Brazil

E

3

End of the Empire

In stark contrast to the upheaval and instability of some Latin American countries, Brazil’s government was stable during the middle part of the 19th century. The Liberal and Conservative parties shared power, with the emperor acting as a moderating power between the two. The emperor called for new elections when it appeared that the ruling party faced a political crisis; invariably the opposition party would win the new elections.

There were elements of Brazilian society that did not support this power-sharing arrangement, however. In the 1870s and 1880s a republican movement emerged that called for the end of the monarchy and the creation of a republic modeled after the United States. Republicanism was especially strong among members of the army.

Over the last century, the military has played a central role in Brazilian society and politics, but this was not the case in the early years of independence. Brazil avoided most of the bloodshed and huge military buildup that plagued the early years of the Spanish American nations. The Brazilian army remained relatively small and did not play a significant role in the nation’s affairs until the War of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870). For complex reasons, Brazil joined Argentina and Uruguay in this long and costly war against Paraguay in the 1860s. Despite the enormous disparity in resources, Paraguay tenaciously resisted the invading armies for years, losing the majority of its adult male population and large chunks of territory. Brazil’s inability to defeat tiny Paraguay highlighted the weaknesses of the Brazilian military. Disgruntled officers began to envision a future without the monarchy.

By 1889 abolition, republicanism, and dissatisfaction in the armed forces had all eroded Pedro’s traditional support from landowners, the clergy, and the military. A small group of conspirators with key support from high-level army officers initiated a coup d’etat on November 15, 1889. The ailing, 62-year-old Pedro found himself with little support and, like his father, chose exile over resistance. The day after the coup the royal family sailed to exile in Portugal and France.

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F

The First Republic

Brazil’s first republic was established in 1889. A Constituent Assembly convened to draw up a new constitution and swiftly decreed the separation of church and state as well as other republican reforms. In June 1890 it completed the drafting of a constitution, which was adopted in February 1891. Similar to the Constitution of the United States, Brazil’s constitution eliminated the monarchy and established a federal republic, officially called the United States of Brazil. It replaced a parliament of senators appointed for life with an elected congress consisting of a house and senate. It also provided for an independent judiciary, and an executive branch headed by an elected president. The balance of power shifted significantly from a strong, centralized federalist system (see Federal Government) to a federalist system that granted substantial powers to the states.

Initially the military dominated the new government under the leadership of General Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca, a conservative general who had joined the revolt at the last minute. The assembly elected Deodoro president of a provisional government and chose a more decidedly republican general, Floriano Peixoto, as his vice president. An inflexible military leader, Deodoro proved incapable of working with the new congress, which took office in late 1890. They fought angrily over financial policy and over the extent of federal influence in the Brazilian states. Unwilling to deal with opposition, Deodoro dissolved Congress several months after it was elected and attempted to rule by decree. Faced with the possibility of civil war, he resigned the presidency in 1891. The tough Floriano assumed control and guided the republic through difficult times. He suppressed rebellions in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and in Rio de Janerio. Floriano supervised the republic’s first elections in 1894 and handed power over to a civilian president, Prudente de Morais Barros, who had served as the first republican governor of São Paulo state.

With the election of Prudente, a politician from one of the leading coffee-producing states, the powerful coffee interests again dominated national politics. Under the constitution, voting was restricted to literate adult males. Because of a high illiteracy rate, this provision severely restricted the number of voters. Prior to 1930 no more than 4 percent of the total population voted in presidential contests. Landowners maintained a monopoly on power through political machines—tightly controlled political organizations that they set up in each of Brazil’s states. These machines controlled enough votes to guarantee that landowners dominated local and national politics. Governors in the more populous states used their political machines to ensure that the presidency of Brazil went to an “official” candidate of their choosing. Over the four decades following Prudente’s election, the coffee states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas Gerais shared political power. Nine of the 12 presidents from 1894 to 1930 came from these three states, which produced most of Brazil’s wealth and accounted for most of its population.

G

Social Change

Up until the early 20th century, Brazil’s economy and social structure reflected a pattern established in the early days of colonial development. A small class of wealthy landowners controlled most of the country’s wealth and power, while the majority of Brazilians—mostly slaves, their descendents, and the mulatto population—lived in relative poverty as agricultural workers. This situation began to change gradually toward the end of the 19th century when large numbers of immigrants arrived in Brazil. After the slave trade was abolished in 1850, the coffee planters could not find enough workers and the government began actively recruiting Europeans to immigrate to Brazil. In the last decade of the 19th century about 100,000 European immigrants arrived each year. The numbers increased during the early years of the 20th century, reaching a peak of about 600,000 for the period from 1911 to 1915. Many of these immigrants settled in the cities and urban centers.

Although Brazil’s economy continued to be based on agricultural production, industry had begun to develop by the 1920s, especially around the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Industrialization was accompanied by the growth of a small working class and middle class. Both groups found themselves excluded from the power structure developed by landowners to dominate rural workers. The immigrants, particularly Italians who made up about a third of the immigrant population, introduced new political ideologies from Europe, where workers and middle-class citizens were becoming increasingly active in politics. Many of these workers were frustrated with their lack of access to Brazil’s political system. As their numbers grew, their demands for a place in the nation’s political system also increased. Socialists and anarchists organized unions and strikes, but they encountered intense repression from the government.

H

The Revolution of 1930

A more powerful challenge to the regime came from disgruntled young military officers. Many of these officers supported social reform, but they were also concerned about their professional status. They believed that the civilian government had neglected the army, which struggled with poor equipment, outdated training, and slim prospects for promotion of officers. On July 5, 1922, a group of young officers known as tenentes (lieutenants) staged a revolt in Rio de Janeiro against the government. The revolt was unsuccessful, but two years later a more serious uprising by tenentes in São Paulo shook the foundations of the regime for several weeks before government forces suppressed it. By the late 1920s the challenges of army officers, middle-class groups, and urban workers threatened the stability of the regime.

A worldwide economic crisis and a serious split within the landowning elites over the presidential succession finally brought down the government. In 1929 economies throughout the world collapsed as the Great Depression began. In Brazil the depression caused a dramatic decline in coffee exports and a corresponding increase in the nation’s foreign debts. President Washington Luís refused to change his economic policy in order to deal with the crisis, and he did little to improve economic conditions. Amid growing public discontent about the economy, the political elite split over the 1930 presidential election. The official government candidate, Júlio Prestes, was supported by the political machines in the larger states. He was opposed by Getúlio Vargas, governor of Rio Grande do Sul, who had organized a coalition of smaller states, opposition parties, and discontented elements in the military and in urban centers. The March election went smoothly for the government, with Prestes winning easily, but in October, before the new government was inaugurated, a revolt erupted following the assassination of Vargas’s running mate, João Pêssoa. After a month of fighting, President Luís stepped down, and rebel troops marched into Rio de Janeiro. The Revolution of 1930 had triumphed.

I

Getúlio Vargas and the New Brazil

Getúlio Vargas played a central role in the 1930 revolt, and he emerged as the most important political figure in 20th-century Brazil. Vargas was the son of an elite ranching family near the Argentine border. In less than a decade, from 1922 to 1930, he rose from federal deputy to governor of his home state of Rio Grande do Sul, and then to presidential candidate and leader of the revolutionary coalition. From 1930 to 1934 he ruled Brazil as the head of a provisional revolutionary government. The Constituent Assembly elected him president in 1934.

In 1937, as elections approached, Vargas led a coup with the help of the army, and for the next eight years he ruled the nation as a dictator. He eliminated Congress, ruled by decree, and established federal control over Brazil’s states by replacing almost all the governors with his own appointees. With the state political machines neutralized, Vargas ruled without the support of the landowning elite. He maintained power with the backing of the military, the urban working and middle classes, and politicians in smaller states, who had been excluded from power under the republic.

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