A política de modernização da produção algodoeira na Paraíba: progresso, trabalho e dependência (1935-1960)

Abstract

Paraíba, for several periods of its history, had in cotton the great product of its economy, which made that the state also underwent influences of the economic strategies of companies originating from countries central in the dynamics of the capitalist economy world-wide. In the government of Argemiro de Figueirêdo (1935-1940) a strong agricultural policy would be implemented that would emphasize the modernization of cotton cultivation and its processing plants. During this period, there was a strong incentive to the entry of foreign companies cotton (ACCO and SANBRA), which had an impact on the social relations of production in Paraíba. In order to implement such measures, a whole discourse was formulated by the public opinion bodies that sought to demonstrate the effectiveness of the state's agricultural policy. The municipality of Ingá came to be regarded as a great success model of this policy, which promised economic and social progress to all the paraibanos through the modernization of cotton production. In order to evaluate the results of this "progress", other politicians, such as Ruy Carneiro (1940-1945), came on the scene, judging and pointing out the situation in which Paraíba was. And in the midst of this process were the foreign trusts, the small and large farmers, the landowners, the cotton merchants, and the factory workers, whose interests sometimes rivaled each other, in spite of the speeches that underlined the common benefits to all the paraibanos. It is then necessary to analyze what impasses this process has brought to the various social classes during and post-politics agricultural of modernization of cotton production in Paraíba.