The Prestes Column or Coluna Miguel Costa Prestes, represented one of the tenentist movements of a political-military nature, which took place between 1925 and 1927, in the period known as the “Old Republic”, during the government of President Artur Bernardes.
Main Objectives
Coluna Prestes defended, among other things, educational reform (access to public and primary education), social reform (abolishing social inequality), political reform (democracy and secret voting), freedom of the media and the end exploitation of the colonels, as well as the "halter vote" (open vote) system.
In addition, the lieutenants, formed mostly by the military (especially captains and lieutenants), were dissatisfied with the forms of government, and demanded the removal of the president as well as the end of the rural oligarchies (agrarian elites) that dominated the country's political scene. .
Since then, several military uprisings have been carried out since 1924, with emphasis on the Copacabana Revolt of the 18th, the 1924 Revolution, the Manaus Commune and the Prestes Column.
To learn more:República Velha, Coronelismo and Voto de Cabresto
Formation of the Prestes Column
A group formed by paulistas and gauchos, where the former started a military movement known as the "1924 Revolution", which took place in São Paulo, led by General Isidoro Dias Lopes and Miguel Costa; and so, when fleeing the capital of São Paulo, troops from the south joined forces, led by Luís Carlos Prestes (Head of State), Siqueira Campos and João Alberto.
Thus, the military of the two states met in Paraná and decided to go together in the march that became known as “Coluna Prestes” and thus, reach their main objective:the overthrow of the government.
This is how around 1,500 men left the city of Alegrete (Rio Grande do Sul) and for 29 months traveled around 25,000 kilometers in the interior of Brazil (crossing 11 states:Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piauí, Maranhão, Ceará, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte ), on foot or on horseback, making political propaganda, promoting rallies, presenting their proposals and ideals and, still, defeating the legalist forces of the government in several uprisings carried out, the quasi used deception tactics.
Although Coluna Prestes lasted about two and a half years, the main objective of the tenentistas was not achieved and the movement fell apart, the march being concluded in February 1927, in Bolivia and its leaders ended up in exile.
Unsurprisingly, the Coluna Prestes, held from July 1924 to March 1927, was fundamental for the movement that would later take place called the 1930 Revolution and the arrival of Getúlio in power, thus culminating in the end of the Old Republic. Among the movement's leaders:Miguel Costa went into exile in Argentina, while Luís Carlos Prestes remained in Bolivia and then in Argentina.
To learn more:Tenentismo, Forte de Copacabana Revolt, Revolution of 1930, Luís Carlos Prestes, Olga Benário Prestes
Curiosities
- The group of the tenentista movement was formed by lieutenants, sergeants, corporals, soldiers, politicians, civil servants, small landowners, workers in general; and, still, some women came to participate in the march. It had a fixed core of 200 men and the maximum number of supporters was 1,500 people, although it fluctuated a lot.
- The “Memorial da Coluna Prestes”, located in the city of Santo Ângelo, in Rio Grande do Sul, is the place where Luís Carlos Prestes planned the march to the north of the country. The site, designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer, houses the museum dedicated to the Coluna Prestes movement, which will open at the end of 2014.
- Through the Coluna ready movement, one of its leaders, Luís Carlos Prestes, became known as the “Knight of Hope” as he denounced poverty, the abuse of colonels and the social inequality generated by the concentrated power in the hands of the country's agrarian elite.