(en) Anarkio.net: A-Infos #18 - Brief history of unionism (pt)

In most cases studies on syndicalism in Brazil, almost always start in an abbreviated form 
of anarcho-syndicalism, when mentioning its existence, in a dizzying rise and fall, often 
attributing to themselves anarcho-syndicalists such decline, enclosing the period with the 
decree of the Get?lio Vargas CLT, which was the final stop on free trade unionism in the 
country and the beginning of a period of over 70 years of fascist organization in the 
middle of work. ---- Highlighted in these studies, however, the formation of CUT and CGT, 
both derived from discussions and cracks of paths that unionism should tread to advance 
workers' struggles. In our analysis, we believe that this historic building meets the 
partisan interests in order to reduce the strength of anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian 
practices that marked its 30-year life of workers in Brazil.

It is a grotesque record, which distorts and obliterates the
Memory of social movements and workers.

Let addition, there are several theories that attempt to erase the
existence of anarcho-syndicalism and give unionism
revolutionary another connotation than
anarchist, but socialists and other aspects
ideological minorities who were and acted without
problems within the revolutionary syndicalism, basic
anarchist as shown in historical documents,
newspapers and letters of the period. Seek to isolate the
anarcho-syndicalist thought as a museum piece
the heads of these bizarre invented "the Illuminati
institutional left. "

Given these we can only revisionisms with all
respect, keep fighting those fellows, many
murdered by the state repression of service
interests of capital.

Trade unionism in Brazil originates with the end of
slavery and immigration, bringing experiences
worker organization of mainly Italian and Spanish.
We have here a case of change of working arrangements,
what about a deeper analysis reveals that
have far more in common than you might believe.

The labor, slave labor was becoming increasingly
difficult to obtain as it pushes the enclosure
abolitionist, translated into an escalation of laws
aimed to reduce and eliminate slave labor gradually.
Allied to these laws, Britain decree in 1845, the
"Aberdeen Bill" which was the practice of attacking and imprisoning
boats of slave trade, bringing much of the price
Africans. For a while there was still trafficking
internal, but with tougher laws in force, the labor-
slave labor became too expensive.

With the decline of the viability of the use of hand labor
slave in the country, one of the solutions was to use
Hand workforce employed mostly immigrant.
One can not say that it was a hand labor more
Qualified that Africans, once came
just perform the same work as the Africans already
were, initially working in the plantations. It is an illusion
and believe it's a wonder why it was not
wage hand-to-work existing in the African country?

Understanding the extent of large plantations
Coffee is easy to understand that much more was needed
workers, the cost of bringing these immigrants from their
countries was much smaller than give the Africans a
living wage structure, since nothing had. The
omission of government and contempt for farmers with
Africans and their descendants, led to the forming
outskirts of cities, the first favelas of Brazil. The
option by using immigrants was basically an option
economic, because even if you opt for hand-
of African labor employed, there would be enough
using hand also seek labor abroad.
Whereas hand to bring African labor
would be much more expensive because they should bring them in
human conditions (no more ships in the dark
"Slave"), there were no boats under appropriate conditions
between Africa and South America The situation was different
between Europe and South America, with regular routes
ships with the minimal conditions to bring families
whole, was the natural choice for the latter. But there
much to study to understand this period of
indeed what occurred and what paths.

The point is that with immigration, became the
labor relations.

In principle, many of these workers
went to the coffee plantations where the exploitation of
farmers was immense, creating huge friction. The
large farmers still accustomed to slavery,
authoritarian attitudes kept on hand labor
employment, which leads to many abandon their fields
and go to work in the cities.

We must remember that it is a very prosperous
for coffee, the largest merchandise export
country, generating much wealth, as to be politicians
directly linked to the grower sector. With this
prosperity huge influence on a part of
European industrialization, solve form the first
factories, what is considered by some economists, the
Brazilian late industrialization. This implementation is
mill plants of low cost, small and
Replacement of commodities. Nevertheless
needed labor-wage labor. Many
immigrants, already familiar with the mode of production
industrial and factory floor would form this labor-
works.

But equally as farms, exploitation
exaggerated on workers, led us to
in organizing resistance groups, trade unions, to
defend the rampant exploitation by employers.

Salientarmo it is very important because if for
This is still many images of military dictatorship and
the impact it in the middle of workers, on the other hand,
little is remembered about the authoritarian period of Old
Republic was and how cruel this period to the recent
unions. It must be stressed that the issues
related to work were treated as if
police. There was legislation and working
governments had no concern with the
exploited and oppressed. All measurements
government for the period were of repression against
workers. One for instance, was the Law
Repression of Anarchism, 1921 by Pessoa.

Other repressive measures were trapping fields
concentration as in the middle of the Clevel?ndia
Amazon, the deportation of the elements
foreign subversives; disclosure of blacklists
with names of workers considered agitators; constant
invasion and police chase in the spaces
union and frequent breakers in graphic
workers (jamming), preventing the circulation of
union stuff. But turning to newspapers
period, we have many cases of persecution and
murders ordered by bosses.

Workers persecuted, exploited to
maximum working hours of 12, 14 and 16
hours were able to organize themselves to face
such abuses. When we write workers
we refer not only to men but women and
children who made up the workforce in
period.

The Brazilian Workers Confederation (COB)
was created in 1906, given the advancement of the organization
performed by workers.

Considering the strong repression, not only was a
important milestone, but showed the ability
organizational and free workers,
many coming from anarchism.

In developing this revolutionary syndicalism,
associations of resistance had commitments
the education of fellows and their
sons, Modern Schools (secular and rational)
inspired by Francisco Ferrer. Boxes were Greve
raised to support the families of the strikers. Also
contributed to medical help and in case of bereavement, had
support the family realized from contributions
of each syndicated simple, without charge, without
mandatory. The process union itself was highly
educator and preparing associated with a good life
being and freedom, bases for human emancipation.

The most important thing in all this is that no
separating social struggles, economic and political. All
was one movement of class struggle, of confrontation
direct with the powerful. We can write that
social movements in this period were coordinated,
united through struggle that anarcho-syndicalist
contemplated the breadth and comprehensiveness of the fight
emancipatory. It would be strange to speak of this period
social movements because there was no separate
partisan prevalent as we thought
Now, which led to a "specialization" of the struggles and
fragmentation of social movements.

The general strikes, work stoppages were common and
important practical education and the struggle between
workers. Stand the General Strikes of 1917 and
1919, which is considered the largest strikes in Brazil
to date, the extent and impact of downtime
society.

On the other lada, introducing the idea of ??a party
workers, laborers emerge with the advent
the Russian Revolution, which by a knowledge of what
occurred and the consequences of the counter-revolution
Bolshevik, led to form the Communist Party, which
soon begin to compete with unions
anarchists, with the orientation of the coordinates
Moscow.

In this situation, anarcho-syndicalism faces three
classic enemies: the employers, the state and party
communist. Weakened by constant attacks and
persecutions by these enemies, still manages to
hold, eg, in 1934, there were over 50
Unions associated with the Workers Federation of S?o Paulo
(FOSP) and performed the Battle of Cathedral Square,
confronting fundamentalist and troops of the Armed Forces (the
PM period).

But anarcho-syndicalism worn by repression,
would still have to confront the dictatorship of Get?lio Vargas
that was the height of repression against the movement of
workers against the free trade unions. Having
inspiration in the fascism of Mussolini decreed Vargas
a sequence of steps that would cause impacts
terrible in the middle and revolutionary union free. The
starting with the need to have an authorization
State to operate and regulate a union. The
then arrested unionists considered subversive and
closed all unions that did not conform to new
legislation and opened new unions profile
corporatist, fascist supervised by the State.

Another milestone of dismantling unions
revolutionaries, was the enactment of free CLT, a
straitjacket fascist that lasts until today. Enacted in
May 1, 1943, regulates the work in the country for
satisfy the interests of capital, with the state through
Ministry of Labour, his faithful squire. That
also reconciles Organization guidelines
International Labour Organization (ILO), an arm of capital
international organization within the United Nations
(UN). It's easy to imagine why, after 67 years, and the CLT
practices are steeped in fascist organization
Brazilian labor.

The unfolding of this story can
understand and comprehend contemporary unionism
that all unions formed from reforms
institutional structures, were and are bound to
being instruments, transmission belts of
Fascist corporatism, gagging workers
ballast for keeping the capitalist model work.

Let us look at the formation of the Central
Workers (CUT) to illustrate and justify what
expose.

In the process of political opening, a way that
military found to transfer slowly, the
authorities had confiscated in 1964, and ensure that
all they had done might not be capable of
future cases, as the Amnesty Law, which served
tortured and torturers, creating resentment and
issues that still need to be resolved.

The process of political opening softened the rigid
dictatorial system, providing the conditions for
social movements began again to organize. That
that occurred in the union movement. Were raised
documents across the country through state meetings
and that led to the First National Conference Class
Working (CONCLAT), bringing together the most diverse
groups linked issues of labor,
Where did a Commission pro-Central Unica dos
Workers, leading to Congress Class
Working in 1983, where he finally emerges CUT.

This path was not direct and unambiguous, there
discussions, disagreements and separations, which would give more
late formation CGT (1986). As we described,
during this period the left institutional formed by
Catholic sectors, PT, PCdoB, MR8 and other actors
so hypocritical politicians tried to print a paper
the new center, something that had not, and populism
extending up today. Created aiming to break with the
and corporatist fascist model, focusing on concepts that
signaled by a revolutionary syndicalism in
practice has become a central bureaucratic
institutionalized and reformist.

As we mentioned previously, in
Treasury building, the history of trade unionism in Brazil
revolutionary practice of the early twentieth century was
completely ruled out, leaving the new central use
some slogans of effect, as Lenin had done in
Russian Revolution to attract workers and betrays them
later. Not only the speeches and propaganda made
by "leaders" are in stark CUT
mismatch with its practice reformist and pro-state,
As the structure that remains critical, and the largest
"Trade union in the country." We need not extend this
text the history of other unions. All
have more or less populist speeches, some even
more radical, but all of reformist practices,
bureaucratic government and receiving sums of their relationship
organic with the state. The union tax, tax, logo
mandatory drains annually and encourages workers
maintaining the current system corporatist union.

Unions today

Every union that seeks legality, will be
subjecting the logic model time Getulio
though we have some small advances, roughly
Similarly, the subordination of the Ministry of Labour is
huge. The union fight is done primarily by cool
lawyers.

Some still try to point within that spectrum
some different practices, as scabs / white plate
What are complicit with the system and practice a
result of unionism and labor conciliator. Not
There is a deepening of the issues of workers,
remained superficial and always seeking the path of
According to the employer. It is seen as an extension of the employer
work in harmony.

Moreover, there are those who practice a
corporate unionism, seeking above all, resolve
and generate gains for the category in which they are linked
detriment of the others. It's what we consider a
unionism "selfish", which sees only its own cause and only
seeks to satisfy the interests of its category. A
especially result of unionism.

We practice trade union said "resistance" with a bias
radical and a discourse of "class struggle", which uses the
union structure to maintain a power struggle
a political class and the state apparatus in
marxist?ides molds. But there is no confusion, if
maintains the official union structure, seek
legality by recognizing the State
which control aspire to practice
programs supposedly "revolutionary".

And finally, the revolutionary unions. And it is by
a simple question: are constructed without
consent of the State, without the blessing of the boss, seeking
the legitimacy of fact among the workers,
ignoring existing structures addicted: no
a board made no union dues,
no union officials, there is no
structure of privileges, the construction work is all
and according to the words of the International:
"The emancipation of the oppressed and exploited is
work of their own oppressed and exploited. "

In this sense, contrasts with the other
union practices, using the means union
to favor their own interests. The
revolutionary syndicalism is anarcho-signer
unionism, the COB, 1906, reborn
today with the proposals of large fight,
leading to have a much greater interaction with
social movements, incidentally, bringing the concept
union struggles of our people in order to
strengthen all social struggles. Searching for each
the composition of a worker collective energy of
a union truly free, legitimate,
by well known revolutionary
being and freedom, the slogans of yesteryear
revived the fervor of the fight.