“There is no memory of a rally that brought together such a compact crowd,” wrote Correio da Manhã. The newspaper referred to the event on January 2, 1930 in Rio de Janeiro, which featured the most anticipated speaker.
Although Getúlio was little known among the people of Rio, the population was curious to learn about the Liberal Alliance platform, which was opposed to the group at the head of the country in previous decades.
The gaucho was a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic for the coalition and, for the first time, the proposals of a candidate for the position were detailed in an open-air event. Until then, everything was discussed in offices.
Getúlio was defeated by government leader Júlio Prestes in the election in March of that year. Seven months later, as is known, a coup brought him to power. It was the
The speech to tens of thousands in Rio, a decisive moment in Getúlio’s political rise, is part of “Workers of Brazil! Speeches to the Nation”, a book organized by . The publication will be launched this Wednesday (18), in Brasília.
There are more than 50 speeches, a selection that focuses on the most relevant moments of Getúlio’s political career. There are, for example, his speeches in November 1930, when he took over as head of the provisional government, and in July 1932, when he reacted to the
In the latter, he attacked the leaders of the São Paulo insurrection: “Those who, overriding its definitive verdict, dare to claim the right to speak for it, when they speak only through the voice of their passions, are violating, insulting and bastardizing the country’s sovereign opinion.”
It’s also in “Workers of Brazil!” a speech from November 1937, when he opened the doors to the authoritarianism of. “Between national existence and the situation of chaos, irresponsibility and disorder in which we found ourselves, there could be no middle ground or compromise.”
Lira had shown in the three volumes of her biography the impossibility of accommodating Getúlio within an ideological drawer, a finding that the new book reiterates. “Getúlio was neither a right-winger nor a leftist. He was a Getulista, a pragmatic man, with a very shrewd reading of the scenario”, says the journalist, author of the comments that introduce each of the speeches.
This way of acting stands out, for example, in the statements about Brazil’s position during the . He gave a speech signaling support for the Axis, a group formed by Germany, Italy and Japan, in June 1940. “The time for improvident liberalism has passed”, he said in a message to the USA, a member of the Allies alongside the United Kingdom. Less than two years later, Getúlio bluntly opposed the Nazi-fascist coalition.
Such a degree of pragmatism did not imply, however, the absence of a plan. He was a defender of a strong State, capable of inducing the country’s development.
The book also recalls that the Gaucho leader knew when and how to emphasize criticism of his opponents in order to project himself politically. After the failure of November 1935, he spent the end of that year and the whole of 1936 attacking those who “persist in their diabolical plans”.
In May 1938, to overthrow the dictator. The military prevented the advance of the extreme right and, once again, Getúlio took advantage of the situation. He criticized “the ambition of a group of fanatics driven mad by their obsession with imposing an exotic ideology on the country.”
The book also contains some of the traditional May 1st speeches, occasions in which he announced initiatives such as the setting of the minimum wage and the regulation of .
In the preface, he recalls that, in the 1970s, he considered himself an anti-Getulist, although he recognized the “achievements of the working class in the Vargas Era”. The arbitrary measures of the Estado Novo weighed more heavily in his assessment.
Lula says he changed his opinion after reading Lira’s biography, which led him to understand “the real meaning of Getúlio”, with its complexities, for Brazil.
