A place in politics: São Paulo, Brazil, from seigneurial republicanism to regionalist revolt
The early decades of the twentieth century witnessed acute political conflict in the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo as the existing political system—formally republican but oligarchic in structure—came under increasing criticism. Disaffected patricians, ambitious newspapermen, militant workers, idealistic students, and rebellious military officers assailed the leaders of the ruling Republican Party at different points in time, while these same leaders struggled amongst themselves for patronage, party leadership, and that most intangible of vital assets, “prestige.” “A Place in Politics” offers a new interpretation of the political history of Brazil's most important state during these crucial decades. Where the existing historiography has found class or corporate interests of some sort at the root of political conflict during this period, the dissertation emphasizes the political itself, from the influence of political traditions and ideas to the ubiquitous haggling over patronage, local improvements, and social standing, in the making of the different political movements of this period. These disparate movements contributed to three important changes in the nature of regional politics. First of all, they served to encourage, and in turn profited from, an incremental but nevertheless significant increase in political participation, which took place not only through the formal mechanism of voting but also through petitions, rallies, and on rarer occasions riot, and included groups, such as workers and middling folks, long presumed to have played little or no role in formal politics. Second, the political discourse of this period was the site of the construction and/or elaboration of various political symbols of lasting import and influence, including the heroic, young military rebel (who would come to be called a tenente), the enterprising and patriotic explorer (the bandeirante, borrowed from regional lore), and the secret ballot itself, to which was attributed all manner of political miracles. Finally, these movements effected the modification of the traditional structures, practices, and political culture of republican politics. These developments, in turn, helped to shape subsequent politics, playing into the “Revolution” of 1930 and the regionalist revolt of 1932 and coloring subsequent experiments in democratic and authoritarian rule in Brazil's most economically dynamic state.