Getúlio Vargas and the Estado Novo. (The following handout is shamelessly stolen from a number of sources)

Transcription

1 Getúlio Vargas and the Estado Novo (The following handout is shamelessly stolen from a number of sources) I. Populism A. Vargas is a Populist and a Nationalist B. Definition of a Populist regime according to Guillermo O Donnell: While there is considerable variation in the degree to which these systems are competitive and democratic, they are clearly incorporating. They are based on a multi-class coalition of urban-industrial interests, including industrial elites and the urban popular sector. Economic nationalism is a common feature of such systems. The state promotes the initial phase of industrialization oriented around consumer goods. It does so both directly thorugh support for domestic industry, and indirectly through encouraging the expansion of the domestic market for consumer goods by increasing the income of the popular sector. (Collier B-A Model 24) C. (From Lambert) Parties of the Populist Type 1. Since about 1930,... parties running on reform platforms but opportunistic in their actual policy have been in the lead. They tend to rally a heterogeneous backing around a prominent figure who has acquired the reputation of defending the underdog but whose only ideology is nationalism.....such parties, bearing the strong personal mark of a political figure, are called populist parties. 2. The forerunner of this type of movement was Hipólito Irigoyen, who assumed power in Argentina in 1916 with the Radical Civic Union.... Irigoyen then renamed his party... Union Cívica Radical Personalista. Irigoyen s regime was characterized by a strong reaction against the cosmopolitan outlook of the Argentine oligarchic regime, which had given free rein to foreign, especially English, concerns. His Argentine nationalism manifested itself first by his neutrality in World War I. Another trait of the regime a basic feature of populism was ostentatious sympathy for the little man and a show of contempt for the wealthy and the powerful.... After Irigoyen, the Radical Civic Union became a middleclass party and the Peronists became demagogic populists in their place. ( Like Irigoyen in 1916, Vargas in 1930 found a country dominated by the oligarchy, and, also like Irigoyen, he appealed to nationalism and presented himself as the advocate of the little man. (205) D. Economic Role of Populist Regimes 1. Their most earnest and systematic efforts have been aimed at economic emancipation by means of industrialization.... The oligarchic regime had been cosmopolitan in its outlook, since the economic interests of the ruling class depended entirely on the exportation of agricultural products, and its

2 Notes on Vargas Page 2 II. culture was that of the European capitals. The populists governments wished to alienate neither th entrepreneurs nor the workers, and especially not the middle classes and the military. Nationalism was the one theme on which all of them could agree. At that point in Latin America s foreign relations, nationalism, which primarily economic, meant above all industrialization and nationalization of the large foreign enterprises. Although this economic nationalism often inspired measures of demagogic rather than economic value, populist governments undoubtedly started the era of economic development..... The populist regimes broadened the Latin American body politic. (207) E. Political and Social Role of the Populist Regimes 1. The lack of any economic experience, particularly among military dictatorships of populist inspiration, rendered the best meant programs utterly ineffectual.... For instance, any social policy dictated by opportunism consisted first in courting supporters by multiplying job openings, particularly in occupations most easily controlled by the party and the government: civil service, public utilities, nationalized industries.... In order to bring about and justify the proliferation of posts and show their social usefulness, the populist governments have given in to the temptation to orient labor legislation in a direction that slows productivity.... In order to maintain their popularity among workers and civil servants, the governments have raised the minimum wages excessively, the result being almost invariably an inflation that has cancelled the raise. These regimes have promoted social progress through featherbedding rather than through higher productivity and salaries. Even though party supporters have been disappointed by the stagnation and in some case the deterioration in living standards, the populist regimes have lost none of their popularity. The people s protectors had given evidence of their good intentions, and they can always blame any failures on mysterious plots of political foes and the evil scheming of international capitalism and the United States government. (208) 2. The greatest harm done by the populist regimes throughout Latin America has been to widen the chasm between a chiefly urban advanced society and a chiefly rural archaic one by carrying out reforms in only a segment of each nation. Government by the upper class had preserved archaic feudal structures in the rural areas until the end of the first third of the twentieth century. The populist leader who have followed the oligarchy have paid no attention whatsoever to rural society and have left its feudal structure untouched, while their reforms have hastened changes in the advanced urban society, thus broadening the gap between the two societies instead of narrowing it. (209) Impact of the Great Depression on Brazil

3 Notes on Vargas Page 3 A. Dominance of São Paulo 1. Under the Old Republic, Brazil enjoyed a virtual monopoly over the world market, furnishing 70 percent of the coffee consumed. Coffee beans accounted for about 70 percent of Brazil?s exports during the decade of the 1920's. Clearly the well-being of the national economy depended on the sale of that single export. (Burns) 2. It is not surprising therefore, that the three major coffee-producing states--sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro--came to dominate all aspects of the national life. Well before the end of the empire, they exercised economic control over the country; after the advent of the republic, they assumed political direction as well. (Burns) 3. The coup of 1930 represented resentment of the other states over Paulista dominance B. Election of Liberal Alliance formed around Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul, naming Getúlio Vargas as candidate for president a. They represented the aspirations of regional elites outside of the coffee triangle. b. A quarrel between the Paulistas and Minas Gerais provided the wedge to fuse these disgruntled regional elites with one of the coffee states. c. It represented a demand for purification of the electoral system and weakening of rural clientalist structures (both ideas which appealed to the urban population) 2. Platform was a. Defense of personal freedom b. Amnesty (for the tenentes) c. political reform 3. Vargas did not expect to win due to election fraud 4. During the campaign, the Great Depression struck C. World trade contracts 1. Market for coffee collapses a. Coffee prices plummeted from 22.5 cents a pound in 1929 to 8 cents in IN the 1920?s, Brazil shipped million pounds of coffee abroad, in the 1930?s, only 337 million pounds were sold. By 1930, Sao Paulo?s warehouses groaned under the weight of 26 million bags of coffee beans--more than the world consumed in an entire year. (Burns) 2. Huge drop in foreign earnings 3. The coffee planters had already begun to rely on state subsidized profits for coffee. 4. Guaranteed profits led them to expand production by taking out high

4 Notes on Vargas Page 4 interest loans 5. The Depression caused a sharp drop in world coffee consumption. 6. The collapse of prices could not therefore be made up from increased sales. 7. President Washington Luis held to hard money policies, to maintain the convertibility of the mil reis into gold. a. The result of this is rapid exhaustion of gold reserves 8. Government should have suspended convertibility a. Luis is influenced by his desire to satisfy foreign creditors in an economy traditionally dependent upon exports b. Luis policies have no support from any segment of Brazilian society III. Military coup of 1930 A. Getúlio Vargas put into power by the military 1. The heart of the coup were young members of the Liberal Alliance and the tenentes., who although they had been defeated in the 1920's, retained quite a lot of prestige within the military 2. This is not a revolution 3. Vargas named provisional president. 4. There was no legislature, so Vargas could rule by decree. 5. Vargas had no clear cut ideology; he tends to be opportunistic 6. There is a change in who holds power, however. From here on, the traditional oligarches will be replaced by military men, technocrats, young politicians and industrialists B. A new type of state was born after It differed from the oligarchical state not only owing to its centralization and its greater degree of autonomy, but also because of other factors: (1) economic policy slowly turned toward the promotion of industrialization; (2) social policy tended to provide some sort of protection for urban workers, who were soon gathered into a working-class alliance supported by the state; (3) the armed forces, in particular the army, were given a central role in support of the creation of an industrial base and in maintaining internal order. (Fausto 196) C. Political Centralization 1. Vargas replaced the governors of 19 of 20 states with his own men, called interventor 2. Many were former tenentes 3. The Interventors Code restricted state power a. States could not contract a foreign loan without federal permission b. States could not spend more than 10 % of their budget on state police c. State police could not be armed with heavy weapons 4. This is a blow to the local oligarchies which had generally run Brazil

5 Notes on Vargas Page 5 5. The Electoral Code of 1932 provided for mandatory voting, secret ballot, and suffrage for working women (illiterates, who were still a majority of the population, could not vote) 6. The press was strictly censored by the DIP D. Economic Centralization 1. Vargas did not abandon the coffee economy 2. The National Department for Coffee (DNC) was created a. The government bought part of the unsold coffee stocks with money from export taxes and destroyed it in order to reduce supply and help prices. (Note the similarity to part of FDRs AAA) b. Between 1930 and 1944, Brazil destroyed the equivalent of three years of the world s consumption of coffee. 3. He also sought bilateral agreements to sell coffee. 4. Payments on foreign debts were suspended in Labor policy a. Vargas is quite corporativist b. One of the more coherent aspects of the Vargas administration was its labor policy.... Its main objectives were to repress efforts of the urban working class to organize outside the aegis of the state and to incorporate the working class into the government s array of supporters. (Fausto 200) c. The PCB (Brazilian Communist Party) was repressed. d. Coopting the unions (1) A Ministry of Labor, Industry and Commerce was created (2) Bureaus of Reconciliation and Arbitration were created to mediate disputes between workers and employers. (3) Decrees defined unions as consultative bodies which worked with the bureaucracy. (4) One trade union was given exclusive jurisdiction over its craft (5) A representative from the Ministry of Labor had to be present at all union meetings, and ministry recognition was necessary for the union to be legal. 6. Centralization in Education a. One objective was to create a larger trained elite. b. A Ministry of Education and Health created in 1930 c. The education system was authoritarian (1) Philosophies taught were hierarchical values and Catholic conservatism d. Francisco Campos (Minister of Education from ) instituted the Campos Reform which provided a sequenced

6 Notes on Vargas Page 6 curriculum and required both mandatory attendance and a high school diploma to enter university e. New universities were founded to make them modern centers of teaching and research (1) University of São Paulo 1934 (2) University of the Federal District 1935 f. Minister of War Eurico Dutra: The principal objective of education is to create a national consciousness, (Burns) E. The tenente movement 1. Tenentismo arose in the 1920s among middle level officers who were frustrated at the corruption of the traditional ruling oligarchy and who were critical of senior officer s complacency. 2. There were revolts in 1922 and 1924, one led by Luíz Carlos Prestes, who later converted to Marxism and led the Brazilian Communist Party 3. Called for fair elections and honest government in late 1920s 4. The tenentes lacked widespread public support and were suppressed by the police, but their willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the nation brought them prestige within the army 5. The coup of 1930 brought the tenentes into the government. 6. In order to achieve industrialization and improvements in communication and transportation, the tenentes needed a stable and strong central government. F. Separatism: The São Paulo War 1. The Vargas interventor in São Paulo, João Alberto, tenente, alienated the Paulista elites (by advocating a 5% pay increase for workers), leading to armed rebellion. 2. Their defeat in 1932 helps discredit separatism G. The Constitution of More centrist but not radically different from previous Constitution 2. Provisions were included for the nationalization of mines, mineral deposits and waterfalls. 3. Labor provisions a. Different pay for the same work (whether for age, sex, nationality, or marital status) was prohibited b. Minimum wage c. Regulations on children s and women s labor d. Weekly days off e. Paid vacations f. Compensation for unjust firing 4. Family, Education and Culture a. Free primary education b. Compulsory attendance

7 Notes on Vargas Page 7 IV. c. Religious education would be elective and open to all religions. 5. National Security a. A High Council on National Security created b. Military service is made obligatory 6. Vargas elected to a 4 year term Vargas: To the Estado Novo A. Growth of Integralism (the AIB or Brazilian Integralist Movement) 1. Founded in 1932 by Plínio Salgado 2. Influenced by Fascism 3. Dogma was Christian, nationalist, and traditionalist: God, Fatherland, and Family 4. Identified liberalism, socialism, Masons and international finance capitalism (which they believed was controlled by Jews) as their enemies. 5. Paramilitary style (the Greenshirts) with the Greek sigma (Ó) as a symbol 6. Drawn mostly from middle class 7. Had support from some officers, especially in the navy B. National Liberation Alliance (ANL) 1. Popular Front organization coordinated by the Comintern to organize leftist opposition to Vargas and the Integralists a. Moscow had ordered the Comintern to order Communist parties around the world to cooperate with other groups in opposition to Fascists 2. Luíz Carlos Prestes was one of the leaders 3. Program was nationalist a. Suspension of payment on foreign debts b. Nationalization of foreign businesses c. Agrarian reform d. Guarantees on individual rights e. A democratic government C. The Authoritarian alternative 1. The Integralists and ANL began fighting in the streets in a way similar to Nazis and KPD in Germany 2. In response, authoritarian rule seemed to hold attractions. 3. Authoritarianism was and is a trait of Brazil s political culture.... The authoritarian current took on... the point of view known as conservative modernization. That is, authoritarians believed that in a loosely knit country such as Brazil, the state had the responsibility to organize the nation and to promote an orderly economic development and general well-being. In the course of events, the authoritarian state would put an end to social conflict, partisan politics, and excess freedom of expression all of which weakened the country. 4. There were traits common to the authoritarian current and to totalitarian

8 Notes on Vargas Page 8 Integralism, but they were not the same. Integralism sought its objectives through a party that would mobilize the disgruntled masses and storm the state. The authoritarian current put its money not on the party, but on the state. It did not believe in large-scale social mobilizations; it believed in the clairvoyance of a few men. (Fausto 210 emphasis added) D. Conflict between Integralists and ANL the government cracked down on the ANL 2. The Law of National Security banned strikes by civil servants and outlawed organizations attempting to subvert the social and political order by illegal means. 3. ANL fomented a barracks revolt in Rio Grande do Norte, Rio and Recife, which was crushed. E. Vargas declared a state of siege 1. ANL leaders arrested, tortured, and summarily tried 2. It might be noted that Moscow had sent some foreign cadres to assist in the coup F. The National Commission for Stopping Communism is formed in 1935 G. The National Security Tribunal was created to investigate individuals. 1. Remains in place throughout the Estado Novo H. The Integralists expected to win the election of 1938 V. The Estado Novo ( ) A Vargas cancelled the election, and tore up the old constitution and imposed a new one 1. The Estado Novo was modeled after Salazar s Portugal and Mussolini s Italy 2. Authoritarian, not totalitarian, with no attempt to mobilize mass support B. Integralist coup 1. The government banned all paramilitary organizations in The Integralists responded with an inept coup at the presidential palace 3. The government crushed them, and Salgado went into exile. 4. Vargas no longer faced organized internal opposition C. Socioeconomically, the Estado Novo reflected an alliance between the civilian and military bureaucracy and the industrial bourgeoisie. Their immediate common objective was to promote Brazil s industrialization without causing large social upheavals. (Fausto 217) D. Vargas introduced, for the first time in Latin America, mass propaganda and indoctrination of the style recently invented by European fascist states.... [T]hey aimed to create a central state powerful enough to carry out integrating functions at which the oligarchical republic had so egregiously failed. (Donghi 233) E. The growth of (state censored) newspapers and of the radio industry helped him communicate with the country and helped generate a national consciousness. F. The Depression highlighted Brazil s economic vulnerability so long as the

9 Notes on Vargas Page 9 economy was dominated by a single product. 1. The solutions were a. Diversify the economy b. Accelerate industrialization c. The two were complementary and would require government participation. G. Economic Nationalism: The nationalists insisted that only through economic development could Brazil become truly independent.... The nationalists realized that Brazil in fact still retained its colonial status, that colonial economic institutions and patterns survived. A rural oligarchy, in alliance with foreign capital, perpetuated the mercantilist system, and the vestiges of colonialism arrested the nation?s development. Beginning in the 1930?s, therefore, Brazilian nationalism, like that flourishing in the rest of Latin America and in other underdeveloped areas, became increasingly characterized by resentment of foreign capital and foreign personnel, suspicion of private enterprise, a growing preference for state ownership, emphasis on industrialization, encouragement of domestic production, and a desire to create or nationalize certain key industries such as oil, steel, power, and transportation. (Burns, emphasis added) H. Import Substituting Industrialization (ISI) program begun in earnest in The Great Depression stimulated industrialization in Brazil because if she could not manufacture many consumer products herself, she would have to do without. 2. World War II further strengthened this trend because traditional suppliers of consumer goods were devoting their industry to war time production. 3. Methods used to foster ISI were through exchange controls, import quotas, tax incentives, lowered duties on imported machinery and raw materials, and long-term loans at low interest rates. (Keen) 4. In 1940, the government produced a Five Year Plan to expand heavy industry, generate hydroelectric power, and expand the rail system. 5. State sponsored companies a. National Oil Company 1938 b. National Council of Hydraulic and Electrical Energy 1939 c. National Steel Company 1941 to exploit the iron mountain of Itabira d. National Motor Company Oil (and a look ahead to his second administration: But the symbol of economic nationalism, for Brazilians as well as for all Latin Americans, was petroleum. The nationalists believed that the discovery of oil was not only economically desirable but would guarantee Brazil?s achievement of world power status. At first, Vargas understood the importance of petroleum purely as an economic matter. He established the National Petroleum Council to coordinate and intensify the search for oil, and in

10 Notes on Vargas Page , the first successful well was drilled: oil gushed forth from the Brazilian soil. The nationalists-who were unwilling to see the oil, or the profits from its exploitation, siphoned off to foreign countries-then called for the creation of a national oil industry. Oil soon came to dominate their thoughts, and in the words of one contemporary nationalist, it became the backbone of nationalism. In time, Vargas came to see the emotional significance of oil to the nationalists, and he duly paid homage to the symbol. Whoever hands over the petroleum to foreigners threatens our own independence, he remarked. 7. During his second administration ( ), Vargas exploited that symbol in a bid for wider support. In 1951, he proposed the creation of Petrobras, a state monopoly on all activities connected with the exploration and development of petroleum resources. Its creation, in 1953, followed a national campaign in which the cry O petroleo e nosso! ( The Oil is Ours! ) echoed throughout the land. The establishment of Petrobas was a victory for the nationalists. They had triumphed over those who argued that it would be more economical for experienced foreign companies to drill for oil and pay Brazil a royalty on whatever was pumped out. The nationalists would have none of that argument. At any rate, the question was an emotional, not economic, one. In the words of one nationalist, the Brazilian people... struggled for the creation of a state monopoly because they believed that in that struggle they were defending national sovereignty. The confessed goal of Petrobas was to contribute to the economic independence of Brazil: Vargas own phrase was to create national liberty. The nationalists succeeded in convincing the masses that a national oil industry represented sovereignty, independence, power, and well-being. For the first time, they stirred up popular support for a nationalist cause. Petrobas remains the major single permanent achievement of the nationalists. The emotions aroused by its creation recall the dramatic nationalization of the oil industry in Mexico, in (Burns) 8. During the years , Brazil operated under a barter agreement with Germany. Locomotives, iron, coal, dyes, and chemicals were exchanged for Brazilian coffee, cotton, tobacco, and oils. By 1937 Germany was selling twice as much as Brazil as was Great Britain, half as much as the United States. After 1937 German trade fell off and the American increased. (SHerring) I. The Labor Charter 1937 codified the labor provisions already in place 1. Imposed a union tax to finance the union bosses 2. Labor Court is established 3. Broader legislation with Consolidation of Labor Laws 4. Vargas used radio to portray himself as the father of the people ( O

11 Notes on Vargas Page 11 VI. VII. Paizinho do Povo ) J. The Department of Press and Propaganda (DIP) censored the press K. The Estado Novo persecuted, arrested, tortured, and forced politicians and intellectuals into exile. (Fausto 225) L. Administrative Department of Public Service reformed the bureaucracy by making promotion based on merit. The Estado Novo and World War II A. Vargas sympathies when World War II broke out were not clear. Many of the old tenentes admired the Germans, the Estado Novo certainly had aspects of a fascist state. However, many Brazilians clearly saw the Allies as the side to support. 1. The DIP enforced a pro-axis view. A popular saying became: Don t speak; Getulio will do it for you--don t think; the DIP will do it for you. (SHerring) 2. All of this worried Washington considerably 3. Foreign Minister Aranha however was very pro-allies, and the US Ambassador to Brazil, Jefferson Caffery an able negotiator. B. Vargas aligned Brazil to gain maximum benefit from World War II 1. Vargas adroitly exploited Great Power rivalries to secure financial and technical assistance from the United States for the construction of the huge state-owned integrated iron and steel plant at Volta Redonda. U.S. companies and government agencies were notably cool to requests for aid for establishing heavy industry in Latin America. But Vargas? hints that he might have to turn for help to Germany removed all obstacles. A series of loans from the Export Import Bank made possible the completion of the Volta Redonda plant by By 1955 it was producing 646,000 tons of steel, a major contribution to Brazil?s industrial growth. Volta Redonda was a great victory for the Vargas policies of economic nationalism and state intervention in economic life. In return for American assistance, Vargas allowed the United States to lease air bases in northern Brazil even before it entered the war against the Axis. In August 1942, after German submarines had sunk a number of Brazilian merchantmen, Brazil declared war on Germany and Italy. A Brazilian expeditionary force of some twenty-five thousand men participated in the Allied invasion of Italy in 1944 and suffered relatively heavy losses in the fighting. (Keen) C. At the Rio Conference in 1942, Brazil came out solidly on the Allied side (while Argentina still balked. D. A Department of Coordination of Economic Mobilization was created in 1942 to run the economy. E. During the war, there was major growth in textiles, chemicals, and paper. F. Brazil also exported foodstuffs The End of the Estado Novo A. (A sympathetic view): Simon Collier,ed.,et al - The Cambridge Encyclopedia of

12 Notes on Vargas Page 12 Latin America and the Caribbean, The end of the Estado Novo was brought about by external events--notably the entry of the United States into the Second World War. Brazil, as usual, followed the North American lead, and benefitted from large amounts of aid; in return Brazil patrolled the South Atlantic and sent an expeditionary force to Italy. But it was obviously incongruous for an authoritarian regime to be fighting for democracy, and Vargas began (with his usual pragmatism) to propose a return to constitutional government. From 1942 he began to encourage the organization of the new skilled working class into government-run trade unions, which provided benefits for their members and some degree of protection (although independent workers? action was deterred). This was supplemented by more traditional patronage in the form of gifts to the unorganized poor and the promotion of a cult of Vargas among the unsophisticated. In 1945 the president announced elections for a constituent assembly, and began to build a new political machine. This consisted of two political parties appealing to different bases of support. The Social Democrat Party (PSD) belied its name; it was a conservative coalition of pro-vargas landowners, who still controlled the rural vote, and businessmen who had benefitted from the expansion of the Estado Novo. The electorate now included a large block of skilled urban workers; Vargas appealed to them through the Brazilian Labor Party (PTB), based on his trade unions. There were also opposition parties, the most important being the National Democratic Union (UDN), a liberal coalition of anti-vargas landowners and middle-class people who believed in human rights and honest government and saw Vargas as a dictatorial demagogue. 2. The PSD PTB coalition won the 1945 elections but, ironically, it did not help Vargas; he was at this point overthrown by the army, whose commanders suspected that he intended to keep himself in power yet again; they also feared his appeal to the masses. Nonetheless the election showed the huge changes which had occurred in Brazil since Then the electorate had been 2 million; now it was 7.5 million. Then most of the electors had voted at the command of the landowners; now there were national political parties (at least in name), and the opposition got 40 per cent of the vote. Large areas of the interior remained politically and economically backward, but leadership had passed to the cities, with their European-style middle and working classes. Like Peter the Great in Russia, Vargas had not totally modernized his country, but he had given it a decisive push forward. 3. Brazil?s experiment with modern democracy lasted eighteen years, and was stormy as well as short. Only two presidents, Dutra ( ) and Kubitschek ( ) completed their terms at the appointed time:

13 Notes on Vargas Page 13 Vargas ( ) ended his second term by committing suicide, Café Filho (1954-5) and Quadros (1961) resigned, and Goulart (1961-4) was deposed. The reason for this, apart from the incompetence of the incumbents, was that the Brazilian political system had become less controllable. In the first republic the quarrels of the state elites had brought about the revolution of 1930; the landowners were still a powerful force, and they had been joined by the middle classes and the skilled urban working classes. By the 1960s the unskilled urban workers and the peasants, hitherto voiceless, were also making demands on the system. In a society that ran on patronage the presidency could only hope to satisfy so many demands when the economy was booming; when resources were scarce the flimsy facade of constitutional government was torn to pieces by the conflicting demands of the different interest groups. 4. The presidency of Eurico Gaspar Dutra, a conservative general ( ), was relatively quiet; the political system had not fully developed and Brazil was prosperous as the result of the Second World War. The two main developments were the banning of the Communist Party, which had shown surprising strength by gaining 9 percent of the votes in 1946, and the consequent growth of the PTB under Vargas, who began to campaign for a second term in office in Vargas appealed to the electorate on the social achievements of his last years in office, and won the 1950 presidential elections by effective use of public relations for the first time in Brazil Vargas?s second presidency was a failure. The complexity of political life had vastly increased since 1945; the post-war boom was over; the president himself was nearly seventy and his political grip was weakening. Vargas made two major mistakes; he alienated everyone by his mismanagement of the economy (inflationary wage increased followed by a stabilization plan), and he angered his political supporters by his promotion of his protege Joao Goulart, who he made Labor Minister and put in charge of the trade unions with all their opportunities for patronage. But Vargas?s final downfall was due to his resentment of opposition. In August 1954 an assassination attempt was made on a muckraking journalist, Carlos Lacerda; violence at national level broke the unwritten rules of Brazilian politics, and the armed forces were also angered, since an Air Force major had been killed trying to protect Lacerda. Investigations showed that the killing had been ordered by the president?s chief bodyguard; senior officers demanded the president?s resignation, and Vargas responded by committing suicide. His death, and the wills issued in his name, created a Vargas legend ; he was supposed to have dies as a sacrifice protecting the poor and humble. At any rate he had taken vital steps towards modernization and created both a middle class

14 Notes on Vargas Page 14 and a skilled proletariat Vargas political machine showed its durability by winning the 1955 elections, with Juscelino Kubitschek of the PSD gaining the presidency and Goulart of the PTB the vice presidency, but the armed forces had to intervene again to prevent any anti-vargas factions from staging a coup. The running of Brazil was becoming increasingly dependent on the military. [all emphasis added] B. (A sympathetic, anti-american view) Benjamin Keen - A Short History of Latin America, The paradox of Brazil?s participation in an antifacist war under an authoritarian regime was not lost on Brazilians; the demands for an end to the Estado Novo grew stronger as the defeat of the Axis drew near. Ever sensitive to changes in the political climate and the balance of forces. Vargas responded by promising a new postwar era of liberty. In January 1945,, he announced an amnesty for political prisoners, promulgated a law allowing political parties to function openly, and set December 2 as the date for presidential and congressional elections. 2. A number of new parties were formed to fight the coming elections. Two were created by Vargas himself. They were the Partido Social Democratico (Social Democratic Party, of PSD) and the Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro (Brazilian Labor Party, or PTB). The PSD, the largest of the new parties, united pro-vargas industrialists and rural machines, above all. The PTB had its base in the government-controlled trade unions and appealed to workers with a populist rhetoric proclaiming Vargas the Father of the Poor. The Uniao Democratica Nacional (National Democratic Party, or UDN) was the most conservative and chiefly represented neocolonial agrarian and commercial interests; it was strongly pro-american. Its position with respect to economic policy was that it is necessary to call on foreign capital for the exploitation of our idle natural resources, assure it just treatment, and allow it to repatriate its proceeds. Of the other national parties, the most important was the Communist party, led by Prestes, which emerged from the under ground with considerable prestige and strength. 3. Vargas announced that he would not run for president but set the stage for a well-organized campaign by his supporters, called queremistas (from the Portuguese verb querer, to want ), who wanted Vargas to declare himself a candidate in the forthcoming election. Soon after issuing the decrees restoring political freedom, Vargas moved to the left in economic policy. In June he authorized the expropriation of an organization whose practices were harmful to the national interest; the decree specifically named Hnational or foreign enterprises known to be connected with associations, trusts, or cartels.f

15 Notes on Vargas Page The authorization decree, which was aimed at keeping down the cost of living, inspired alarm in conservative foreign and domestic circles. The American ambassador, Adolph A. Berle, Jr., made no effort to conceal his suspicion of Vargas aims. Senior military officers also regarded Vargas s political maneuvers and leftward move with growing uneasiness. The wartime alliance with the United States had accentuated their inherent conservatism and made them ready to accept the gospel of free enterprise and American leadership in the cold war against the Soviet Union and world communism. 5. On October 29, 1945, Generals Goes Monteiro and Eurico Dutra staged a coup, forced Vargas to resign, and entrusted the government to Jose Linhares, chief justice of the Supreme Court, until after the election. The new government promptly indicated its tendency by repealing Vargas?s antitrust decree and launching a suppression of the Communist party. Ostensibly, the military had acted to defend democracy by preventing Vargas from seizing power as he had done in But its democratic credentials were more than dubious; Goes Monteiro and Dutra were, after Vargas, the chief architects of Estado Novo and had supported Vargas?s most repressive measures. Vargas, says Richard Bourne, was right to suspect that behind the concern for democracy there was also a hostility to state economic intervention of the sort that was building the Volta Redonda steel plant and a lack of sympathy for his labor and welfare policies. 6. The military coup insured that Brazil would return to the parliamentary system under conservative auspices, with two generals as the major presidential candidates, Eurico Dutra for PSD and Eduardo Gomez for the UDN. Dutra won, while Vargas had the satisfaction of winning election as senator from two states and congressman from six states and the Federal District. The newly elected Congress, sitting as a constituent assembly, framed a new constitution that retained both the federal system and guaranteed civil liberties and free elections, but it still denied the vote to illiterates and enlisted men in the armed forces--more than half the adult population. 7. Under the mediocre, colorless President Eurico Dutra ( ), neocolonial interests regained much of the influence they had lost under Vargas. In his foreign and domestic policies, Dutra displayed a blind loyalty to the anticommunist creed propounded by Washington. Vargas, wishing to broaden Brazil s economic and diplomatic contacts, had resumed diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union; Dutra found a pretext for severing those relations. Alarmed by the growing electoral strength of the Communist party, Dutra outlawed the party, and Congress followed his lead by expelling the party s elected representatives, seventeen

16 Notes on Vargas Page 16 congressmen and one senator. Dutra exploited the resulting witch hunt to smash the independent, left-led labor movement; the Workers Federation, organized in 1946, was declared illegal, and the government intervened in a large number of unions to eliminate extremist elements. The imposition of a wage freeze and the failure to raise the officially decreed minimum wage caused the real income of workers to drop sharply. 8. With respect to economic development, Dutra pursued a laissez faire policy that meant the virtual abandonment of the Vargas strategy of a state-directed movement toward economic independence. Dutra?s finance minister, Correia e Castro, openly declared the government?s bias in favor of the neocolonial relationship when he described Brazil as essentially an agrarian country, adding the the essence of the Latin American economy, and Brazil is an integral part of this area, is a certain concentration of effort in the export of primary products and foodstuffs, as well as in the import of a wide variety of manufactured goods and processed foodstuffs. In conformity with this point of view, the Dutra government removed all import and exchange controls and allowed the large foreign exchange reserves accumulated during the war--reserves that Vargas had proposed to use for reequipping Brazilian industry--to be dissipated on imported consumer goods, luxury goods in large part. 9. Attracted by the new economic climate, foreign capital flowed into Brazil. Direct investments by the United States rose from $323 million in 1946 to $803 million in Meanwhile, seeking to curb inflation according to the prescription of American advisers, the government pursued a restrictive credit policy harmful to the Brazilian entrepreneurs and industrial growth. In 1947, after the negative results of these policies had become apparent and the foreign exchange reserves had almost disappeared, the Dutra government set up a new system of import licensing, with a scale of import priorities according to need, and adopted an easier credit policy. Thanks to these measures, the last two years of the Dutra regime saw a revival of economic growth. 10. In 1950, having assured himself of the neutrality of the armed forces, Vargas ran for president with the support of the PTB and a broad coalition of workers, industrialists, and members of the urban middle class. His campaign concentrated on the need to accelerate industrialization and expand and strengthen welfare legislation. Defending his past record, Vargas affirmed that his whole effort had been to transform into an industrial nation a country paralyzed by the myopia of rulers wedded to the existing monoculture and to the simple extraction of primary materials. Riding a wave of discontent with the economic and social policies of the Dutra regime, Vargas easily defeated his two opponents.

17 Notes on Vargas Page Vargas inherited a difficult economic situation. After a brief boom in coffee exports and prices in , the balance of trade again turned unfavorable, and the inflation rate increased. In the absence of other major sources of financing for his developmental program, Vargas had to rely largely on the massive increase in the money supply, with all its inevitable social consequences. Meanwhile, his national program of state-directed industrialization, using state corporations as its major instrument, encountered increasing hostility from neocolonial interests at home and abroad. In the United States, the Eisenhower administration decided that the Vargas government had not created the proper climate for private investment and terminated the Joint United States-Brazilian Economic Commission. Within Brazil, despite his sweeping victory in the election of 1950, Vargas program faced sabotage at the hands of the rural forces that continued to dominate the majority of the state governments and Congress. This hardening of attitudes signified that Vargas options and his capacity for maneuvering between different social groups were greatly reduced. 12. In December, 1951, Vargas asked Congress to approve a bill creating a mixed public-private petroleum corporation to be called Petrobras, which would give the state a monopoly on the drilling of oil and new refineries. Petrobras illustrated Vargas? belief that the state must own the commanding heights of the economy, it also represented an attempt to reduce the balance of payments deficit be substituting domestic sources of oil for imported oil. Vargas sought to appease domestic and foreign opponents by leaving the distribution of oil in private hands and allowing existing refineries to remain privately owned, but almost two years passed before Congress, under great popular pressure passed the law creating Petrobras in October However, Vargas? proposal to create a similar agency for electric power to be called Electrobras, which would supplement the power production of foreign-owned public utilities, remained bottled up in Congress. The depth of nationalist feeling aroused by the debate over Petrobras and Electrobras convinced foreign and domestic conservatives that Vargas was traveling a dangerous road. 13. Vargas labor policy became another political battleground. Under Vargas, labor regained much of the freedom of action that it had lost during the Dutra years. In December 1951, the government decreed a new minimum wage that only compensated for the most recent price rises. In 1953, three hundred thousand workers went on strike for higher wages and other benefits. In June of that year, Vargas appointed a young protege, Joao Goulart, minister of labor. Goulart, a populist in the Vargas tradition, was sympathetic with labor s demands. In January 1954, observing that it is not wages which raise the cost of living; on the

18 Notes on Vargas Page 18 contrary it is the cost of living which require higher wages, Goulart recommended to Vargas a doubling of the minimum wage. This recommendation evoked a violent manifesto of the colonels, in which a group of officers charged that the government was penetrated by communism and corruption, that the armed forces were being neglected, and that the recommended new minimum wage would demoralize the badly underpaid officer class. Under military pressure, Vargas dismissed Goulart, but in a May Day speech to workers he announced that the increased minimum wage would be enacted and even praised the fallen minister of labor. 14. The battle lines between Vargas and his foes were being drawn ever more sharply. In speeches to Congress, Vargas attacked foreign investors for aggravating Brazil s balance of payments problem by their massive remittances of profits and claimed that invoicing frauds had cost Brazil at least $250 million over eighteen-month period. Meanwhile, attacks on him by the conservative dominated press and radio grew even more bitter; especially vituperative were the editorials of Carlos Lacerda, editor of the ultraconservative Tribuna da Imprensa. 15. An effort to silence Lacerda presented Vargas enemies with a golden opportunity to destroy him. Unknown to Vargas, the chief of the president?s personal guard arranged for a gunman to assassinate Lacerda. The plot miscarried, for Lacerda was only slightly wounded, but one of his bodyguards, an air force major, was killed. The resulting investigation revealed the complicity of palace officials and uncovered the existence of large-scale corruption in the presidential staff. The chorus of demands for Vargas? resignation was joined by the military, which informed him on August 24 that he must resign or be deposed. Isolated, betrayed by the men he had trusted, the seventy-two-year-old Vargas found the way out of his dilemma by suicide. But he left a message that was also his political testament. It ended with the words: 16. I fought against the looting of Brazil. I fought against the looting of the people. I have fought bare-breasted. Hatred, infamy, and calumny did not beat down my spirit. I gave you my life. Now I offer my death. Nothing remains. Serenely I take the first step on the road to eternity and I leave life to enter history. C. (A less anti-american view) Hubert Herring - A History of Latin America, The Dictatorship of Getulio Vargas, By the first days of 1945, there were clear signs of discontent with the dictatorship. Many politicians, generals, and professional people began to show their hands. For some, the stand reflected prudence; they knew that a dictator-bossed Brazil would have scant welcome at the peace tables. For others, it was simply a personal play for power. For many, it was a

19 Notes on Vargas Page 19 deeply rooted desire for democratic rule. In February came the democratic break through. Two newspapers suddenly began to talk of the election Vargas had promised, of the need for free discussion, and in favor of the candidacy of Air Brigadier Eduardo Gomes. The DIP did not silence them; the inference was that Vargas had decided to loose his hold. The news papers, such as were not owned by the government or the Communists, published vigorous discussions of Brazil s future. 2. National political parties took form. The National Democratic Union nominated Gomes, it had the support of most moderate Liberals, many Conservatives, and others intent upon striking at Vargas. The Social Democratic Party, backing Eurico Dutra, Vargas minister of war, made its chief appeal to those of the extreme right--with Vargas blessing, they thought. The Communists, led by Luiz Carlos Prestes, finally released from prison, entered the contest. As the year wore on, it became clear that Vargas was not to be easily deposed. A mysterious movement sprang up with the slogan Queremos Getulio, We want Getulio ; Brazil was plastered with the slogan on billboards, in the press, in pamphlets. It was then revealed that the promoter of this ostensibly spontaneous outburst was paying his printing bills from a loan of $14,000,000 granted by the national Banco do Brasil (that is, Vargas). 3. Meanwhile, elections were scheduled for December 2. By September political prophets knew that Vargas had no intention of quitting. Rumors spread that a military coup was planned, that prisons were readied. Now the American ambassador, Adolf A. Berle, Jr., took a hand. Berle had come to Brazil in January, 1945, and had made friends of those in power and in the opposition. Berle now decided to speak and on September 29 held a press conference for Brazilian reporters; he spoke eloquently of the long friendship between Brazil and the United States, and said that the pledge of free Brazilian elections, set for a definite date, by a government whose word the United States has found inviolable, has been hailed with as much satisfaction in the United States as in Brazil itself. His point was clear; he hailed the election, knowing full well that Vargas proposed to continue himself in power. Berle s speech has been cited as another instance of American intervention in Latin Americas internal affairs--if so, it was gentle and effective. 4. In October Vargas dismissed the capital?s chief of police and installed his brother, Benjamin Vargas (nicknamed O Beijo, The Kiss ), who was notorious for his pilferings and exploitation of prostitution and gambling. This affront to the dignity of the nation offended the generals, who demanded Vargas resignation. Forthwith, tanks, funs, and troops surrounded public buildings. On October 29 Vargas resigned and flew to his farm in Rio Grande do Sul. Chief Justice Linhares of the Supreme

20 Notes on Vargas Page 20 Court, who became provisional president, appointed an able cabinet. The political campaign continued. The queremistas were noisy, Vargas now ordered them to support Dutra. The election was held on schedule on December 2. Dutra won, two to one, over Gomez. The Communists polled 10 percent of the votes. D. (A more judicious view) Bradford Burns, Nationalism in Brazil: A Historical Survey, Getulio Vargas and Economic Nationalism 1. The Brazilians sardonically noted that they supported the Allied effort to eliminate dictatorship in Europe while living under their own dictator at home. By late 1944, their desire to return to a democratic system was unmistakably clear. Vargas, acceding to the mounting pressure, agreed to hold elections in December, The government relaxed its political controls, and a variety of political parties emerged. Three of them achieved national importance and, despite their weaknesses, can be regarded as the first nationwide democratic parties in Brazilian history. The Partido Social Democratico (Social Democratic Party, of PSD), founded by Vargas himself, represented urban, moderate, middle-class interests. The Uniao Democratica Nacional (National Democratic Union, or UDN), founded by the opposition to Vargas, tended to support conservative doctrines and to favor the interests of the traditional oligarchy. The Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro (Brazilian Labor Party, or PTB), also founded by Vargas, appealed to the workers and expressed a leftist ideology. The leadership of the PTB was predominately middle-class in origin and was vociferously nationalistic. The three parties were to contribute significantly to the growth of Brazilian democracy. 2. As the date for the elections approached, Vargas hinted that he might like to continue in office. Rumors spread that the President was once again going to cancel an election. In late October, 1945, the military intervened to depose the President and guarantee the elections. The candidate of the PSD and the PTB, General Eurico Dutra, was elected and took office in 1946 for a five-year term. Dutra proved to be not unsympathetic to Vargas, who at the last moment had given the General his endorsement, and his administration continued many of the Vargas policies. Dutra?s proposed five-year development plan also pleased the nationalists, who saw their hopes for an industrialized Brazil beginning to be realized. 3. In the elections of 1950, Vargas was returned to office as democratically elected president. If anything, he was more nationalistic in both his pronouncements and his actions during his second administration than in his first. As we have seen, it was during this administration that he created Petrobras and attempted to extend government control over energy and power resources; he also inaugurated his own five-year plan for industrialization.