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‘Fifty Years in Five’ and What's in It for Us? Development Promotion, Populism, Industrial Workers and Carestia in 1950s Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

RAFAEL R. IORIS
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Abstract

In the mid-twentieth century, the Brazilian federal government embarked upon an ambitious plan of fast-paced industrialisation aimed at responding to the growing needs of the country's ever more urbanised population. While the plan achieved rapid economic growth, rising levels of discontent defined much of the political behaviour of urban labour in the period. By critically examining some of the main events affecting industrial unions during the so-called ‘developmental decade’ of the 1950s, this article argues that amidst pervasive top-down economic transformations Brazilian workers consistently advanced an alternative position on national development. By investigating how metalworkers in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro understood and responded to the main developmental trends and difficulties of the period, the paper reveals some of the creative strategies articulated by urban workers to promote a more socially inclusive path for the country. By becoming actively involved in ever more assertive cross-professional mobilisations, particularly those aimed at curbing the rising cost of living (a problem known as carestia), industrial workers not only protected their own economic interests but also significantly challenged the very bases of the populist political arrangements that defined post-war Brazilian society.

Spanish abstract

A mediados del siglo XX el gobierno federal brasileño se lanzó a desarrollar un ambicioso plan de industrialización rápida con el fin de responder a las crecientes necesidades de su población cada vez más urbanizada. Aunque se logró un rápido crecimiento económico, los crecientes niveles de descontento social definieron mucho del comportamiento político de los trabajadores urbanos del momento. Al examinar críticamente algunos de los principales eventos que afectaron a los sindicatos industriales durante la así llamada ‘década del desarrollo’ de los años 1950s, este artículo señala que al interior de las profundas transformaciones económicas implementadas desde arriba, los trabajadores brasileños impulsaron consistentemente una posición alternativa al desarrollo nacional. Por medio de analizar cómo los trabajadores metalúrgicos de São Paulo y Rio de Janeiro entendieron y respondieron a las principales tendencias y dificultades del desarrollo de ese periodo, el artículo revela algunas de las estrategias creativas articuladas por los trabajadores urbanos para promover un sendero socialmente más incluyente para el país. Al irse involucrando activamente en una movilización de distintos tipos de profesionales, particularmente aquellas que buscaban limitar incrementos en el costo de vida (carestia), los trabajadores industriales no sólo protegieron sus propios intereses económicos, sino que significativamente desafiaron las meras bases de los diseños políticos populistas que definieron a la sociedad brasileña de la posguerra.

Portuguese abstract

Em meados do século XX o governo federal brasileiro embarcou em um plano ambicioso de aceleração da industrialização visando responder à demanda crescente de sua população urbana em expansão. Apesar do rápido crescimento econômico, um aumento na insatisfação definiu muitos dos comportamentos políticos dos trabalhadores urbanos no período. Através de um exame crítico de alguns dos principais eventos que afetaram sindicatos da indústria durante a chamada ‘década desenvolvimentista’ de 1950, este artigo argumenta que entre transformações abrangentes de cima para baixo, os trabalhadores brasileiros consistentemente avançaram uma posição alternativa para o desenvolvimento nacional. Ao investigar como metalúrgicos em São Paulo e Rio de Janeiro entenderam e responderam às principais tendências e dificuldades desenvolvimentistas do período, o artigo revela algumas das criativas estratégias articuladas por trabalhadores urbanos para promover um caminho de maior inclusão social para o país. Ao tornarem-se cada vez mais envolvidos em firmes mobilizações entre diversas categorias profissionais, particularmente aquelas que ambicionavam combater a carestia), os trabalhadores da indústria não apenas protegeram seus próprios interesses econômicos, mas também desafiaram de maneira significativa as bases centrais dos arranjos da política populista que definiram a sociedade brasileira do pós-guerra.

Keywords

Brazilcarestiaindustrial workersKubitscheklabour politicsnational developmentpopulismprice controlsBrasilcarestiacosto de vidatrabajadores industrialesKubitschekpolíticas laboralesdesarrollo nacionalpopulismocontrol de preciosBrasilcarestiacusto de vidatrabalhadores da indústriaKubitschekpolíticas trabalhistasdesenvolvimento nacionalpopulismocontrole de preços
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , May 2012 , pp. 261 - 284
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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References

1 A Voz do Metalúrgico was a monthly newspaper published by the Metalworkers' Union of Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s, as will be discussed below.

2 Since the mid-1930s labour representation in Brazil has been structured on a corporatist basis, under which each sector is organised into one local union. Under the supervision of the Ministry of Labour, unions in every state were to form a federation and, at the national level, a confederation. Created in 1946, the CNTI is the official representative body of all industrial workers in Brazil. Throughout the 1950s, however, it would rapidly lose ground among workers due to events such as those discussed below.

3 ‘Ecos do Primeiro de Maio’, A Voz do Metalúrgico, May 1956, cover page and p. 3, Arquivo de Memória Operária do Rio de Janeiro (AMORJ), Rio de Janeiro. ‘Shark’ (tubarão in Portuguese) was a popular expression of the time used to describe the wealthy, especially businessmen whose interests were regarded as being in opposition to those of the workers. All translations are my own.

4 Between 1951 and 1953, the Joint Brazil–USA Economic Development Commission produced a detailed diagnosis of the Brazilian economy. This listed a series of infrastructural bottlenecks that should receive priority investments in order to improve the nation's economic output. Many of these targeted areas were to receive US funding on the basis of projects selected by the Banco Nacional do Desenvolvimento Econômico (National Economic Development Bank, BNDE), which had been created in 1952. For further information, see Joint Brazil–USA Economic Development Commission, The Development of Brazil: Report of the Joint Brazil–USA Economic Development Commission (Washington, DC: Institute of Inter-American Affairs, 1954). On the campaign slogan ‘Fifty Years in Five’, see Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, Porque construi Brasília (Rio de Janeiro: Bloch, 1975); and Edward A. Riedinger, The Making of the President, Brazil, 1955: The Campaign of Juscelino Kubitschek (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1978).

5 Details on the Plano de Metas are available in Clovis Faro and Salomão da Silva, ‘A década de 50 e o Programa de Metas’, in Angela M. de Castro Gomes (ed.), O Brasil de JK (Rio de Janeiro: Editora da FGV, 1991), pp. 44–70; Lafer, Celso, JK e o Programa de Metas (1956–1960): processo de planejamento e sistema político no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Editora da FGV, 2002)Google Scholar; and Lessa, Carlos, ‘Fifteen Years of Economic Policy in Brazil’, Economic Bulletin for Latin America, 9: 2 (1964), pp. 153–214Google Scholar.

6 Weffort, Francisco C., O populismo na política brasileira (Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1980), p. 70Google Scholar.

7 The traditional literature on the period is extensive. A sample of these works includes Alexander, Robert J., Juscelino Kubitschek and the Development of Brazil (Athens, OH: Swallow Press, 1991)Google Scholar; de Mesquita Benevides, Maria Victoria, O governo Kubitschek: desenvolvimento econômico e estabilidade política, 1956–61 (Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1976)Google Scholar; Cardoso, Miriam Limoeiro, Ideologia do desenvolvimento no Brasil: JK–JQ (Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1978)Google Scholar; Carone, Edgar, A República Liberal, 1945–1964 (São Paulo: DIFEL, 1985)Google Scholar; Sikkink, Kathryn, Ideas and Institutions: Developmentalism in Brazil and Argentina (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991)Google Scholar; Silva, Hélio and Carneiro, Maria, Juscelino, o desenvolvimento: 1956–61 (São Paulo: Editora Tres, 1983)Google Scholar; and Skidmore, Thomas E., Politics in Brazil, 1930–1964: An Experiment in Democracy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967)Google Scholar.

8 In addition to the references listed above, see Ianni, Octavio, Industrialização e desenvolvimento social no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1963)Google Scholar; O colapso do populismo no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1978); and Estado e planejamento econômico no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1986); and Marly Rodrigues, A década de 50: populismo e metas desenvolvimentistas no Brasil (São Paulo: Atica, 1994).

9 Rodrigues, Leôncio Martins, Industrialização e atitudes operárias (São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1970)Google Scholar. See also Lopes, Juarez Brandão, Sociedade industrial no Brasil (São Paulo: DIFEL, 1971)Google Scholar; Lowy, Michael and Chucid, Sarah, ‘Opiniões e atitudes de líderes sindicais metalúrgicos’, Revista Brasileira de Estudos Politicos, 13 (1962), pp. 132–69Google Scholar; Rodrigues, José Albertino, Sindicato e desenvolvimento no Brasil (São Paulo: DIFEL, 1968)Google Scholar; Rodrigues, Leôncio Martins, Conflito industrial e sindicalismo no Brasil (São Paulo: DIFEL, 1966)Google Scholar; Simão, Azis, Sindicato e estado no Brasil (São Paulo: Dominus, 1966)Google Scholar; and Touraine, Alain, ‘Industrialisation et conscience ouvrière à São Paulo’, Sociologie du Travail, 3: 4 (1961), pp. 77–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 Weffort, Francisco, ‘Origens do sindicalismo populista no Brasil: a conjuntura do após-guerra’, Estudos CEBRAP, 4 (1973), pp. 27–43Google Scholar. The most important piece of legislation was the Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho (Consolidated Labour Laws, CLT) established by the authoritarian Estado Novo in 1942, which clearly stipulated the rights and obligations of organised labour.

11 Ferreira, Jorge (ed.), O populismo e sua história (Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2001)Google Scholar; Ferreira, Jorge, O imaginário trabalhista: getulismo, PTB e cultura política popular, 1945–1964 (Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2005)Google Scholar; French, John, The Brazilian Workers’ ABC: Class Conflict and Alliances in Modern São Paulo (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1992)Google Scholar; de Castro Gomes, Angela, Burguesia e trabalho: política e legislação social no Brasil, 1917–1937 (Rio de Janeiro: Campus, 1979)Google Scholar; and A invenção do trabalhismo (Rio de Janeiro: FGV 1994); Timothy Harding, ‘The Political History of Organized Labor in Brazil’, PhD diss., Stanford University, 1973; Maranhão, Ricardo, Sindicatos e democratização: Brasil, 1945–1950 (São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1979)Google Scholar; and Colistete, Renato P., Labour Relations and Industrial Performance in Brazil: Greater São Paulo, 1945–1960 (New York: Palgrave, 2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 da Costa, Hélio, Em busca da memória (São Paulo: Scritta, 1995)Google Scholar; Fontes, Paulo, Trabalhadores e cidadãos – NitroQuímica: a fábrica e as lutas operárias nos anos 50 (São Paulo: Annablume, 1997)Google Scholar; Fortes, Alexandre et al. (eds.), Na luta por direitos: estudos recentes em história social do trabalho (Campinas: Editora da Unicamp, 1999)Google Scholar; Negro, Antonio L., Linhas de montagem (São Paulo: Boitempo, 2004)Google Scholar; Ramalho, Jose Ricardo, Estado patrão e luta operária: o caso FNM (Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1989)Google Scholar; Santana, Marco Aurélio, Homens partidos: comunistas e sindicatos no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Boitempo, 2001)Google Scholar; Teixeira da Silva, Fernando, A carga e a culpa: os operários das Docas de Santos – direitos e cultura de solidariedade, 1937–1968 (São Paulo: Hucitec, 1995)Google Scholar; Wolfe, Joel, Working Women, Working Men: São Paulo and the Rise of Brazil's Working Class (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993)Google Scholar.

13 Dinius, Oliver J., Brazil's Steel City: Developmentalism, Strategic Power, and Industrial Relations in Volta Redonda, 1941–1964 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011), p. 7Google Scholar.

14 Faro and da Silva, ‘A década de 50’, p. 61; Thomas M. Jordan, ‘Contesting the Terms of Incorporation: Labour and the State in Rio de Janeiro, 1930–1964’, unpubl. PhD diss., University of Illinois, 2000, p. 193. For detailed figures on the remarkable rise of Brazil's metalworking industry in the 1950s, see Baer, Werner, Industrialization and Economic Development of Brazil (Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1965), p. 75Google Scholar.

15 Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), Estatísticas históricas do Brasil: séries socio-econômicas, demográficas e sociais, 1950–1988 (Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, 1990)Google Scholar. For an analysis of these figures and the historical trend of industrialisation in Brazil, see da Conceição Tavares, Maria, Da substituição de importações ao capitalismo financeiro (Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 1972)Google Scholar.

16 Alexander, Robert J., A History of Organized Labour in Brazil (Westport, CN: Praeger, 2003)Google Scholar; Erickson, Kenneth Paul, The Brazilian Corporative State and Working-Class Politics (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1970)Google Scholar; Humphrey, John, Capitalist Control and Workers’ Struggle in the Brazilian Auto Industry (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Weffort, Francisco, ‘Democracia e movimento operário: algumas questões para a história do período 1945–1964’, Revista de Cultura Contemporânea, 1 (1978), pp. 3–11Google Scholar.

17 While other works, especially by Brazilian authors, have referred to the union by its legal acronym, I have decided to use the generic label ‘metalworker’ in this piece for ease of reading. See Carmen Lúcia E. Lopes, ‘A organização sindical dos metalúrgicos de São Paulo’, unpubl. PhD diss., Universidade de São Paulo, 1992; Marco Aurélio Santana, ‘Partido e militância sindical: a atuação comunista no Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos do Rio de Janeiro: STIMMMERJ, 1947–1964’, unpubl. MA thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 1992; Lisa Stuart, ‘A atuação dos conselhos sindicais na indústria metalúrgica do Rio de Janeiro, de 1953 a 1964’, unpubl. MA thesis, Universidade Federal Fluminense, 1992; and Jordan, ‘Contesting the Terms of Incorporation’.

18 For details on the election of Cerqueira, see ‘Minutes of Meetings of the Metalworkers Union of Rio de Janeiro’ for the years 1947 and 1961, available at Núcleo de Estudos Trabalho e Sociedade (Centre for Studies on Work and Society) at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. For the historical importance of Cerqueira, including the close relationship that he had with Vice-President João Goulart, see Marco Aurélio Santana, ‘Trabalhadores e militância sindical: a relação partido/sindicato/classe no Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos do Rio de Janeiro (1947–1964)’, in José Ricardo Ramalho and Marco Aurélio Santana (orgs.), Trabalho e tradição sindical no Rio de Janeiro: a trajetória dos metalúrgicos (Rio de Janeiro: DP&A and FAPERJ, 2001), p. 189.

19 See ‘Minutes of the Meetings of the Metalworkers Union of São Paulo’ for the years 1955 to 1960 and the newspaper collection of O Metalúrgico, available at the archive of the Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos de São Paulo.

20 See the newspaper collection of A Voz do Metalúrgico at AMORJ.

21 This can be seen when reviewing the newspapers published in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1950s, in which frequent mentions of the Rio metalworkers' publication can be found. Detailed information is available in the newspaper collection of the Arquivo Público do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Fundo DPS, Série Dossiês #30070.

22 Both periodicals frequently published notes on other labour sectors such as textile operatives, railway workers and carpenters. Detailed information can be found in Fundo Roberto Morena, ASMOB Collection, at the Centro de Documentação e Memória (CEDEM) of the Universidade Estadual Paulista.

23 While Jordan studied both the labour publications examined here, his work traces the internal organisation of both unions, whereas the analysis here concentrates on uncovering metalworkers' views on national development. For more on this earlier use of the newspapers, see Jordan, ‘Contesting the Terms of Incorporation’, p. 171.

24 Jordan points out the importance of the recreational activities of the Metalworkers' Union of Rio de Janeiro in supporting the publication of the union paper: see Jordan, Thomas M., ‘Redefinindo o sindicalismo corporativo nos anos 1950: o caso do Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos do Rio de Janeiro’, Cadernos AEL: Populismo e Trabalhismo, 11: 20/21 (2004), p. 143Google Scholar.

25 A similar claim has been advanced by Murilo Leal Pereira Neto in ‘A reinvenção do trabalhismo no “vulcão do inferno”: um estudo sobre metalúrgicos e têxteis em São Paulo. A fábrica, o bairro, o sindicato, a política (1950–1964)’, unpubl. PhD diss., Universidade de São Paulo, 2006.

26 Further information on the growing importance of the ‘problem of carestia’ can be found in Harding, ‘The Political History of Organized Labor in Brazil’, pp. 306–18; Colistete, Labour Relations and Industrial Performance in Brazil, pp. 53–61; and Salvador Sandoval, Social Change and Labor Unrest in Brazil Since 1945 (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1993), pp. 32–64. Detailed figures on inflation rates vis-à-vis wages during these years are available in Boletim do DIEESE, 1: 7 (1960), pp. 1–6. Details on the growing income disparity of the period can be found in Colistete, Renato P., ‘Productivity, Wages, and Labor Politics in Brazil, 1945–62’, Journal of Economic History, 67: 1 (2007), pp. 93–127CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Rodrigues, José Albertino, ‘A situação econômica da classe trabalhadora’, Revista de Estudos Socio-Econômicos, 1: 1 (1961), p. 25Google Scholar.

27 Benevides, O governo Kubitschek, pp. 92–5. An alternative view suggesting that the PTB consistently tried to push the limits of the political pact that kept Kubitschek in power can be found in Maria Celina d'Araujo, Sindicatos, carisma e poder: o PTB de 1945–65 (Rio de Janeiro: Editora da FGV, 1996).

28 French, John, ‘Industrial Workers and the Birth of the Populist Republic in Brazil, 1934–1946’, Latin American Perspectives, 16: 4 (1989), pp. 5–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

29 See Maranhão, Sindicatos e democratização, p. 45; and Santana, Homens partidos, p. 30.

30 Cerqueira became the president of STIMMMERJ in 1955, thanks to an alliance between his own supporters, whose political affiliations were aligned with the PTB, and former Communist leaders. For detailed information on this important agreement between the two most influential political groups in the organisation, which strengthened the union, see Santana, ‘Trabalhadores e militância sindical’, p. 185; and Jordan, ‘Contesting the Terms of Incorporation’, p. 151. When they recalled their experiences, several members of the clandestine central committee of the PCB supported this move as consistent with the so-called revisionist position in support of a national alliance with the domestic bourgeoisie, which the party would promote, starting in 1956 and increasingly after 1958: further information can be found in Edgar Carone, O PCB, 1943–1964 (São Paulo: DIFEL, 1982); Telles, Jover, O movimento sindical no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Vitoria, 1962)Google Scholar; and Vinhas, Moises, O Partidão: a luta por um partido de massas, 1922–1974 (São Paulo: Hucitec, 1982)Google Scholar.

31 Gattas, Ramiz, A indústria automobilística e a segunda revolução industrial no Brasil: origens e perspectivas (São Paulo: Prelo, 1981)Google Scholar.

32 Lowy and Chucid, ‘Opiniões e atitudes de líderes sindicais metalúrgicos’, p. 153.

33 Alcebiades Silva, ‘A carestia’, O Metalúrgico, June 1955, p. 7.

34 ‘O preço do pão’, A Voz do Metalúrgico, March 1956, cover page.

35 Izaltino Pereira, writing in A Voz do Metalúrgico, March 1956. It is important to note that attempts to create a cross-sectional alliance among workers of different sectors had occurred a decade earlier under the auspices of what would be known as the Movimento Unificador dos Trabalhadores (Workers' Unifying Movement, MUT). The role of metalworkers in this mobilisation was much less important than in the labour activities that occurred in the second half of the 1950s. More on these important events in the late 1940s can be found in Maranhão, Sindicatos e democratização; Jordan, ‘Contesting the Terms of Incorporation’; and Wolfe, Working Women, Working Men. Wolfe demonstrates cogently that the demands for price controls defined much of the mobilisation of paulista workers in the major strike that shut down the city of São Paulo in March 1953: see ibid., p. 179.

36 Izaltino Pereira, A Voz do Metalúrgico, March 1956.

37 ‘Manifesto de Convocação da Conferência Nacional dos Trabalhadores nas Indústrias Metalúrgicas, Mecânicas e de Material Elétrico’, A Voz do Metalúrgico, Dec. 1955.

38 ‘Mesa Redonda dos Sindicatos Paulistas’, O Metalúrgico, Sep. 1955, p. 3.

39 ‘Apelo ao Novo Governo’, O Metalúrgico, Dec. 1955, p. 2.

40 Heraclides dos Santos, ‘Atentado às liberdades democráticas’, A Voz do Metalúrgico, March 1957, p. 3.

41 Heraclides dos Santos, ‘O congelamento do preços de JK’, A Voz do Metalúrgico, Feb. 1958, p. 3.

42 ‘Desnacionalização da indústria automobilística’, A Voz do Metalúrgico, April 1959, p. 6.

43 ‘Não são fundamentais as empresas estrangeiras para o Brasil’, A Voz do Metalúrgico, Oct. 1959, cover page.

44 ‘Relatos da Segunda Conferência Sindical Nacional’, A Voz do Metalúrgico, Dec. 1959, cover page.

45 ‘A situação da carestia’, Tribuna Sindical, Aug. 1956, cover page.

46 ‘Grande movimento grevista dos trabalhadores paulistas’, Tribuna Sindical, Oct. 1957, cover page.

47 A Voz do Metalúrgico, Dec. 1959, pp. 3–5.

48 Presidential Decree no. 1.522 of 26 Dec. 1951, AMORJ.

49 IBGE, Estatísticas históricas do Brasil. The negative way in which JK's industrial policies affected industrial labour by devaluing the purchasing power of urban workers is analysed in Harding, ‘The Political History of Organized Labor’, pp. 315–7. The growing gap between wage and productivity increases in the 1950s, especially in the second half of the decade, is examined in depth in Colistete, ‘Productivity, Wages, and Labor Politics in Brazil’, pp. 97–8.

50 Fontes, Paulo, Um Nordeste em São Paulo: trabalhadores migrantes em São Miguel Paulista (1945–66) (Rio de Janeiro: Editora da FGV, 2008), p. 278Google Scholar.

51 For more on these developments, see Colistete, Labour Relations and Industrial Performance, p. 61; Harding, ‘The Political History of Organized Labor’, p. 311; and Wolfe, Working Women, Working Men, p. 187.

52 ‘Criado o Departamento Inter-Sindical de Estatística’, O Metalúrgico, Feb. 1956, p. 5.

53 ‘Refundado o Pacto de Unidade Inter-Sindical’, O Metalúrgico, July 1956, cover page.

54 Paulo Fontes, ‘Centenas de estopins acesos ao mesmo tempo – a greve dos 400 mil, piquetes e a organização dos trabalhadores em São Paulo (1957)’, in Fortes et al. (eds.), Na luta por direitos, p. 158.

55 ‘Vitória da Unidade dos Trabalhadores’, O Metalúrgico, Nov./Dec. 1957, pp. 1–5.

56 ‘Resoluções do Primeiro Congresso Nacional dos Trabalhadores nas Indústrias Metalúrgicas, Mecânicas e de Material Elétrico do Brasil’, O Metalúrgico, Jan. 1958, pp. 4–6.

57 ‘Resoluções do Segundo Congresso Nacional dos Trabalhadores na Indústrias, Metalúrgicas, Mecânicas e de Material Elétrico do Brasil’, O Metalúrgico, May 1959, pp. 4–5. See also ‘Publicações do Segundo Congresso Nacional dos Metalúrgicos’, in Fundo Roberto Morena, Archivio Storico del Movimento Operaio Brasiliano, CEDEM, São Paulo, 1959.

58 ‘As próximas eleições’, A Voz do Metalúrgico, Feb. 1960, editorial page.

59 ‘Salve o III Congresso Sindical Nacional dos Trabalhadores’, A Voz do Metalúrgico, Aug. 1960, p. 12.

60 ‘Todos poderes contra o Presidente’, O Metalúrgico, Jan./Feb. 1959.

61 O Metalúrgico, March, April and May 1959.

62 The general press of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro also published several articles on the negotiations between unionists and representatives of the Ministry of Labour as a way to pre-empt the political costs that these public gatherings would entail for the administration: for a selection of these pieces, see A Notícia, 4 April 1959; O Dia, 5 April 1959; Diário de Notícias, 25 March 1959; and Última Hora, 24 March 1959.

63 See Diário de Notícias, 15 March 1959; O Dia, 17 March 1959; and Gazeta de Notícias, 20 March 1959.

64 See Ultima Hora, 26 Aug. and 2 Sep. 1959; O Dia, 2 Sep. 1959; and Jornal do Brasil, 9 Sep. 1959.

65 ‘Protesto geral dos trabalhadores de São Paulo’, O Metalúrgico, Sep. 1959, cover page. See also ‘Manifesto ao Povo de São Paulo’, Dossiê DEOPS, Cod. OS-0145, Arquivo Público do Estado de São Paulo.

66 ‘As próximas eleições’, A Voz do Metalúrgico, Feb. 1960, editorial page.

67 Ibid.