Industrial workers and the birth of the Populist Republic in Brazil, 1945-1946

Abstract

Examines the central role which Brazilian industrial workers played in the political transition of 1945-1946 that ended the Estado Novo dictatorship and opened the era of electoral democracy known as the Brazilian Populist Republic (1946-1964). Argues that the events of 1945-1946 are best seen as a radical break with the past, marked by the entry of the urban working class into Brazilian political life: Vargas's 1945 electoral legislation was consciously and successfully designed to alter the Brazilian electoral process through effective mass enfranchisement of the urban areas. In order to understand postwar popular and leftist trends, one must discern the contours of mass working-class consciousness, its characteristics, psychology, and direction of development. -from Editor