The period of Brazilian history known as old republic, between the years of 1889 and 1930, represented profound changes in the society national, mainly in the composition of the population, in the urban scenario, in social conflicts and in cultural production. It is worth asking here: with such profound changes, what remained of them in current social life?
A change in Old Republic society took place in the economy. Agricultural production was still the economic flagship of the Old Republic and coffee continued to be the main Brazilian export product. But the development of capitalism and the creation of goods that used rubber (such as the automobile) in their manufacture made that latex exploration in the Amazon region developed rapidly, coming to compete with coffee as the main product of export. However, the period of rubber boom was short, as the British managed to produce more efficiently rubber in Asia, displacing Brazilian production.
Another economic aspect of the Old Republic was the beginning of
industrialization in Brazil, mainly in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The capital accumulated with the coffee production made it possible for large farmers to invest in the industry, giving new dynamism to society in these places. São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro underwent profound urbanization, creating avenues, public lighting, public transport (trams), theaters, cinemas and, mainly, moving the poor population away from the centers of cities. But it was not only in these two cities that there were changes, as the same situation was found in Manaus, Belém and cities in the interior of São Paulo, such as Ribeirão Preto and Campinas.This process also included the coming to Brazil of millions of European and Asian immigrants to work both in industries and on large farms. The migratory flow in the Old Republic substantially altered the composition of society, intensifying miscegenation, a fact that, in the eyes of the elites of the country, could lead to a whitening of the population, deepening prejudice against blacks of origin African.
But modernization in the Old Republic also presented social contradictions that resulted in conflicts of various orders. In the cities, workers' movements emerged, driven by European immigrants and their political positions linked mainly to anarchism. It was at this time that a multitude of strike movements emerged for improvements in wage and working conditions, the best known being the 1917 General Strike, in Sao Paulo. In 1922, the Brazilian Communist Party was founded, a consequence of the Russian Revolution. In addition, literate men over the age of 21 are now able to vote in elections.
In the vastness of Brazil's rural interior, messianic movements arose, such as the contested, in the south, and straws, in Bahia, in addition to the appearance of Cangaço, celebrated by the figure of Lamp. Political control of the interior of the country in the Old Republic was in the hands of the colonels, being the halter vote the main feature of colonelism. THE About Column that it traveled thousands of kilometers trying to seek popular support for a social revolution was also a phenomenon of the Old Republic.
In the cultural aspect of society, the cry it's the samba, musical genres that are still part of national popular culture. In the elite, the European influence, mainly French, changed the behavior of rich people, in their way of dressing, speaking and behaving in public, which became known as the belle epoque (Beautiful Season) in Brazil. It also appeared in the Old Republic the 1922 Modern Art Week, animated by several artists such as Villa-Lobos and Mário de Andrade, and who intended to make a cultural anthropophagy, mixing elements of European and Brazilian cultures in artistic production.
By Tales Pinto
Graduated in History