Second Vargas government: time of crisis and tension

O second Vargas government is known as the democratic government of Getulio Vargas and it began in 1951, when Vargas was sworn in as president. This government had as great marks the permanent political crisis and social tension caused by the country's political and economic crisis. Due to the great pressure exerted on Getúlio Vargas, he committed suicide in August 1954.

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Formation of the Fourth Republic

The second government of Getúlio Vargas is part of a period of our history known as Fourth Republic (1946-1964). This period, in turn, only began when Vargas himself was forced to resign in 1945. From there, it was necessary to build a democracy for Brazil – the first of its history.

New political parties were formed, and a presidential election was organized, still in 1945. the general Eurico Gaspar Dutra was elected president, and a newConstitution was enacted in 1946. Despite so many changes underway, Vargas remained an influential figure in our politics.

Between 1946 and 1949, Vargas remained present in politics, once if elected senator by Rio Grande do Sul after running for the Social Democratic Party (PSD). During this period, he reconciled his functions as a senator with rest periods at his residence, in Rio de Grande do Sul, and with the assembly of a political strategy to return to power as soon as possible possible.

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1950 Election

Vargas ran for president in the 1950 election. Vargas' strategy was perfect and gave him a big advantage over his opponents. First, Vargas sought support from important people and that they would guarantee him a large amount of votes, as his alliance with Ademar de Barros, very strong populist politician in São Paulo.

Furthermore, Vargas sought to make alliances with members of PSD and even allied with members of the National Democratic Union (UDN), openly anti-Vargist party. He ran for the Brazilian Labor Party (PTB) and faced Cristiano Machado (PSD) and Eduardo Gomes (UDN).

In the campaign, he defended a social welfare policy, with the expansion of benefits for workers, and defended the industrialization prioritization to promote Brazil's economic development. Vargas also knew how to shape his speech for each place in the country he passed and say what people wanted to hear.

The result of the excellent campaign strategy could not have been different: Vargas won by a large advantage his opponents and got 48.7% of the votes. With that, he guaranteed – this time in a democratic way – his return to the presidency.

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How was the second Vargas government?

Vargas' second government was marked by strong political crisis and a lot of social tension. This was the result of the intransigent posture of the UDN, which provided fierce opposition to the government and contributed to curbing Vargas' governability. Social tension, in turn, resulted from the political crisis, but also from the problems facing the Brazilian economy.

• political crisis

Vargas' visit to Minas Gerais a few days before committing suicide, in 1954. [1]

In the political crisis, it is important to emphasize the role of the UDN in making the situation unsustainable so that Vargas could govern. One of the great names of the udenista opposition was the journalist Carloslacerda, who defended the idea of ​​“recurring to the revolution to prevent Vargas from governing”|1|.

The political crisis focused on a central issue in the Brazilian political debate at the time – the path to economic development of Brazil. There were two openly opposing trends for the country's growth: one was more nationalist, and the other, a posture more liberal.

The nationalists defended that the country's development should pass through the actions of state-owned companies that would explore resources and fundamental areas of the economy. In addition, the influence of foreign capital should be limited through the State intervention in the economy. The liberal proposal defended that Brazilian development should be carried out with the use of foreign capital, and State intervention in the economy should be limited as much as possible.

Getúlio Vargas tended towards the proposal developmental-nationalist, and the government action that had the greatest repercussion was the proposal to create a state-owned company to explore oil and another to produce electricity - the Petrobras and the Eletrobras, respectively. Petrobras ended up being founded in a climate of great national mobilization, while the Eletrobras project did not advance.

The fact that Vargas was in the presidency and his record of a policy close to the workers already displeased the country's elite. This dissatisfaction only increased with the president's measures in the economy. State intervention and government action to withdraw foreign investment in key areas harmed the interests of powerful groups, which turned against the government.

Vargas tried to get around this situation by trying to get closer to the big parties in Brazil. He was linked to the PTB, had a lot of support in the PSD and tried to secure support from the UDN. The situation angered many PTB and PSD politicians, and the situation got out of Vargas' control. Who took advantage of this situation was the UDN itself, which managed to strengthen itself and stopped the government.

The debates and division of the country were so great that even the army split, especially on the issue of the country's development policy. This split in the Army undermined Vargas' support in power, since the Army was a key figure at that time to ensure the maintenance of governments.

The attacks that were carried out on Vargas focused on the corruption issue, with accusations that the government was corrupt, but they also took advantage of the fear that existed in the country regarding the communism. With that, Vargas was accused of trying to build a “syndicalist republic”, similar to what happened in the peronist argentina.

In addition to the Army and the UDN, the brazilian press also acted openly for to destabilize the government of Getúlio Vargas. Newspapers like The state of Sao Paulo, The globe and Press Tribune they were constantly criticizing. Everything got worse with the discovery of loans granted to a situationist newspaper (which supported the government) called “Última Hora”, which led to the opening of a CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Survey). The press widely exploited the issue as a demonstration of government corruption.

• social tension

THE voltageSocial it also strongly marked that government, especially from 1952 onwards. This tension was, in part, influenced by the political crisis and for the attacks Vargas suffered, but its main cause was the economic crisis. The factor that weighed most was the increase in cost of living.

The situation in Rio de Janeiro, for example, can be a good indication of this situation, as the cost of living had increased by 11% in 1950, 11% in 1951 and 21% in 1952|2|. This all still echoed in the fact that the worker had not had a salary adjustment since 1943, which represented the loss of his purchasing power.

One increasesalary had been determined at the end of 1951, but it was not enough to allay the dissatisfaction of the population. As the unions in that government were reorganized, the mobilization of workers was certain and, thus, demonstrations demanding wage improvements began to take place in the country.

Social tension reached its peak in 1953, and two great moments were the Empty Pots March and the300 thousand strike, both in March 1953. The size of the mobilizations sent a clear message to Vargas: he was losing the support of the workers. To prevent this from happening, Vargas dared and named JoãoGoulart(a figure who had a good relationship with the unions) for the Ministry of Labor.

The critical situation in which the Brazilian economy he found himself was the result of a combination of events. The high price of coffee filled the country with foreign exchange (dollar) and left our trade balance positive, but the fear that the Korean War if it went on for many years, the government spent much more than it should on importing goods for industrialization, leaving the trade balance negative.

Another important factor for the Brazil's economic crisis at the time it was the end of an important economic stimulus given by the United States. This happened because there was a change of interests in the American government. First, the beginning of the Korean War caused the country to reallocate resources invested in Brazil to prevent the advance of communism in Asia. In addition, the new US government (of President Eisenhower), for ideological reasons, did not think it feasible to carry out economic investments in Latin American countries, such as Brazil.

Also access: Understand why the Fourth Republic was ended with a military coup

• The question of the minimum wage

João Goulart, known as Jango, was a promising member of the PTB and close to Getúlio Vargas. known for having a good relationship with unionism and by good negotiation skills, João Goulart was appointed as Minister of Labor with the role of bringing urban workers closer to the government. Goulart managed to have some success and brought the workers closer to the government, but the middle class distanced itself.

This happened because JoãoGoulart was not a popular figure in the middle class, who considered him an “agitator” and thus his nomination to the Ministry of Labour reinforced the fears of this class in relation to the establishment of a union republic in Brazil. The UDN, realizing this fear, began to constantly attack the minister of labor.

To aggravate Vargas' situation, João Goulart proposed the increase in the minimum wage by 100%. This proposal, when announced, enraged the military, the press and the UDN. The pressure on Vargas was so great that it led him to negotiate with Jango himself for his resignation from the Ministry of Labor.

The group most dissatisfied with Vargas was the Army, who considered their salaries low and feared that the salary increase would reduce the existing differences between the unskilled working class and the qualified military.

Jango's resignation was intended to contain opposition groups' dissatisfaction, but Vargas went further and placed in the Ministry of War an anti-communist military. The aim was to keep the military under control. Anyway, even under pressure, Vargas maintained his position and guaranteed a 100% salary increase.

• Tonelero Street attack

The situation in 1954 was very complicated and Vargas faced serious problems in the economy, the workers continued to be dissatisfied and the opposition remained relentless. The accusations popped up, and one of them spoke of the formation of an economic cooperation agreement between Brazil and Argentina and Chile – ABC Pact.

The possibility of bringing the country closer frightened the middle class and the elite of Brazil. Even without Vargas having proposed any kind of rapprochement with Argentina, his government was attacked for it. Another situation that Vargas had to work around that year was the attempt to impeachment – the proposal was barred in Congress.

Another sign of the government's critical situation was the “Colonels' Manifesto”, a document signed by 82 colonels and lieutenant colonels during the crisis about the increase in the minimum wage. The document openly attacked the Vargas government and demonstrated that possibility of a military coup against the government existed.

The government's critical situation worsened when, in August 5, 1954, one attemptinmurder happened during the Tonelero Street attack. O target was Carlos Lacerda, the biggest name of the opposition. The journalist was slightly injured, but one of his bodyguards, Air Force Major Rubens Vaz, died. The crisis that hit the government left the situation unsustainable.

Investigations found that the client of the crime had been Gregory Fortunato, O presidential palace security chief. The allegations also found that Gregório Fortunato was involved in a major corruption scheme. None of the accusations, however, indicated the president's involvement.

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• Vargas' suicide

Vargas' funeral in São Borja, Rio Grande do Sul.[1]

On August 23, the vice president Café Filho openly broke up with Vargas and reinforced the president's isolation. The military and the UDN demanded Vargas' immediate resignation, and the military did so in a document known as “Manifest to the Nation”, on the 24th of August. Finally, Vargas received an ultimatum from the military.

On the same day, in his room located at Palácio do Catete, Vargas committed suicide by shooting his own heart. A testament letter was written by the president, defending the achievements of his government. The population's reaction was of commotion and thousands of people attended Vargas' funeral.

The commotion of the people turned to fury, and the targets were the opponents of the government. The American embassy was attacked, and the big name of the opposition, Carlos Lacerda, had to flee the country in a hurry and only returned when tempers had calmed. With Vargas' suicide, coffee son assumed the presidency.

Image credit

[1] FGV/CPDOC

Grades

|1| SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz and STARLING, Heloísa Murgel. Brazil: A Biography. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2015, p. 403.
|2| SKIDMORE, Thomas. AND. Brazil: from Getúlio to Castello 1930-1964. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2010, p. 151.

By Daniel Neves
Graduated in History