Surveilled struggles: worker militancy, corporate retaliation and repression (Brazil, Vale do Paraíba, 1979-1994)

Author(s)

Richard de Oliveira Martins

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
• Defense date: 2020-12-04

Examining board members

Claudio Henrique de Moraes Batalha; Ana Beatriz Ribeiro Barros Silva; Fernando Teixeira da Silva; Pedro Henrique Pedreira Campos; Victoria Basualdo

• Advisor: Claudio Henrique de Moraes Batalha

Abstract

This thesis addresses the experiences of work, union organization and the political struggles that took place in the valley of the Paraíba do Sul River (Vale do Paraíba), with emphasis on the metalworkers of São José dos Campos/SP and Volta Redonda/RJ, between 1979 and 1994, paying attention to the various forms of corporate retaliation and state repression directed against those workers and their mobilizations. We argue that a specific repressive model was established in that context, coordinating actions of the state's military apparatus and private factory security services, maximizing surveillance and control over workers' activities, especially those of their unions and political parties. The implementation of this repressive model, which was directly opposed to the high levels of worker's organization and activism, in the midst of the crisis of the entrepreneurial-military dictatorship and the "redemocratization" process, makes the case of the Vale do Paraíba region especially interesting for those who seek to comprehend the contradictions that permeate the so-called "political transitions". Thus, we discuss the experiences and perceptions of the repression manifested by workers who took part in the processes ranging from the outbreak of a cycle of strikes in that region, in 1979, to the wave of privatizations of state-owned companies, in the early 1990's, analyzing the forms of violence directed against the metalworkers in that period, both in the daily routine of the factories and in the context of their mobilizations. Finally, we also deal with the disputes surrounding the historical meanings attributed to the process of "political opening" in Brazil and the actions of working class organizations in recent struggles for public memory (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/05888-8 - The experiences of industrial workers under the repression: Vale do Paraíba, Brazil, 1979-1994
• Grantee: Richard de Oliveira Martins
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate