A reading of the historical development of conceptions union in Brazil ---- In the late
1970s , but specifically in 1978 , after 10 years of political stagnation of the labor
movement which has as one last great moment mobilizations category in 1968 , caused
especially by the repression of civil-military dictatorship and the increasingly
harnessing the unions plan supercontrol government official , Brazilian unionism is
replaced once again its leading role among the forms of contestation of the political,
social, economic , cultural , and especially organizational point of view coping capital
versus labor . This article intends to resume basic aspects of syndicalism in Brazil ,
from the creation of the Brazilian Workers' Confederation , and point out how the moments
of greater radicalization of the labor movement in Brazil were those who , to some extent
, had a broad -based participation and uncontrolled centralized authoritarian ideologies
as many left and right , or corporatist .
In the late 1970s , but specifically in 1978 , after 10 years of political stagnation of
the labor movement which has as one last great moment mobilizations category in 1968 ,
caused especially by the repression of civil-military dictatorship and the increasingly
harnessing the unions plan supercontrol government official , Brazilian unionism is
replaced once again its leading role among the forms of contestation of the political,
social, economic , cultural , and especially organizational point of view coping capital
versus labor . This article intends to resume basic aspects of syndicalism in Brazil ,
from the creation of the Brazilian Workers' Confederation , and point out how the moments
of greater radicalization of the labor movement in Brazil were those who , to some extent
, had a broad -based participation and uncontrolled centralized authoritarian ideologies
as many left and right , or corporatist .
IN BRAZIL TRADE UNIONISM :
Resumption of the initial aspects of configuration unions in Brazil and its development up
to mass strikes of the late 1970s
" The factory is one of the venues of the madness to escape her criticism worker , uses
the bathroom to talk and strike to reassert itself as a human being . " ( Tragtenberg 1983)
The rise of unionism fight in Brazil , may be dated the last decades of the nineteenth
century with the installation of the first industries and large number of immigrants ,
mainly Italians and Spaniards, who came to Brazil as an alternative of skilled manpower
suitable wage labor and campesino , fleeing unemployment crisis plaguing Europe . Along
with these workers , comes their experiences of struggle and socialist influences already
on stage in the old continent . The first organizations with ideas close to socialism are
character peasant , enlisting the first generation of immigrants that came to Brazil with
the intention of working on this segmentation employed . With the entry of many of these
immigrants also in the context of the urban working class in the factories that existed in
the major urban centers of the country, especially S?o Paulo and Rio de Janeiro , the
union began to be disseminated as an alternative to the everyday operation implemented by
the context manufacturing . Is founded in 1905 in the city of S?o Paulo , the Workers
Federation of S?o Paulo ( FOSP ) and in Rio de Janeiro in 1906 , the First Congress of
Brazilian Workers , the Brazilian Workers' Confederation ( COB ) , which was to begin its
activities two years after , in 1908 .
" ( ... ) 1906. This date is very important because it marks the beginning , between us ,
an organization working nationwide , which would be the Brazilian Workers' Confederation ,
only organized in 1908 , but whose foundations had been laid by Congress workers' meeting
in Rio de Janeiro that year . ( ... ) we must also take into account that the Congress
pointed out , the same step , the beginning of a whole period of predominant influence of
anarcho -syndicalist labor movement in Brazil . " ( PEREIRA , 1952)
Among the greatest achievements of this first fraction of organized struggle unionism in
Brazil, we can highlight the General Strike of 1917 , which was triggered with the
pervasive influence of militants COB . Something that is necessary to demarcate , is that
1917 is a year of intense international unrest , especially in regard to workers . The
Russian revolution underway served as encouragement and bustle socialists ( communists and
anarchists ) worldwide , facing the possibility of a revolution internationally .
During the early twentieth century in Brazil , more precisely until age 30 , the anarchist
movement , its influence among the workers , and the Brazilian Workers' Confederation were
the main subject of radical action , the main organization of workers and the primary
means by which these , were against capital and labor exploitation , as an immediate
conquest of the bread and life .
" ( ... ) Exit the streets, shutting down and changing the order reigning in the city ,
was the dissemination strategy and articulation of the oppressed and exploited sectors
proposed by anarchists . A possibility of movement explode , spreading through the city ,
was directly linked to the ability of autonomous organization of popular territories . (
... ) " ( ROLNIK , 1994)
Something you do need to remember is that , in 1922 , it founded the Brazilian Communist
Party ( PCB ) , which has its foundation in the major sectors of interest stemmed from the
COB . With the intense agitation promoted by the more radical sectors among workers ,
there is growing government repression and violence / employer , as well as legal measures
to contain the mobilization of workers. During this period , are enacted the first laws
concerning working conditions and monitoring them . These measures come to destabilize the
labor movement .
From the 30s to the large mass strikes of the late 1970s there was a box full harnessing
of the state union with rare exceptions mobilization , and much of the existing depart
from sectors such as students . The "revolution " of 30, which places Getulio Vargas to
power, it poses an bourgeois political project to be developed . This project , in
addition to economic policies , had points of social control , including , encouraging the
creation of " official unions " , the creation of joint conciliation , etc. . The PCB that
time , the main socialist organization in Brazil , oscillates between the fields of
struggle of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie , this policy , the result of political
conceptions of reconciliation with the national bourgeoisie and the development of the
bourgeois revolution as a necessary step to socialism . Meanwhile , anarchists are harshly
repressed ( many were killed , imprisoned , persecuted and deported from the country) .
There are several moments in this era when strikes and fights will be raging , but unions
because they are in a structure apart from the factories (since the union organization
outside the official structure , were banned during the Vargas government ) , will not be
able to keep the demonstrations , this reason also that the unions could not (or did not
have a view , from the point of view of the directions ) resistance to the military coup
on March 31, 1964 .
" With the military dictatorship of 1964 ends the period of populist unionism developed by
Get?lio Vargas . Militarism kept intact the union structure and took steps to deepen their
assistance nature , dependent on the state and class collaboration ( ... ) " ( Rossi , 2009)
During the years of lead (1964-1985) , the emergence of sectors linked to the Catholic
left , coming from liberation theology and clumped around the ACTION WORKER CATHOLIC YOUTH
WORKER CATHOLIC and take the initial discussion of the moment to drive organizations base
inside the factories , based on the experience of the factory committee Cobrasma in 1963 .
Beyond this perspective , fed also combating " peleguismo " born to the union official
corporatist and the overthrow of the dictatorial government civil-military . These
movements , in the 1970s , is the first that will arise in opposition to union opposition
and union scabs , the major highlights emerge amid the metalworkers of Sao Paulo , mainly
in the cities of S?o Paulo and Osasco .
"There were important movements emerged , such as the Movement Against Famine , who
throughout the 1970s had gathered thousands of people in the fight against the rising cost
of living . Starting from the southern zone of S?o Paulo , reached across the city and now
pontilhava across Brazil . movement of Landless Rural Workers ( MST ) , not only kept the
flame of the struggle for land reform, but also become a reference movement in Brazilian
politics . "
( Rossi , 2009)
This set of factors related to failure of the " economic miracle " of the regime , they
sprout a series of strikes , mainly from the metallurgical sector . Militant left trade
union , even repressed or persecuted , both by governments and by employers and trade
union bureaucrats , had long been doing work inside the factories on issues more related
to daily work .
The year 1978 is crucial for understanding the emergence of what the future would be
characterized as the new unionism . This year is marked by the election of Lula as
president of the Metalworkers Union of S?o Bernardo / SP . Also in the same year from the
industry Scania , begin to hatch strikes from inside the factory , outside of union
structures without control of scabs : breaks the spontaneity of the working class .
" May 78 is rooted in the everyday worker, tissue especially in the early years of the
decade . Finda euphoria of the" miracle , "the outbreak of the economic crisis struck even
more directly to the working class , which pautiava their performance in the framework of
resistance the binomial crunch will, overexploitation , autocracy , which closely
intertwined , the proletariat metallurgical imposed a harsh reality . ( ... ) " (Antunes ,
1988)
In 1979, the year in which two major strikes occur in the ABC region , is also the
separation of two major blocks union . On the one hand , the reformist bloc Trade Union
Unity (comprising the PCB , MR8 and PC do B) and the other a more radical wing betting in
direct confrontation between labor and capital , maintaining the tradition of unionism
class . This sector is mainly formed by the radical wing of the Catholic Church already
mentioned above and the sectors that had been deleted by bureaucratic structures and
repressive .
In 1980 , is the largest of the strikes in the ABC Paulista and despite the repression
with which the regime treats the movement with arrests of leaders and violence , the
strike remains strong by having its base at the factory , the workers themselves . The
strike lasts 41 days , and demonstrates the power of grassroots organization among workers
. It is this struggle that arise from the initial discussions that the future would be the
Central Workers .
A SINGLE CENTER WORKERS : The new unionism and the " new " crisis of unionism classist
CONCLAT HI , August 1981 , is the result of processes of struggle 1978 /80 and the need
that workers see in creating a trade union to unify the struggles . Within this conference
the differences between the block and the block reformist classist widen . The II
conference that was supposed to happen in 1982 is postponed to 1983 in a clear blow sector
reform , which held most right now . In 1983 , under the threat of a new blow for the
conference do not , the sectors most consequential to perform on 27 and 28 August and
elect Meneguelli Jair , the Metalworkers Union of S?o Bernardo the first president of the
Central Union of Workers ( CUT ) , which is also created at the same time . It is also the
decisive splits across sectors present in CONCLAT . It creates across the bureaucratic CGT .
The nascent trade union , was born with the clear design of a central classist and he
carried various flags of the old revolutionary syndicalism of the early twentieth century
in Brazil . The new plant was carrying various flags radicals and class as the General
Strike (which was already clear theme since I CONCLAT ) , union autonomy , the
organization of the workplace , independence from the bosses , governments , parties and
religions . Despite theses CUT, presenting this model, most of the leaders still acting
within the union structures and ended up strengthening the structure of corporative unions
. The year 1988 was the watershed between the CUT and CUT classist of days today ,
conciliatory . That year was held CONCUT III , and was the winning thesis Joint Left ,
organic stream Workers Party and defeated the thesis Block CUT the base , which
agglutinated sectors leftmost .
Thus , Brazilian unionism enters in the 90s when it weakened to its class character and
workers face an unfavorable international level , with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the
end of the USSR .
Some left oppositions try to cheer new unions , as well as sectors linked to reformism
will also venture . The old trends of the early twentieth century , as the COB , still
trying to keep alive the flame of libertarian syndicalism . However , the ever-increasing
wave of " new unionism " brought forward by the CUT , which follows gaining political
ground and workers . The capital- worker narrows increasingly , especially after the
productive restructuring of capital and deployment model toyotist capital-labor cooperation .
" ( ... ) In this period experienced a framework of capital's structural crisis that
befell the whole of capitalist economies especially from the early 70s . ( ... )
A second key element for understanding the causes of reflux of the labor movement stems
from the explosive collapse of Eastern Europe ( and almost all of the countries that
attempted a socialist transition , with the USSR ahead ) , propagating inside the world of
work , the false idea of the "end of socialism " ( ... ) the collapse of the USSR and
Eastern Europe , the end of year 80 , had enormous impact on the labor movement . Just
remember the crisis that befell the traditional communist parties and trade unions linked
to them .
Parallel to the collapse of the traditional left of the Stalinist era ( ... ) gave up a
sharp political and ideological process of social - democratic left and its consequent
role subordinate to the order of capital. ( ... ) The left unionism , for example , began
to turn with increasing frequency to institutionalism and bureaucracy which also
characterizes the social union democracy . "
(Antunes , 2009)
CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVES
Since the beginning of organized unions and alive , in fact , in Brazil , a very large
range of concepts and strategies for union activity existed , no longer exists, or lost
power still exist . Despite resistance exists , the peg to the state of the union was
undoubtedly the most crucial weapon of the bourgeoisie and centralized state power to keep
the working class under their command . But what would be the effective of this attitude ,
if the union was organized by base among workers , without the intermediary of leaders or
vanguard ? The worker breaks stagnation when he himself struggles tab horizontally .
Mauricio Tragtenberg , in the preface to The making of ford , Jos? Carlos Brito Aguiar ,
emphasized :
" The discussion between union " scab " or " authentic " is a false debate , because in
Brazil , so far, all unions are tied to the state. Before ( ... ) the state gave one lion
on the worker ( . .. ) At times ( ... ) like today ( ... ) the state of one fox on the
worker , hence he seeks to co-opt the " authentic " , recycling the peleguismo . "
And , this statement seems pretty consistent . Today , we have a CUT intrinsically linked
to the interests of the federal government , dominated internally by ARTSIND ( Joint Trade
Union ) union current base Joint Left , organic stream Workers Party which , in turn , has
a policy of pax between workers and classes outlying sectors of the center . On the other
hand , the central opposition as CONLUTA INTERSINDICAL and make the front design of the PT
, but see it as a measure to combat the very electoral dispute or toward unions , without
a real discussion about the base, beyond partisan bureaucracy why are these unions ,
hegemonizadas by party programs . It seems to us that , more than ever , it is necessary
to resume the historic Revolutionary Syndicalism and practices among the revolutionary
workers . The role of workers in unions , although exhausting due to the strong clash that
wage disputes with bureaucracies , are first order , the main element to a radical change
in posted unions today. It is necessary for those who wish to strengthen the foundations
of classist unions , as well as their autonomy , forcing a project that includes aspects
of the fight as the basic organization of the workplace , through delegates representing
basic and rotary or by committees of autonomous factories of bureaucratic structures ,
either by the government , employers or parties. Similarly , a political project of
radical transformation of society is something indisputable case fetch up results .
Immediate actions and moving to day- to-day mobilization can be effective , however, do
not guarantee the battery life . So a long-term political project , which has as its end
the destruction of the capitalist basis in society , as well as the ever-living defense of
private property , is the way.
NOTES
? - The labor movement in Brazil had already sealed for years to build a block that could
unify the field workers and the struggles of the city . The field workers were able to
maintain their structure more intact than the urban working class unions .
? - National Conference of the Working Class
REFERENCES
a) Books :
Antunes , Ricardo . THE REBELLION OF WORK : The confronting workers in S?o Paulo AB :
strikes of 1978/80 . Essay , S?o Paulo / Publisher University of Campinas , Campinas , 1988.
_________________ . The new unionism in Brazil . Bridges , Campinas , 1995.
BRITO , Jose Carlos Aguiar . The Taking of Ford : The birth of a free trade union . Voices
, Petr?polis , 1983.
CASTRO , Rog?rio de . Full instruction : a tool for workers . Spark , S?o Paulo , 2010.
Castoriadis , Cornelius . The Experience of the Labour Movement . Brasilia , Sao Paulo , 1985.
FERNANDES , Anibal . ( ed. ) . Towards CONCLAT : trade union experiences of the last 20
years. Publisher Mail Association , S?o Paulo , 1981.
LUXEMBOURG , Rosa . Selected Texts : Volume I. Editora UNESP , S?o Paulo , 2011
___________________ Chosen Texts : Volume II . Editora UNESP , S?o Paulo , 2011 ..
ROSSI , Waldemar . To understand the unions in Brazil : an overview classist . Popular
Expression , S?o Paulo , 2009.
PINTO , Geraldo Augusto . The organization of work in the 20th century . Popular
Expression , S?o Paulo , 2010.
SAMIS , Alexandre . Unions and social movements . Spark , S?o Paulo , 2010.
_______________ Clevel?ndia : anarchism, syndicalism and political repression in Brazil .
Imaginary, S?o Paulo , 2002.
Tragtenberg , Mauritius. Libertarian theory and action . Editora UNESP , S?o Paulo , 2012.
b ) Articles in journals :
PEREIRA , Astrojildo . Workers Struggles Preceding the Foundation of the Communist Party
of Brazil . Problems - Monthly Magazine of Political Culture , S?o Paulo , No. 39 , 1st ed
. - Mar- Apr 1952.
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