User:Grnrchst/Brazilian general strike of 1917

The 1917 general strike was a strike by Brazilian industry and commerce, which took place in July 1917 in São Paulo, during the World War I, promoted by anarchist-inspired workers' organizations allied with the libertarian press. It was the first general strike in Brazilian history, and it lasted 30 days.

Social history
The 1917 general strike in Brazil was part of a process of politicization of Brazilian workers. This politicization was partly due to organizational ideas and principles brought into the country along with Italian and Spanish workers who immigrated to Brazil in search of better living conditions from the second half of the 19th century onwards. While the Spaniards remained in the urban environment, upon arriving in Brazil, the families of Italian immigrants had different destinations. In the state of São Paulo, although under salary, the Italians began to replace slave labor on the coffee farms, while in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina the Italians were sent to the mountain region where they received lots of unworked land to develop productive activities, without knowing the specifics of the soil and climate of the region.

Oreste Ristori, an important activist and libertarian journalist, pointed out the slave-like treatment given to Italian immigrants in the interior of São Paulo by large landowners, a factor that led workers to go to the capital, whenever possible.

"In the vicinity of Araraquara, there is one of those many life sentences, called Fazenda São Luís, of which that pearl of a bandit that goes by the name of José de Lacerda Abreu is worthy of its owner. (...) In this life imprisonment, frightening scenes frequently occur. The poor inmates (that's what we need to call the settlers because they can't leave the farm, under penalty of being beaten or murdered) work for years and years without being paid. When they ask about his gain, he responds to them with insults and lashes (...) From this place of horror, nine colonist families managed to escape, facing dangers of all kinds. The others that remain would like to follow the example of the first ones, but, as the farm is surrounded by thugs, they don't take any chances."

- ROMANI p. 150

At the beginning of the 20th century, a considerable number of Italian immigrants abandoned the serfdom that prevailed on the coffee plantations in the interior of São Paulo to work in factories in the capital. In urban areas, they started to act against the precarious working conditions in the factories, the massive use of child labor and working hours of more than 13 hours. In several cities the Italians also started to make contact with groups of Brazilian libertarian activists, but also Spanish and Portuguese emigrants. Together these workers from different origins founded various trade unions and workers' organizations that made up the labor movement, fighting for basic labor rights, such as vacations, decent wages, an eight-hour working day and the prohibition of child labor.

The growing workers' organization came to be frowned upon by Brazilian urban elites who saw them as a threat to their interests. Faced with the organization of the lower classes, the elites began to assume a homogenizing nationalist discourse stating that foreign workers were turning against the country that welcomed them. Government organizations and a large part of the media were mobilized against the workers in defense of the interests of the ruling classes: the 1906 Porto Alegre general strike was fought vigorously by the then secretary of public security, Washington Luis.

At that juncture, anarcho-syndicalism was one of the majority trends in the European working class and was rapidly consolidating in American countries as well. In Brazil, anarcho-syndicalists articulated different initiatives to confront exploitation that was intertwined with the developmental project of the agrarian and urban elites, and of the political class linked to them. In addition to the unions, crèches, libertarian education schools, printers and newspapers were also founded. One of the objectives of these initiatives was to propagate the general strike as a fighting strategy among the exploited classes of urban workers and rural workers, not only for better living conditions, but also as a form of emancipation from the domination of the dominant classes.

Background
The period from 1917 to 1920 marked the height of strike movements in Brazil. Led by immigrants, mainly Italians, this process went into decline, mainly due to the incompatibility between the demands of the movements, dictated by the organizers, and the real interests of the working class. With industrial and urban growth, working-class neighborhoods emerged in several Brazilian cities. Formed mostly by foreign immigrants, life in these neighborhoods was quite precarious, reflecting the low wages of workers, the grueling workday, the absolute lack of guarantees under labor laws, such as weekly rest, vacations and retirement.

The problems were many. In factories, for example, there was a massive use of child labor, cheaper than adult labor. Many employed children ended up with one of their limbs mutilated by the machines and, like other workers, they were not entitled to medical treatment, insurance for accidents at work, etc.

In this context, the first manifestations emerged under the influence of socialist and anarchist ideas, which moved the international workers' struggles. Both in Brazil and in other countries, there was a struggle both for immediate results (the achievement of better working conditions and wages, for example) and for broader objectives, including the overthrow of the capitalist system and the implementation of a more egalitarian society.

The workers' organization resulted in the foundation of union associations and workers' newspapers, making the movement stronger to face the countless difficulties. Following the example of workers from other countries, demonstrations and strikes arose in several states, notably in São Paulo, where the largest number of industries were concentrated.

In 1907, the city of São Paulo was paralyzed by a strike that demanded: the eight-hour workday, the right to vacation, prohibition of child labor, prohibition of night work for women, retirement and hospital medical assistance. The demonstration started by workers in the civil construction, food and metallurgy industries ended up infecting other categories and reaching several cities in the state, such as Santos, Ribeirão Preto and Campinas.

In 1917, there was a wave of strikes that started in São Paulo in two textile factories of Cotonifício Rodolfo Crespi and, gaining the adhesion of public servants, quickly spread throughout the city, and then throughout almost the entire country. It soon spread to Rio de Janeiro, and other states, especially Rio Grande do Sul. It was led by workers and activists inspired by anarchist and socialist ideals, including several Italian and Spanish immigrants. The unions by branches and trades, the workers' leagues and unions, the state federations, and the Brazilian Workers' Confederation (COB).

Economic-political context
With the beginning of World War I, Brazil became an exporter of foodstuffs to the countries of the "Triple Entente"; these exports accelerated from 1915 onwards, reducing the supply of food available for domestic consumption and causing price increases. Between 1914 and 1923, wages had risen 71% while the cost of living had risen 189%; this represented a two-thirds drop in the purchasing power of wages. The average salary of a worker of around 100 thousand réis corresponded to a basic consumption which for a family with two children reached 207 thousand réis. Child labor was also widespread.

"…the general strike of 1917 cannot, in any way, be equated, in any way that is examined, with other movements that later turned out to be manifestations of the working class. Not that, absolutely not! The 1917 general strike was a spontaneous movement of the proletariat without the interference, direct or indirect, of anyone. It was an explosive manifestation, consequently of a long period of the stormy life that then led the working class. The lack of what was indispensable for the subsistence of the working people had as an ally the insufficiency of earnings; the normal possibility of legitimate claims for indispensable improvements in the situation collided with systematic police reaction; workers' organizations were constantly assaulted and prevented from functioning; police stations were overcrowded with workers, whose homes were invaded and raided; any attempt to reunite workers provoked brutal police intervention. The reaction prevailed in the most odious ways. The proletarian environment was one of uncertainties, of alarms, of anguish. The situation was becoming untenable."

- — Edgard Leuenroth

The death of Francisco José Martinez
On July 9, a cavalry charge was launched against workers protesting at the door of the Mariângela factory in Brás, resulting in the death of the young Spanish anarchist Francisco José Martinez. His funeral attracted a crowd that crossed the city, accompanying the body to the Araçá cemetery where he was buried. Indignant and already prepared for the strike, the workers of the Cotonifício Rodolfo Crespi textile industry, based in Mooca, went on strike, and were soon followed by other factories and workers' neighborhoods. Three days later, more than 70,000 workers have already joined the strike. Warehouses were looted, trams and other vehicles were set on fire, and barricades were erected in the streets.

""The burial of this victim of the reaction was one of the most impressive popular demonstrations so far seen in São Paulo. Starting from the coffin on Rua Caetano Pinto, in Brás, the procession extended, like a human ocean, along the entire Avenida Rangel Pestana to the then Ladeira do Carmo on the way to the City, under an impressive silence, which took on the aspect of a warning. The main streets of the center were walked. The orators took turns at the graveyard, in indignant expressions of disgust at the reaction (…) On the way back from the cemetery, part of the crowd gathered for a rally in Praça da Sé; the other part went down to Brás, to Caetano Pinto Street, where, in front of the house of the murdered worker's family, another rally was held.""

- — Edgard Leuenroth

Demands
A violent general strike was breaking out in São Paulo. Hermínio Linhares in his book Contribuição à história das lutas operárias no Brasil;; 2nd Ed.; São Paulo; Alpha Omega; 1977 says: "The peak of this period was the general strike of July 1917, which paralyzed the city of São Paulo for several days. The workers on strike demanded wage increases. Commerce closed, transport stopped and the impotent government could not successfully dominate the movement by force. The strikers took over the city for thirty days. Milk and meat were only distributed to hospitals, and even then, with the authorization of the strike commission. The government abandoned the capital. (…)."



The striking workers' leagues and corporations, together with the Committee for Proletarian Defense, decided on the night of 11 July to number 11 topics through which to present their demands.
 * 1) That all persons detained for reasons of strike are released;
 * 2) That the right of association for workers be respected in the most absolute way;
 * 3) That no worker be dismissed for having actively and ostensibly participated in the strike movement;
 * 4) That the exploitation of the work of children under 14 years of age in factories, workshops, etc., be effectively abolished;
 * 5) That workers under the age of 18 are not engaged in night work;
 * 6) That women's night work be abolished;
 * 7) 35% increase in salaries below $5000 and 25% for higher salaries;
 * 8) That the payment of salaries is made punctually, every 15 days, and, at the latest, 5 days after the due date;
 * 9) That the workers be guaranteed permanent work;
 * 10) Eight-hour workday and "English week";
 * 11) 50% increase in all overtime work.

Negotiations
About 70,000 people joined the movement. To defend the strike, the Proletarian Defense Committee was organized, which had Edgard Leuenroth as one of the main spokesmen.



"The situation was becoming more and more serious with the clashes between the Police and the workers. The Committee for Proletarian Defense, only overcoming all sorts of difficulties, was able to carry out hurried meetings in different parts of the city, sometimes under the embarrassing impression of the noise of shootings in the vicinity. A meeting of the workers was essential for a decisive resolution to be taken. Then came the suggestion of a general rally. How and where? And how to overcome the police sieges? But the situation, which unfolded with the same gravity, demanded its realization. The danger to which the workers would be exposed was being transformed into a bloody reality in the police attacks in all the city's neighborhoods, resulting in them also being victims of the reaction, countless workers, whose only crime was to claim the right to survival. And the rally was held. Brás, the neighborhood where the movement began, was the most indicated point in the city, having as its location the vast enclosure of the former Hippodrome da Mooca. It was indescribable the spectacle that the population of São Paulo watched, worried with the gravity of the situation. From all over the city, like true human streams, the crowds walked in search of the place that, for a long time, had served as a catwalk for the display of costly vanities, precisely in this corner of the city with the sky usually clouded by the smoke of the factories, at that moment, empty of the workers who gathered there to claim their indisputable right to a higher level of life. It is not fitting here to describe how that rally took place, considered as one of the greatest manifestations that the history of the Brazilian proletariat registers. Suffice it to say that the immense crowd decided that the movement would only cease when their demands, summarized in the memorial of the Committee for Proletarian Defense, were met.""

- — Edgard Leuenroth

Everardo Dias, in História das Lutas Sociais no Brasil, reports the events in this way:

""São Paulo is a dead city: its population is alarmed, their faces show apprehension and panic, because everything is closed, without the slightest movement. In the streets, apart from a few hurried passersby, only military vehicles circulated, requested by Cia. Antártica and others industries, with troops armed with rifles and machine guns. There is an order to shoot anyone who is standing in the street. In the factory districts of Brás, Mooca, Barra Funda, Lapa, there were shootings with groups of people; in certain streets, barricades have already started with stones, old wood, overturned carts. The police do not dare to pass there, because from the roofs and corners there are clear shots. The newspapers come out full of news with almost no comment, but what is known is extremely serious, foreshadowing dramatic events "."

- — Fernando Dannemann

Completion of stoppages
The bosses gave an immediate salary increase and promised to study the other requirements. The great victory was the recognition of the workers' movement as a legitimate instance, forcing the bosses to negotiate with the proletarians and to consider them in their decisions.

""The first meeting examined the memorial of workers' claims, presented by the Committee for Proletarian Defense, which the journalists' commission was responsible for taking to the state government. members of the Proletarian Defense committee as they left the newsroom after the first meeting. The understandings would be broken if these two elements were not immediately released. This resolution was transmitted to the President of the State., and the meeting could be held for a short period, as the government had not yet delivered its resolution. arrested during the movement. Workers' rallies were held in several neighborhoods for the decision to retake the t. work, which started the next day. São Paulo resumed its laborious activities. The city resumed its usual appearance, leaving, however, the sad memory of the victims who had left grieving homes"."

- — Pedro Lucas Marques Lourenço[7]

The actions of President Altino Arantes and Mayor Washington Luís
The president of the State of São Paulo, at the time, Altino Arantes Marques, assumed the defense of the interests of the ruling classes, attributing the strike to an infiltration of anarchists and communists, considered subversive, among the working class. However, in his 1918 message to the Legislative Congress of the State of São Paulo, he assumed, at least in terms of speech, that his government should act "as an element of mediation, simultaneously supporting the rights of bosses and workers and ensuring public order".

Altino also stated that, even after the achievement of wage increases of 15 to 30%, anarchists were still inciting a new strike and a new wave of depredations. From these events onwards, he began to consider the generalization of strike movements dangerous and instituted, at the police level, prevention of general movements and the persecution of anarchists.

Altino also reported that city officials, including nurses, were attacked by the strikers. São Paulo mayor Washington Luís then redoubled efforts to keep public services running smoothly during the 1917 strike.

General strike in Rio Grande do Sul
Partly as a result of mobilizations in other parts of the country, as well as, inspired by the Russian Revolution, organized into unions, workers in Rio Grande do Sul went on strike. Initially in the railway sector, the strike quickly spread through industry and the provision of public services in the main cities of the state. Striking organizations were quickly formed between unions and workers' organizations: the Popular Defense League (LDP) in the city of Porto Alegre and the Popular Defense Committee (CDP) in the city of Pelotas stand out for their work in raising awareness, propaganda and support for workers' causes.

"Workers' militants sought to embrace all possible spaces in the daily life of the proletarian family. In addition to the companionship in the workplace, going through the same difficulties, suffering together the same problems: low wages, tiring hours and unhealthy conditions - the worker activists (anarchists) provided through unions, social culture centers, popular schools and universities, newspapers, theaters, picnics, in short, various opportunities for culture, leisure and struggle. Thus they built a “class culture” and an identity of permanent struggle. In Rio Grande do Sul, many of the 1917 militants were “trained” in the rationalist schools maintained by the libertarian militants."

- — Correa, A Greve Geral de 1917 e a LDP

On July 30, in Porto Alegre, the convocation signed by the União Operária Internacional began, marking Praça da alfândega as the place for the public assembly. The assembly promoted the formation of the Popular Defense League, in which workers militants and organizers of the strike in the city stand out. Among them are Luis Derivi, secretary of the union of bricklayers, carpenters and neighboring classes, and typographer Cecílio Vilar.

"“...but the moment is not for conciliation, it is for struggle. The most justifiable fight, the fight for life. The workers must rise up as one man, to go out into the streets and conquer the bread that is being stolen from us and in order to protest against the exploitation of the working class (...)”"

- — Cecílio Vilar

That same night the LDP released a note with the demands of the strike in the city.

"Decrease in the prices of basic necessities in general; Measures to prevent sugar hoarding; Establishment of a municipal slaughterhouse to supply the population with meat at a reasonable price; Creation of free markets in working-class neighborhoods; Obligation to sell bread by weight and weekly price fixing per kilo; The stewardship must charge 10% of rents for water supply and reduce to 5% the tenths of buildings whose value is less than 40$000. Compel the company Força e Luz to establish tickets of 10 réis in accordance with the contract made with the municipality; Increase of 255 on current wages; Generalization of the 8-hour workday; Establishing a 6-hour workday for women and children.”"

Rio de Janeiro in 1918


The high degree of organization of the Brazilian working class that led to the general strike had another consequence: The anarchist uprising of 1918 in Rio de Janeiro (at the time the national capital) was due to the articulation of different unions and anarchist organizations, which were also inspired by the Russian Revolution they organized with the intention of overthrowing the central government. The initiative ended up on account of a military man who acted as an infiltrating agent provocateur, spying from a privileged place on the conspirators' plans, denouncing them to the state's repressive apparatus.