The Provisional Government It was the period of the Vargas Era that began in 1930, when Getúlio Vargas ascended to power after the 1930 Revolution, and ended in 1934, when Vargas was indirectly elected president of Brazil for a term of four more years. It was marked by some of the centralizing measures that characterized the Vargas Era.
Summary
Getúlio Vargas assumed the presidency of Brazil after the Revolution of 1930 dismiss Washington Luis of power. This revolution was the result of oligarchic disputes between São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Vargas assumed the presidency in November 1930 in a government that would be provisional, but ended up remaining in power for 15 years.
In the provisional phase, Vargas took the first centralizing measures , weakening the Legislature and strengthening the Executive. At the regional level, he supported his power on the interveners he appointed. He also expanded the bureaucracy apparatus, creating institutions such as the Ministry from Work .
Vargas' authoritarianism and refusal to hold elections generated a reaction in São Paulo that resulted in the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932. After it, a general election was organized and a new Constitution was drafted. to Brazil.
Also see: See how the second government of Getúlio Vargas was like
Characteristics
The Provisional Government incorporated features that can be used to refer to the Vargas Era as a whole. Regarding this period, the following characteristics can be highlighted:
-
Centralization of power :Getúlio Vargas began to take initiatives that weakened the power of the Legislative and strengthened the Executive.
-
Measurements anti-crisis :in the economy, Vargas needed to take measures to reduce the impacts of the 1929 crisis on the Brazilian economy. The main measure was to try to keep the price of coffee valued on the international market.
-
Policy labor :Vargas organized, for example, the creation of the Ministry of Labor and expanded labor legislation, making concessions to expand the rights of the working class.
-
Magnification da bureaucracy :Vargas ordered the creation of institutions that became responsible for essential areas of the country.
-
Negotiation policy :Vargas has already demonstrated his capacity for political negotiation by having the support of oligarchic dissidents (mineiros and gauchos) and tenentistas (groups that were ideologically opposed to the oligarchs).
1930's Revolution and the Provisional Government
Getúlio Vargas' rise to power in Brazil was directly related to the Revolution of 1930. Before becoming president of Brazil, Vargas had been a federal deputy and Minister of Finance. The 1930 Revolution was the result of the dispute between the oligarchies for power added to the effort of a certain group to break the domination of these oligarchies.
The 1920s were a time of crisis for oligarchic politics, as political groups emerged that were scathingly critical of oligarchies. A group highlighted in the criticism of the oligarchies were the tenentistas, a movement that emerged among the young officers of the Brazilian Army. The lieutenants, for example, demanded that elections be held without fraud.
The structure of this policy began to collapse in the nomination of presidential candidates in the 1930 election. President Washington Luís, as established by the Coffee with Milk Policy, should nominate a Minas Gerais candidate for the presidential race (the favorite was Antônio Carlos Ribeiro de Andrada). However, the president ended up appointing the paulista Júlio Ready .
This led to the rupture of the alliance between São Paulo and Minas Gerais. With that, the miners allied themselves with another oligarchy (the gaúcha) and launched an opponent for the dispute against Júlio Prestes:Getúlio Vargas . The ticket of Getúlio Vargas was named Alliance Liberal and had as deputy João Person .
Despite having circulated throughout the country, the Liberal Alliance failed to defeat the São Paulo candidate and, thus, Júlio Prestes was elected president . Part of the ticket, like Getúlio Vargas, accepted defeat and set out to conciliate the elected president who would be sworn in. Another part of the Liberal Alliance, however, did not accept defeat and went into conspiracy.
The conspiracy against Washington Luís and Júlio Prestes only needed a trigger to justify the beginning of an uprising. This trigger was given by João Dantas, who murdered João Pessoa, the vice president of Vargas' ticket, in a bakery in Recife. The motive for the crime was related to the local political dispute in Paraíba and passionate issues.
Although not directly related to the election, the assassination of João Pessoa was used as justification and, on October 3, 1930, a military uprising was organized against Washington Luís. This uprising, known as the 1930 Revolution, relied on oligarchic dissidence (miners and gauchos) and lieutenants. Vargas joined the movement when he realized that it would succeed and could bring him to power.
On October 24th , Washington Luís was deposed from the presidency, the inauguration of Júlio Prestes was prevented and a provisional military junta ruled the country until November 3, 1930, when Getúlio Vargas was appointed president for a transitional government. At that moment, the period of fifteen years in which Getúlio Vargas would govern Brazil began.
Provisional Government Reforms
The name of this period suggests exactly the status that the Vargas government should have had:provisional. The central idea was, starting with the Vargas government, to form a Constituent Assembly to replace the Constitution of 1891 and, shortly thereafter, hold a new presidential election.
Getúlio Vargas, in turn, had other goals as president of Brazil. Consolidating his power and extending his tenure were his main goals. Historian Thomas Skidmore understands that Vargas' stance in centralizing power in the early years of his government was justified by the 1929 Crisis |1| . To combat the crisis, Vargas defended that power should be centralized so that more effective anti-crisis measures could be taken.
Vargas' stance leaned towards authoritarianism, and an example can be seen in the dissolution of the National Congress and the existing Assemblies in the states and municipalities. With the weakening of the Legislature, Vargas' power in Brazilian states was supported by the interventors, people appointed by Vargas himself to govern the states.
Vargas also worked in other areas of the country, expanding the bureaucratic apparatus with the creation of important ministries and institutions, as was the case in the labor area. In November 1930, he created the Ministry from Work and instituted important changes in labor legislation:it regulated the daily workload to eight hours, created the work card and granted the right to vacation, for example |2| .
Vargas' continuity in power and the centralizing measures taken by him generated reactions of dissatisfaction. The biggest reaction came from the state of São Paulo, since the oligarchies of that state were the ones that suffered the most from the consequences of the 1930 Revolution and the rise of Vargas to power.
The biggest demands made to Vargas were for elections to form a Constituent Assembly and, thus, a new presidential election to take place. Vargas tried to circumvent this dissatisfaction by enacting in early 1932 a Code Electoral, that brought considerable changes to the Brazilian electoral system.
This Electoral Code drastically reduced the chances of electoral fraud happening as in the period of the First Republic. With this code, voting became secret, the Electoral Justice was created to regulate this area, voting became mandatory and women were granted universal suffrage.
Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932
These measures taken by Vargas were not enough to reduce São Paulo's dissatisfaction with the government. The Paulistas found in the constitutionalist cause the way to contest Vargas in power, but other reasons were also raised.
Paulistas were dissatisfied with the interveners who were appointed to the state and required an interventor who was from São Paulo and also a civilian. There was also the coffee issue, as Vargas made the management of the coffee business a federal responsibility. This happened with the creation of the National Coffee Council in 1932.
All this caused dissatisfaction in São Paulo. An opposition movement was gaining strength and took on an air of separatism. The Paulistas hoped to have the support of miners and gauchos (also dissatisfied with Vargas), but when the rebellion broke out on July 9, 1932 , the Paulistas fought alone. This rebellion in São Paulo was called the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932.
There was considerable mobilization of São Paulo society, with voluntary enlistment, women donating jewelry so that they could be used to acquire weapons, etc. The fight, however, did not last long. The Paulistas were defeated after almost three months of fighting. On October 1st, they surrendered to the government.
Vargas took energetic measures to arrest and exile the leaders of the movement, but he also gave in to some demands of the Paulistas. Thus, a civil servant from São Paulo was appointed to the intervention and the government promised to hold an election for the formation of a Constituent in 1933.
Also see: See the coup that preserved the continuity of democratic legality in Brazil
1934 Constitution
The Provisional Government ended when the new Constitution was promulgated in 1934. The new Constitution was inspired by the German Constitution of the Weimar Republic period. Thomas Skidmore says that the 1934 Constitution “was a mixture of political liberalism and socio-economic reformism|3| .
This Constitution also angered Vargas because it was quite liberal and because it put an end to his career as president of Brazil. With the promulgation of the Constitution, Vargas was indirectly re-elected president of Brazil, but in 1938 he would have to hand over power to another politician, since he was prevented from running for reelection.
|1| SKIDMORE, Thomas E. A History of Brazil. Rio de Janeiro:Peace and Earth, 1998, p. 155.
|2| SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz and STARLING, Heloísa Murgel. Brazil:A Biography. São Paulo:Companhia das Letras, 2015, p. 362.
|3| SKIDMORE, Thomas E. A History of Brazil. Rio de Janeiro:Peace and Earth, 1998, p. 157.