Anarchism in Brazil

Anarchism was an influential contributor to the social politics of Brazil's Old Republic. During the epoch of mass migrations of European labourers at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, anarchist ideas started to spread, particularly amongst the country’s labour movement. Along with the labour migrants, many Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and German political exiles arrived, many holding anarchist or anarcho-syndicalist ideas.

Some did not come as exiles but rather as a type of political entrepreneur, including Giovanni Rossi, who founded an anarchist commune in 1889, named the colony of Cecília, in the interior of Paraná state. The experiment only lasted a few years, but at one point consisted of 200 participants, mostly Italian migrants with urban labour backgrounds who had difficulties learning to work the land.

Anarchism or anarcho-syndicalism was the dominant ideology underpinning the Brazilian labour movement at the beginning of the twentieth century. Syndicates and labour federations were erected, mainly pressing for shorter workdays, better working conditions and higher salaries. Various strikes, i.e. in the harbour of Santos and among railway workers, were inspired by anarchist sympathies. In 1906 the first nationwide Brazilian workers' congress was held, and from then on the May Day celebrations, with prominent anarchists delivering speeches, started to attract large crowds. The second national workers' congress in 1913 was initially meant to be a Pan-American anarchist congress, but only two Argentinians showed up. The labour agitation eventually culminated in the large strike movements of 1917 and 1919, biggest in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, but echoed throughout the country.

Alongside the labour federations, anarchist daily and weekly newspapers were also issued; additionally, educational centres, theatres and elementary schools were founded. In the nineteenth century some of those newspapers were in Italian and a few were in Spanish and German, but at the turn of the century most were in Portuguese. A Plebe was an important one, but there were many more, issued in virtually any state capital of Brazil.

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