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‘Living Worse and Costing More’: Resistance and Riot in Rio de Janeiro, 1890–1917

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Teresa Meade
Teresa Meade
Affiliation:
Teresa Meade is Assistant Professor of History, Union College, Schenectady, New York.
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Extract

On 1st May 1917 m Rio de Janeiro, protesters took to the streets carrying placards and shouting slogans denouncing high prices and miserable living conditions. Over the succeeding months the May Day protest mushroomed into an unprecedented general strike of more than 50,000 workers in the federal capital. Rio de Janeiro had witnessed frequent protests and agitation against taxes, high prices, shortages, poor housing and public services and the cost of transport during the late Empire and first decades of the Republic.1 What was different about May Day 1917 was that complaints over consumer, community-based issues affecting the general populace triggered off a wave of trade-union militancy unique in the city's history.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 21 , Issue 1-2 , June 1989 , pp. 241 - 266
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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References

* Research and assistance for this project was carried out under grants from the Doherty Fellowship Fund and the Union College Research Council. I am grateful to Maria Fernanda Venancio Filho, Cliff Welch and Fernando Venancio Filho for their help in checking on sources in Rio de Janeiro; to Warren Den, Thomas Skidmore, Andor Skotnes, and this journal's anonymous referee for comments and suggestions.

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3 See Hobsbawm, E. J., ‘Pre-political Movements in Peripheral Areas’. Paper presented at Conferencia Sobre História e Ciéncias Sociais, Campinas, 26–30 05 1975 [conference paper cited with author's permission], pp. 1–2Google Scholar; revised as ‘Pre-political Movements in Modern Politics; in Kontos, Alkis (ed.), Powers, Possessions and Freedom: Essays in Honour of C. B. Macpherson (Toronto, 1979), pp. 89–106.Google Scholar For examples of recent protests, see Moisés, José Alvaro and Stolcke, Verena Martinez-Alier, ‘Urban Transport and Popular Violence: The Case of Brazil’; Past and Present, no. 86 (02 1980), pp. 174–92.Google Scholar

4 Manuel Castells provides one of the best correctives to the outdated ‘pre-modern/modern’ dichotomy in his essays on the development of social movements in several cities. He shows that a ‘collective consumption-oriented trade unionism’ paralleled in the community the rise of labour unions at the work place: The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements (Berkeley, 1983), p. 94.Google Scholar

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7 O Paiz, 17 02 1890, p. 1Google Scholar; 18 Feb. 1890, p. 1. The government's many explanations for the food crisis and social disturbances are summarised in Ministerio da Justiça, Relatório apresentado ao Presidente da República pelo Dr. Antonio Gonçalves Ferreira, Ministro da Justiça e Negocios Interiores (Rio de Janeiro, 1895), p. 13.Google Scholar

8 O Paiz, 12 09 1893, p. 1Google Scholar; Correio da Manhã, 29 05 1902, p. 1Google Scholar; Gazeta de Notícias, 1–2 05 1902, p. 1Google Scholar; Lobo, Eulalia Maria Lahmeyer, Canavarros, Octavio, Feres, Zakia, Gonçalves, Sonia, Madureira, Lucena Barbosa, ‘Evolução dos preços e do padrão de vida no Rio de Janeiro, 1820–1930’; Revista Brasileira de Econômia, vol. 26 (10/12, 1971), p. 256.Google Scholar

9 Jornal do Brasil, 24 06 1905, p. 1Google Scholar: 25 June 1905, p. 5.

10 For a description of early Rio see, Bell, Alured Gray, The Beautiful Rio de Janeiro (London, 1914), pp. 20–3Google Scholar; Cruls, Gastão, Aparéncia do Rio de Janeiro: notícia histórica e descritiva da cidade, 2 vols. (Rio de Janeiro, 1965), vol. 2, p. 551Google Scholar; Edmundo, Luiz, O Rio de Janeiro do meu tempo (Rio de Janeiro, 1938), p. 207Google Scholar; Gersón, Brasil, História das ruas do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, 1954)Google Scholar; Silva, Fernando Nascimento (ed.), Rio de Janeiro em seus quatrocentos anos: formação e desenvolvimtnto da cidade (Rio de Janeiro, 1905), pp. 16–20, 248–59.Google Scholar The best recent study of the changes in elite society during the ‘belle-epoque’ is Needell, Jeffrey, A Tropical Belle Epoque: Elite Culture and Society in Turn-of-the-Century Rio de Janeiro (Cambridge, 1987).Google Scholar The government compiled numerous descriptions of the city's housing and population distribution. See, Directoria Geral de Estatística, ‘Estatística Predial’, Apuração das cadernetas empregadas no recenseamento geral da república dos Estados Unidos do Brazil en 31 de dezembro de 1890, pp. 424–5Google Scholar; ‘População classificada segundo as profissões’, Recenseamento, 1890, (Rio de Janeiro, 1895), pp. 408–21.Google Scholar See also Benchimol, , ‘Pereira Passos…’, pp. 210–36, 237–62Google Scholar; Solis, Sidney Sérgio F. and Ribeiro, Marcus Venício T., ‘O Rio onde o sol não brilha: acumulaçāo e pobreza na transição para o capitalismo’, Revista Rio de Janeiro, no. 1 (12, 1985), pp. 45–59.Google Scholar

11 Directoria Sanitaria da Capital Federal, Relatório do lnstituto Sanitário Federal ao Presidente da República (Rio de Janeiro, 1895), pp. 214–16Google Scholar; Relatório ao Presidente da República pelo Dr. Antonio Gonçalves Ferreira, Ministro dos Negocios Interiores (Rio de Janeiro, 1896), pp. 243, 314–16.Google ScholarRelatório ao Presidente da República pelo Dr. Amaro Cavalcanti, Ministro dos Negocios Interiores (Rio de Janeiro, 1897), pp. 248–9Google Scholar; Directoria Geral de Saúde Pública, Relatório apresentado ao J. J. Seabra, Ministro da Justiça pelo Director Geral de Saúde Público, Ni, Annexo (Rio de Janeiro, 1904), pp. 80–3Google Scholar; de Albuquerque, Marli Brito Moreira, ‘Porto do Rio de Janeiro: estigma e história’, Revista Rio de Janeiro no. 1 (12, 1985), pp. 87–103.Google Scholar

12 Jornal do Brasil, 20 05 1892, p. 1.Google Scholar

13 O Paiz, 14 02 1902, p. 1.Google Scholar

14 Ibid., 16 Feb. 1903, p. 2.

15 de Azevedo Pimentel, Antonio Martins, Quaes os melhoramentos higitnios que devem ser introduzidos no Rio de Janeiro para tornar esta cidade mais saudavel (Rio de Janeiro, 1895).Google Scholar A history of the public health plan was compiled under the direction of Dr Oswaldo Cruz; see Directoria Geral de Saúde Pública, Placido Barbosa e Cassio Barbosa de Rezende, Os serviços de saúde pública no Brasil especialmente na cidade do Rio de Janeiro de 1808 a 1907, 2 vols. (Rio de Janeiro, 1909).Google Scholar Other important sources include Stepan, Nancy E., The Beginnings of Brazilian Science: Oswaldo Cruz, Medical Research and Policy, 1890–1920 (New York, 1976)Google Scholar; Pechman, Sérgio and Fritsch, Lilian, ‘A reforms urbana e o seu avesso: algumas consideraçōes a propósito de modernizaçao do DF na virada do século’; paper presented at Seminário Rio Republicano, Casa de Rui Barbosa, Rio de Janeiro, 1984 (photocopy), pp. 18–26Google Scholar; Solis, and Ribeiro, , ‘O Rio onde o sol nāo brilha’, pp. 56–7Google Scholar; Benchimol, , ‘Pereira Passos…’, pp. 304–29.Google Scholar

16 Demolition of the cortiços was not an arbitrary action since they were some of the most unhealthy sites in the city. The problem was that the city did not build any housing to replace what was destroyed: see Directoria Sanitaria da Capital Federal, Relatório do encarregado do serviço de estatística demographosanitário (Rio de Janeiro, 02 1893), p. 24.Google Scholar The plan was summarised in Jornal do Brasil., 14 03 1903, p. 1 and 15 05 1903, p. 1.Google Scholar The Correio da Manhā was a consistent opponent of the public health code and featured articles almost daily throughout 1904 denouncing the law: 1 Oct. 1904, p. 1; 7 Oct. 1904, p. 1; 6 Nov. 1904, p. 1. For accounts of different aspects of this plan and its shortcomings see the articles in the above cited Revista Rio de Janeiro, de O. Cavakante, Berenice, ‘Beleza, limpeza, ordem e progresso: a questāo da higiene na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, final do século xix’, pp. 95–103Google Scholar; Pechman, Robert Moses and Ribeiro, Luís César Queiroz, ‘A Companhia de Saneamento do Rio de Janeiro: contribuição á história da formaçāo do capital imobiliário’, pp. 105–13Google Scholar; Padilha, Sylvia F., ‘Da “Cidade Velha” á periferia’, pp. 15–23Google Scholar;and Benchimol, , ‘Pereira Passos…’, pp. 295–9.Google Scholar

17 In addition to those sources already cited above, see Cooper, Donald B., ‘Oswaldo Cruz and the Impact of Yellow Fever on Brazilian History’, The Bulletin of the Tulane University Medical Faculty, vol. 26 (02 1967), pp. 49–52Google Scholar; Stepan, , The Beginnings of Brazilian Science, pp. 88–9Google Scholar; Benchimol, , ‘Pereira Passos…‘, pp. 383–403, 450–67.Google Scholar

18 Nachman, , ‘Positivism and Revolution…’, pp. 24–5.Google Scholar

19 Jornal do Brasil, 15–16 November, p. 1; Jornal do Commercio, 13 11 1904, p. 1.Google Scholar A full summary of the riot, description of the ‘pernicious elements’, in his opinion who were involved, and the repressive measures that the state took to see that the protesters were punished, is in Ministerio da Justiça, Relatório apresentado ao Presidente da República pelo Dr. J. J. Seabra, Ministro da Justiça e Negocios Interiores, vol. 1, annexo G (Rio de Janeiro, 1905). pp. 3–7.Google Scholar

20 O Paiz, 16 01 1900, p. 1–2.Google Scholar

21 Police provocations could turn peaceful strikes violent and cost strikers valuable support. When garbage collectors went on strike in January 1901 for current and back wages, the usually anti-labour O Paiz declared the strikers’ demands ‘respectable and just’. After mounted police charged the picket line, and the strike turned violent, the newspaper reversed itself and labelled the whole affair an ‘anarchist provocation’, 14 01 1901, p. 1.Google Scholar

22 Jornal do Brasil, 14 01 1901, p. 1Google Scholar; 15 Jan. 1901, p. 1; 10 Jan. 1904, pp. 1–2; Correio da Marnhã, 12 01 1903, p. 1Google Scholar; 10 Jan. 1904, p. 1; 12 Jan. 1904, p. 2.

23 Correio da Manhã, 12 01 1904, p. 1.Google Scholar

24 Jornal do Brasil, 21 05 1901, p. 1Google Scholar; Hahner, June, Poverty and Politics: The Urban Poor in Brazil, 1870–1920 (Albuquerque, 1986), p. 264.Google Scholar

25 Needell contends in his article ‘“Revolta Contra Vacina ”’ that Afro-Brazilians led the anti-vaccination riot and participated actively in the destruction of the city. Blacks, he states, embraced ‘the established patterns of Carioca violence because it was something born of an environment whose values they quickly assimilated’ (p. 206). However, Seabra and the press both blamed foreigners, not blacks. Although their assessment of the rioters should be viewed sceptically, one would presume that if sizable numbers of Afro-Brazilians had been in the vanguard either the police or the press would have made more mention of it. See Relatório (1905), pp. 3–5Google Scholar; Jornal do Brasil, 17 11 1904, p. 1.Google Scholar Needell's work is an exemplary description of the role and the motivation of the military and other sectors of Carioca society who participated in the revolt, but his inferences on the role of blacks in the riot are ideologically troubling, particularly since he admits ‘there is no way to prove it’ (p. 261).

26 Relatório (1905), pp. 5–15.Google Scholar

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32 Ibid., 28 Feb. 1910, pp. 6 and 5 March 1910, p. 4. Concern about the prevalence of abandoned children roaming the streets of the city's poorest districts is in Directoria do Interior, Kelatório apresentado ao Ministro da Justiça pela commissāo inspectora dos estabelecimentos de alienados, públicos e particulates, no Districto Federal, ‘O abandono moral’, vol. 2 (Rio de Janeiro, 1905), pp. 3–53Google Scholar; Seabra, , Kelatório (1905)Google Scholar; Chalhoub, , Trabalho, lar e botiquim, pp. 40–51, 181–90.Google Scholar

33 Jornal do Brasil, 1 07 1905, p. 1: 4 07 1905, p. 1.Google Scholar

34 A Voz do Trabalhador, 16 08 1908, p. 1Google Scholar, the organ of the anarcho-syndicalist Confederação Operária Brasileira, which in Rio was the Federacão Operária do Rio de Janeiro. For a summary of the role of the transport companies in determining the city's development, see Keremitsis, Eileen, ‘The Early Industrial Worker in Rio de Janeiro, 1870–1930, Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1982.Google Scholar

35 A Vos do Trabalhador, 8 07 1909, p. 3Google Scholar; A Gazeta de Noticías, 9 02 1910, p. 2.Google Scholar

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37 A Vanguarda, 12 08 1911, p. 2.Google Scholar

38 Reported in Jornal do Brasil, 24 06 1912, p. 1.Google Scholar

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40 A Voz do Trabalhador, 1 04 1913, p. 3.Google Scholar

41 Ibid., 15 Mar. 1913, p. 1.

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47 Although protests and strikes were scarce during 1914 and 1915, the ones that did take place usually centred on non-payment of wages. Office workers at Trajano de Medeiros & Cia. struck on 21 November 1914, claiming the owner was fifteen months behind in paying their wages. In December of that same year meatcutters at the Matadouro packing plant walked off the job because they had not been paid for over four months. In both cases workers returned under the promise of receiving backpay, but subsequent walk-outs and protests indicate that they never received the promised wages; Jornal do Brasil, 21 11 1914, p. 1 and 7 12 1914, p. 1.Google Scholar

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49 Ibid., 5 Jan. 1917, p. 7. News about the high cost of living and the meetings about it appeared in the press throughout the early months of 1917; see Jornal do Brasil, 9 Jan. p. 7; 15 Jan., p. 5; 17 Jan., p. 7; 22 Jan., p. 6; 29 Jan., p. 5; 1 Feb., p. 9; 4 Feb., p. 5; 5 Feb, p. 7; 12 Feb., p. 7; 26 Feb. p. 5; 6 Mar., p. 1.

50 Maram, , ‘Anarchists’, p. 168.Google Scholar

51 Jornal do Brasil, 6 03 1917, p. 1.Google Scholar

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56 Ibid., 27 July 1917, p. I.

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60 Maram, , ‘Anarchists’, pp. 163–4.Google Scholar

61 A Razāo, 18 11 1918, p. 1.Google Scholar See also Bandeira, Moniz, Melo, Cloviz, Andrade, A. T., O ano vermelho: a revoluçāo Russa e seus reflexos no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, 1967), pp. 115–47.Google Scholar

62 Directoria do Interior, Relatório apresentado ao Presidente da República dos Estados Unidos do Brasil pelo Ministro da Justiça e Negocios lnteriores, Dr. Alfredo Pinto Vieira de Mello (Rio de Janeiro, 1921), pp. v–vi.Google Scholar

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