THE 1917 General Strike it was a movement provoked by the workers and merchants of São Paulo in the months of June and July.
Workers asked for better working conditions and higher wages. After five days of general stoppage, the strikers had their demands met.
Aspect of a factory in São Paulo in the 10's.
Historical context
At the end of the 19th century, with the Second Industrial Revolution, the working class of countries like England, Spain and Germany, organized to pressure the bosses to guarantee decent working conditions.
However, problems were not always resolved peacefully. As an example we have the Tragic Week in Barcelona, 1909, when the striking workers were massacred by the government.
In 1917, the world was experiencing the First World War that was causing economic and social damage in European countries. Likewise, he witnessed the takeover of power by socialists and communists in Russia.
In turn, Brazil was experiencing a period of economic instability caused by food shortages and, consequently, inflation.
The first factories in Brazil began to open, attracting peasants who sought better opportunities for wages and life in the city. The working conditions in these factories were the worst possible. There was no labor legislation, working hours lasted up to 16 hours a day, women and children did heavy work and labor issues were resolved with the police.
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Organization of the Workers' Movement in Brazil
The workers, in the First Republic, were organized in state unions.
The only entity at the national level was the Confederação Operária Brasileira founded in 1906, on the initiative of the unions of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Pernambuco and Bahia.
There were also “Mutual Socorro Societies” and “Beneficial Funds” which had a social character. These institutions guaranteed medical assistance and compensation for work accidents to their members.
The scenario changed when Italian and Spanish immigrants, who came to work in São Paulo factories, began to spread the anarchist and socialist principles through workers' newspapers.
In them, they called attention to the need for organization and mobilization of workers, in order to achieve labor rights.
Cover of the newspaper A Gazeta of July 9, 1917 announcing the strike.
The Beginning of the Strike
The stoppage began at the Crespi factory, which employed 2000 workers, in the Moca neighborhood. The workers asked for a salary increase, a reduction in the working day, a ban on child labor and female work at night.
This movement spreads to other factories in the neighborhood, causing more workers to join. Inspired by the anarchist ideas disseminated by journalist Edgar Leuenroth, workers hold their first rallies in neighborhoods and public squares.
Throughout the month of June, several factories join the strike. On July 8, the Strike Committee, proposed by the anarchists, is created. The next day, the police kill the Spanish shoemaker José Martinez and cause a revolt among the strikers.
On July 12th, the strike was called. São Paulo dawns with factories, businesses and transport stopped. Faced with strong police repression, workers refuse to negotiate directly with bosses and journalists are responsible for forming an intermediary commission.
After arduous negotiations, the workers won a 20% salary increase, the right to association and the non-dismissal of those involved in the strike. On July 16, a rally held at Largo da Concordia, decreed the end of the first general strike in Brazil.
Consequences
The 1917 General Strike left its marks among Brazilian urban workers. In this way, we can quote:
- the Brazilian working class acquires class consciousness;
- the first unions are developed from the neighborhood class leagues;
- dissemination and strengthening of leftist ideas in Brazil;
- the resolution of social conflicts should not be resolved through the police.
