the bookstores of their native cities. Doctor
(03:13):
Fabio Luis, a Bahian hygienist and doctor, wrote two novels
which sort to grapple with the social question of exploitation
of man by man in Brazil. Doctor Luis also spent
his time working alongside unions and helping to fight the
yellow fever and smallpox epidemics of playing his Natia. Another novelist,
Manuel de men Doncha, also published in this time, contributing
(03:37):
to a slow growing libertaria and literary universe. These anarchist intellectuals,
alongside others, would go on to launch a popular university.
Other contributors the propagation of anarchism in Brazilian soil included
Alisio de Carvallo, j Martins, Fontes, Pedero, Docuto Rocha, Pombo Due,
Gonzalves de Silver, Maximino Maciel, Benja min Moota.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
Francisco Viot, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Anarchism in Brazil was actually quite diverse as well, as
it found immigrants from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Germany,
Canada and England. Alongside former black slaves and mestizos. It
found children, and it found women. Limo Berreto Domingos Pasos,
who was kind of known as the Brazilian Bcunan, Nino Vascos,
(04:25):
Edgar Luinroth, Jose Oitica, Mariela le Serda de Mura and
Maria and Helios Suarez all made key contributions to development
of anarchism in Brazil. Dozens of newspapers like clichiaf Pianchi, Levine,
Livitario and O Desperta would also be published. Hundreds of
(04:46):
lectures would be hosted, alongside language classes and artistic activities
at anarchist cultural centers or at ten ems and schools
like the Iliziuricluse School and the Modern Schools in South Paolo,
which also provided letters courses, a vocational trainer. Revolutionary plays
we put on in theaters by groups such as Grupo
at the Instructure How and Group of Dramatical Heremina, blending
(05:09):
entertainment with the syndicalist propaganda and front raising efforts for
the labor movement. Worker's festivals featuring poetry, song, dance and sport,
raise money for anarchist syndicalist organizations and reinforced a sense
of solidarity. The anarchist workers, being so numerously immigrant, attempted
to create a cosmopolitan counterculture centered on working class values
(05:31):
and priorities. So all these projects and institutions, with the
results of their efforts, over one thousand foreign agitators would
be deported from Brazil as a result of their radical efforts,
and a few would even be killed. The first anarchists
be murdered by the state in Brazil was the Italian
Polonice Mattei, killed in South Paolo on the twentieth September
(05:52):
eighteen ninety eight. Earlier that year, the first gathering of
socialist leading workers in Brazil would take place in Rio
Grande Rossou, attended by delegates from various associations, anarchist groups
and a newspaper. As usual, the Italian immigrants were heavily represented.
The anarchist immigrants you've managed to establish a settlement known
(06:12):
as the Guera Rima anarchist colony organized by Italian anarchists
ar Tour Campanili. Perhaps the most notable contribution to anarchism
by the Italians in Brazil was the Cecilia Colony, which
deserves special attentions, mentioning, of course, that this project, as
with everything taking place in Brazil in this time, took
place on colonial land, which seemingly went unacknowledged by the
(06:35):
anarchists themselves, but it was regrettably common in the colonial
conditions of Brazil. In the southern state of Perana, in
the ural municipality of Palmira. A group of Italian anarchists
(06:55):
led by Giovanni Rossi and Gigi Damiani founded the Cecilia
Colony in eighteen ninety The land was originally granted to
them by Emperor Pedero dis second, but after the proclamation
of the First Brazilian Republic, the new government did not
acknowledge that land grant, and so the anarchists had to
purchase it instead. The anarchists sought to experiment and creating
a society based on collective ownership and free love. They
(07:18):
built of communal shared for shelter and began the process
constructing individual homes. The population of the colony quickly grew
to almost three hundred people, including the Rossi himself, but
by the end of eighteen ninety one, the colony was
facing its first big challenge. They'd outgrown the infrastructure. With
only twenty wooden houses in one community shed, the settlements
(07:39):
simply couldn't sustain the influx of people had to make
matters worse. Many of the settlers were industrial workers with
little or no agricultural experience, and this lack of farm
and knowledge made it difficult for them to produce enough
food to feed themselves. They tried to organize tasks based
on people's existing skills. Artisans stuck to their trades, but
the farmers struggled, especially with the differences between Italian and
(08:02):
Brazilian soil. While they managed to plant crops like maize,
the results weren't immediate. The money they brought they could
buy groceries, tools, and seeds, but it wasn't enough to
sustain them until their crops started yielding results, so many
settlers had to seek work elsewhere, with some even taken
government jobs. The colony wasn't just about farming, though. Over
(08:22):
the years, they built roads, sheds, barns, a mill.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
And even a fish tank.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
They planted a huge cornfield, dug wells, and set up
a nursery for seedlands. They even tried out free love
with rossiumself participates in a polyamorous relationship. Many such cases,
many such cases. But despite all these efforts, the cracks
were starting to show. In eighteen ninety two, seven families
(08:47):
packed up and returned to Italy. By the end of
the year, the colony's population had dwindled to just twenty people.
Oh dang, yeah, it's a very very rapid decline.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
The sustainability was typed projects is always like the big thing,
and especially when it comes to like food and farming
like that is unfortunately the joke whenever people talk about
these sorts of projects. Now all of these artists and
craftsmens don't want to spend out time toiling away in
the fields.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, yeah, it's a challenge that the pasisticity.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
So far, it seems like there's like a decent mix
of like labor organizing, like social organizing, like with like newspapers,
like theaters, plays like that kind of like more like
cultural engagement stuff with like unions and this little like
anarchist society that they try. They've kind of like like
sped run through a whole bunch of like I don't
(09:42):
want to say like social anarchism, because that is a
term that means something else. But there is a lot
of stuff that's kind of very similar to that, at
least like so far, and I'm not hearing very much
stuff that leads me to believe there's like you know,
a large degree of conflictuality towards the actual Brazilian Republic.
But was that also like an aspect during this time
period they.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Would end up engaging in a lot more heavy, like
you're talking about like direct engagement with the state.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I think in this early period, when they were still
building up and spread in the wood, it was sort
of a honeymoon period for the movement in a sense.
A lot of the dramatic confrontations are very soon pendent. Okay, okay,
So the cracks were certain to show. Families had packed
up and returned to Italy. The colony had gone down
(10:31):
to just twenty people, and because a lot of the
colonies made up of intellectuals, doctors, engineers, artisans, many of
them left for nearby cities where they founded the juessepe
Garibali Society, which I couldn't find much information on that
particular society from that particular historical period in my research,
but it seems to have been a mutual aid society.
(10:54):
I'm not one hundred percent sure.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I mean that would make sense as it it's like
within like a bigger city.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
Yeah, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
And Garibaldi has a rather interesting history that I'm only
recently learning about. And I didn't even know he went
all the way to South America and sclevantin and stuff,
But like I learned very recently that he had married,
I believe, an indigenous or a Mestizo woman while he
was in South America, and they had like this very romantic,
(11:25):
dramatic life together, leading battlefield side by side and.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
All that stuff.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So I'm.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Not surprised that the Italian anarchists were perhaps inspired by Garibaldi,
even if he himself was not an anarchist. Sure so, anyway,
by eighteen ninety three new settlers had arrived, thankfully, and
the colony was trying to manufacture shoes and wine barrels
so they could make some sort of an income. They
(11:54):
eventually grew to sixty four residents, and they established two
wells and a new access road. But even with those
new developments, the colony was still struggling. They were dealing
with material poverty, the neighboring Catholic communities were extremely hostile
toward them, and they also had to deal with very
poor sanitation conditions. And then in their fourth year they
(12:15):
also had a crop epidemic that pretty much decimated the colony.
And of course, as high minded as the ideas may
have been, they were the internal struggles.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Free love and communal living may have been central to
the colony's philosophy, but not everyone adapted well to the ideals.
In theory, they embraced the values, but in practice there
were some insecurity and jealousy that other rose out of.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
That also, many such cases.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Many such cases. By the end of eighteen ninety three,
it was abundantly clear that the colony couldn't survive. Labor
was in high demand the nearby cities, and despite efforts
to attract new settlers through socialist propaganda in Europe, the
colony just couldn't maintain its proper and eighteen ninety four
Celie Colony officially came to an end. They have in
many players and dramatizations of the story Cecilia Colony. Most
(13:09):
of them, as you would imagine, are in Brazilian Portuguese,
so good luck finding them.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
I'll try to find a dub somewhere.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Maybe yeah, and Ittilian Portuguese, but anyway, so, the experiment
had held on for four dramatic years, defined pressure from
the newly established Brazilian Republican government, heavy taxes and even
military inclusions, eventually material conditions disease and until the conflicts
brought to tone. And how are we entering into the
(13:51):
twentieth century nineteen oh three, so the founding of the
first four wal structure, inspired by international syndicalism, the Federation
of Class Associations. This organization would take part in the
first Workers Congress in nineteen oh six, which brought together
forty three delegates, predominantly anarchist from across Brazil, in over
twelve sessions, discussing twenty three items of discussion. Giovanni Rossi,
(14:14):
the guy behind the Cecilia Colony, was among the attendees.
The Congress sought to advocate for economic resistance societies and
laid the foundation for the Brazilian Workers Confederation or COBB
for Sure, in nineteen oh eight, which united over fifty unions,
primarily from Rio Deshaneiro, South Paolo and Rio Grande Rossul.
(14:35):
Between nineteen oh five nineteen oh eight, the workers movement
witnessed a surge in strikes, notably among shoemakers, raallymen and
other industrial sectors. Portoalle des cre saw at the general
strike in nineteen oh six. South Paulo was the scene
of insurrectionary strikes in nineteen oh six and nineteen oh
seven as part of the campaign for the eight hour workday,
(14:55):
in Santos. The strike for the eight hour day only
ended in nineteen twenty one, meaning they spent well over
a decade close to two decades fighting for.
Speaker 5 (15:05):
The eight hour day.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
The workers movement also held several congresses in this time,
including the first and second Sal Paulo State Congresses, the
first mass Cares, the first mass Heires State Labor Federation Congress,
and the Parana Labor Congress, which affirmed the movement's commitments
to anarchist cynicalism, and as with other anarchist groups around
the world, they organized a demonstration to commemorate the death
(15:27):
of Francisco Ferrer, the Modern School founder who inspired rational
education efforts across Brazil. They also supported the Russian workers
in both nineteen oh five and nineteen seventeen, sported Mexican
workers and peasants in nineteen ten, and commemorated the Chicago
Martyrs on subsequent mediates. Nineteen thirteen marked the second Brazilian
Labor Congress, much larger than the first, were delegates from
(15:50):
one hundred and seventeen bodies across eight states debated twenty
four items. In nineteen fourteen, anarchists in Sal Paulo organized
a conference and select two delegates to represent Brazil at
the London Anarchist Congress, which is eventually and unfortunately canceled
due to the outbreak of War one.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
This is such an interesting moment in like international anarchism
that at least right now, just like we have like
the Internet, but that sucks. Like this style of like
actual like like international like anarchism. It's just something that
is I've I've never really been able to like experience before.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
But Garrison, you forgets in something we have discourse.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Oh I'm sure they also had discourse, but they got
to go to London to do their discourse, which sounds
which sounds much better than doing it from my toilet
on Twitter dot com.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Sorry x X dot com. My apologies.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
No, that's that's true, though, I would much rather the
discourse take place in person over you know, the discord
suvas and the Switzer and Breddit threads.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
I mean, like especially in that like international aspect. Like
there's there's certainly like like anarchists gatherings and like conferences
and convergences, you know, within within countries.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
I've been to many in the United States.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
But yeah, this sort of like like having anarchists in
Brazil go to London to talk with anarchists from everywhere
else in the world, like compare their experiences and compare notes. Yeah,
then talk about like what their actual like political goals are.
It's something that I think is just steally doesn't really
exist anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
And that's really a vital component of international solidarity, because
that's kind of solidarity, that kind of portunity is very
difficult to find just through virtual interaction. There's something meaningful
in shaking a Pulson's hand and embrace in them and
laughing and crying together in Pusa and sharing a meal.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
I think really makes a difference.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
I mean, yeah, especially when you have, like the spread
of anarchism is so built on that internationalism, like you
have anarchists from Portugal and Italy and Spain.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
The immigrant influence exactly is very very profound.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
But although there was the break of war one closer
to home, the anarchists were still involving themselves in that
sort of regional discourse.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
They may have been.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Flying to London, but they managed to meet with delegates
from Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay at the International Peace Conference
and the South American Anarchist Congress in October nineteen fifteen,
all in an aim to foster both regional and international
anarchist cooperation as the war raged on. In addition to
the anti war propaganda, Brazil's anarchists continue to rally against
(18:30):
unemployment rise and living costs scarcity of basic foodstuffs, while
resisting the capitalists the clergy in the state, which sent
young men to the slaughter on the battlefield. In response
to the pressure levied by the libertarian proletaria, the government
gave the go ahead for direct sale by the producer
to the consumer without taxes levied, easing the hugging crisis
(18:51):
in the country. So their struggles worked. This period and
particularly from nineteen twelve to nineteen twenty, marked significant working walization.
The period from nineteen seventeen to nineteen twenty in particular
was marked by significant strikes, including the South Paulo General
Strike of nineteen seventeen, which saw seventy thousand workers participate
(19:12):
with sympathy strikes in Rio Grande, Rasul and Pirana, demanding
better working conditions, wages, and dad hour workday. This period
also witnessed an increase in unionization and the growth of
the workers Press, which provided critical platforms revolutionary ideas. In
nineteen nineteen, an uprising exploded in Rio de Janeiro, leading
to the death of three workers and the imprisonment or
(19:35):
deportation of nearly one hundred. The government deployed police, troops
and even naval warships to crush the resistance of the workers,
and they also attempted to exploit racial divisions. They would
take Afro Brazilians and use them as scabs, and then
once the strike was over. Once they broke up this strike,
they would fire those same black workers to reaffirm the
(19:56):
privilege of white labor. Eventually, the government would concede and
was capitalists to make some concessions where wages were concerned,
but this came at a cost. Alongside the mass imprisonment
and deportations, the state's efforts included infiltration of the unions,
which eventually stayed reformist unions into the leadership position of
the working classes, supplanting the more revolutionary organizations. Thus, anarchism
(20:20):
arguably entered a new era. In the nineteen twenties, there
were still anarchist led labor congresses, including the Third Brazilian
Labor Congress and the second and third Riuro granded as
Seoul Labor Congresses, the latter of which endorsed a declaration
of principles from the IWA and established an International Anarchists
Uidiarity Pact. But by the four to three or Granded
(20:41):
there are Seul Labor Congress attended by sixteen workers organizations,
two newspapers, six anarchist groups, sub power militants and delegates
from Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. Anarchist efforts in Brazil had
to become much more clandestine following the deportations, the state intervention,
the general repression of the success of priscils in regimes.
(21:01):
The anarchist movement had indeed weakened, and I took another
blue with the establishment to the Brazilian Communist Party the PCB,
partially inspired by Bolshevism in nineteen twenty two, which absorbed
many former anarchists, including Edgar Lunov, who authored its charter,
and Astriguilo Perera, who served as its secretary general for
nearly a decade before he was expelled. The PCB competed
(21:24):
for union leadership and worked with the governments of Artur
Bernandez Washington. Louise and Catulio Vargas, the suppressed the libertarian
movement and the free trade unions. The Brendees government, by
the way, sent to thousands of political prisoners, including anarchists,
into the remote penal colony of Clevelandia, thousands with the
harsh conditions killed hundreds. Wow, And the Louis san Vargas governments.
(21:48):
Of course we're not any better.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
I was also wondering, like where are these people like
deported to Like it sounded like they've been in Brazil
for quite a while. When you were like mentioning there
was all those all those other people who were deported
out of the country, Like where where did they go?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah, there was a story reading about that. I didn't
maintaince in my notes. Some only half remember in it,
but one of my sources would have had it of
the names that listed at the beginning.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
But they were spoken.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
About how there were these I believe Portuguese people in Brazil,
as in Portuguese from Portugal who have been there, in
there and working there and whatever for years and years
and years, and because they hadn't naturalized, they were like
subject to like these heavy attacks. And I believe some
of them were deported as well, And so I'm assuming
(22:36):
whenever a country of origin they could be traced to,
they would be deported there, or they're'd be deported to
a neighbor in South American country.
Speaker 5 (22:43):
But I didn't really find.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Specific details on where they were sent. I assume it's
mostly their home countries or neighboring countries.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
Between that and like setting thousands of people to appeedal
quality with hundreds dying like that, this is a massive
way of of repression they're dealing with in like the
early twenties here.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Indeed, indeed, and unfortunately, their supposed allies weren't exactly a help.
In nineteen twenty seven, the anarchists Antonio Dominguez and Damiao
the Silver who murdered by the communists, who also wounded
another ten members of the printers Union and attacked and
stole the assets of the footwear workers Union start further
(23:24):
weakened the anarchists struggle when they were already dealing with
that government repression. And in a sense, anarchists are like roaches.
We just keep on shruggling and surviving, and the persistence
of anarchist resistance in spite of all this repression, what
would trigger a further backlash by the bourgeoisie, which should
also arise to challenge the survival of anarchism and the
(23:47):
left in general in Brazil. From the very same Italy
that brought Many an anarchist, also came Many a fascist,
which brings us to the Brazilian integralist movement. But to
find out what happened in the nineteen twenties and thirties
and onward, you'll have to wait for the next episode.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
I have an Andrew sage.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
You can find me on YouTube dot com slash Androwism and
feature in dot com slast Sage True and this has
been It could happen here.
Speaker 5 (24:13):
All power to old people.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
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