Samuel Duarte

Abstract

One of the most common interpretations of the Revolution of 1930 is that of the subordination of the middle class. It does not matter whether it is a rising middle class, as Hélio Jaguaribe claims, for whom the failed attempt to create a middle class at the beginning of the Republic, with Florianism, ended up crystallized 38 years later, or of the descending intermediate strata, as Raymundo Faoro claims. For him, the primacy of segments of this last type was assimilated by integralism. In an attempt to clarify the social origins of 1930, which have so divided specialists - judging by the multiplicity of explanations noted by Natanael Sarmento (1988, p. 36-74) -, the political scientist from Paraíba Eduardo Raposo sought a more eclectic interpretation. For the author of 1930: six versions and a revolution (2006), the so-called Revolution of 1930 signified the affirmation of a broad segment that sought political control outside the iron framework of the oligarchies of the Old Republic. The heterogeneity of the movement dates from there because, in addition to the emerging middle class of the cities, there was the participation of dissident factions of the oligarchy (Epitácio Pessoa, Borges de Medeiros, Olegário Maciel, Assis Brasil and Francisco Morato with the São Paulo PD): the Gaucho United Front divided between the Maragatos and the positivists of the Castilhista Bloc (Batista Luzardo, Getúlio Vargas, João Neves da Fontoura); young liberal oppositionists (Oswaldo Aranha, Virgílio de Melo Franco, Cristiano Machado, José Américo de Almeida); military personnel of intermediate rank up to lieutenant colonel (Goés Monteiro, Juarez Távora, Cordeiro de Farias, Eduardo Gomes, Juracy Magalhães, Miguel Costa, as colonel of the São Paulo Public Force, Hercolino Cascardo, the brothers Lourenço and Felipe Moreira Lima, Mendonça Lima, Punaro Bley from Espírito Santo); writers and liberal professionals inspired by the workers' issue and the reorganization of the State (Lindolfo Collor, Francisco de Campos, Café Filho, Agamenon Magalhães, Joaquim Pimenta, Pedro Ernesto Batista, Abguar Bastos); industrialists such as Jorge Street, Carlos and Caio de Lima Cavalcante, the Prados of São Paulo; and workers' leaders such as Agripino Nazareth, Carlos Cavaco, Maurício de Lacerda, João Santa Cruz de Oliveira and Cristiano Cordeiro (MELLO, 1992, p. 84 and 154).