Brazilian integralism (Portuguese:integralismo) was a political movement inBrazil, created in October 1932. Founded and led byPlínio Salgado, a literary figure somewhat famous for his participation in the1922 Modern Art Week, the movement had adopted some characteristics ofEuropean mass movements of those times, specifically ofItalian fascism, but distanced itself fromNazism because Salgado himself did not supportracism.[citation needed] He believed that every person of every race should unite under the Integralist flag. Despite the movement's slogan "Union of all races and all peoples", members and leaders likeGustavo Barroso heldanti-Semitic views.[1] The name of the party created to support its doctrine wasBrazilian Integralist Action (Portuguese:Ação Integralista Brasileira, AIB). The reference toIntegralism mirrored a traditionalist movement inPortugal, theLusitanian Integralism. For its symbol, the AIB used a flag with a white disk on aroyal blue background, with an uppercasesigma (Σ) in its center. (In mathematics, sigma indicates a discrete summation of terms, representing the "integration" of all societal elements towards the nation.)[2]
In its outward forms, Integralism was similar toEuropean fascism: a green-shirtedparamilitary organization withuniformed ranks, highly regimented street demonstrations, and rhetoric againstMarxism andliberalism. However, it differed markedly from it in specific ideology: a prolific writer before turning political leader, Salgado interpreted human history at large as an opposition between "materialism"—understood by him as the normal operation ofnatural laws guided by blind necessity—and "spiritualism": the belief in God, in the immortality of the soul, and in the conditioning of individual existence to superior, eternal goals. Salgado advocated, therefore, the harnessing of individual interest to values such as pity, self-donation and concern to others.[3] For him, human history consisted of the eternal struggle of the human spirit against the laws of nature, as expressed by theatheism of modern society in the twin forms ofliberalism andsocialism—capitalist competition leading eventually to the merger of private capitals in a single state-owned economy.[4] Thus the integralists favourednationalism as ashared spiritual identity,[5] in the context of a heterogeneous and tolerant nation influenced byChristian virtues—such virtues being concretely enforced by means of an authoritarian government enforcing compulsory political activity under the guidance of an acknowledged leader.[6]
In particular, they drew support from military officers, especially in theBrazilian Navy.[citation needed]
Integralism being a mass movement, there were marked differences in ideology among its leaders under the influence of various international fascist and quasi-fascist contemporary movements, as in the issue ofanti-Semitism. While Salgado was against it,[citation needed]Gustavo Barroso, the party's chief doctrinaire after Salgado, was known for his militant antisemitic views, becoming notorious for being the author of the first and so far only Portuguese translation ofThe Protocols of the Elders of Zion; he was also the author of various antisemitic works of his own (Judaism, Freemasonry and Communism;Sinagogues in São Paulo).[7] This led to at least two serious ruptures in the movement: one in 1935 and the other, 1936, when Salgado almost renounced leadership of the movement.
One of the most important principles in an Integralist's life was the "Internal Revolution", or "Revolution of the Self", through which a man was encouraged to stop thinking only for himself, and instead start to integrate into the idea of a giant integralist family—becoming one with the Homeland, while also leaving behind selfish and "evil" values.
In the beginning of the 1930s, Brazil went through a strong wave of politicalradicalism. Following theBrazilian Revolution of 1930, the oligarchicFirst Brazilian Republic was overthrown and replaced by the new revolutionary government ofGetúlio Vargas. The new government had a degree of support from workers because of the labor laws he introduced, and competed with theBrazilian Communist Party for working-class support. In the face of communist advances, and at the same time building on his intensive crackdown against the Brazilianleft, Vargas turned to the integralist movement as a single mobilized base ofright-wing support. Withcenter-left factions excluded from the Vargas' coalition and the left crushed, Vargas progressively set out to co-opt the populist movement to attain the widespread support that allowed him eventually (in 1937) to proclaim hisEstado Novo—a corporatist "New State".
Integralism had a rapidly growing membership throughout Brazil by 1935, especially amongGerman Brazilians andItalian Brazilians (approximately two million people), and began to fill this ideological void. In 1934, the Integralists targeted the communist movement ofLuiz Carlos Prestes, mobilizing a conservative base of mass support that engaged in street brawls. In 1934, after Vargas' delicate alliance with labor disintegrated and formed his new alliance with the AIB, Brazil entered one of the most agitated periods in its political history. Brazil's major cities began to resemble 1932–1933Berlin with its street battles between theCommunist Party of Germany and theNazi Party. By mid-1935, Brazilian politics had been drastically destabilized.[citation needed]
When Vargas established fulldictatorial powers under theEstado Novo in 1937, he turned against the integralist movement. Although AIB favored Vargas' hard right turn, Salgado was overly ambitious, with overt presidential aspirations that threatened Vargas' grip on power. In 1938, the Integralists made alast attempt at achieving power, attacking theGuanabara Palace during the night, but police and army troops arrived at the last minute, and the ensuing gunfight ended with around twenty casualties. This attempt was called the Integralist "Pajama Putsch".[8]
The AIB disintegrated after that 1938, and in 1945, when the Vargas dictatorship ended, Salgado founded theParty of Popular Representation (PRP), which maintained the ideology of Integralism, but without the uniforms, salutes, signals, and signs. The various political leaderships raised among Integralism dispersed into various ideological positions during subsequent political struggles. Some former members participated in the 1964military coup that overthrew PresidentJoão Goulart. Other former integralists associated later with the Left, such as Goulart's foreign minister Santiago Dantas, and the Catholic bishop D.Hélder Câmara.[9]
Integralists and former Integralists took a range of positions inside themilitary right-wing dictatorship that followed the1964 Brazilian coup d'état. Plínio Salgado joined theARENA, the pro-military party.Augusto Rademaker andMárcio Melo, former Integralists, were two of the three-memberjunta that briefly ruled Brazil in 1969, in the transition from the second military government ofArtur da Costa e Silva to the third (that ofEmílio Médici). Rademaker was also vice-president of the third military government. He was generally considered one of the most diehard rightists in the contemporary military top brass.[10] Many former Integralists in the military occupied government posts in the second and third military administrations. On the other hand,Dom Hélder Câmara, also a former Integralista, operated at the time was the best-known opponent of the regime.
Today, two small remnant groups in Brazil uphold the strict integralist ideology: the "Frente Integralista Brasileira" (FIB) and the "Movimento Integralista e Linearista Brasileiro" (MIL-B). The FIB has close ties toLevy Fidelix'sBrazilian Labour Renewal Party (PRTB), and supported the successfulJair Bolsonaro 2018 presidential campaign in the second round of the2018 Brazilian presidential election[11] In 2021, FIB leaders joinedRoberto Jefferson'sBrazilian Labor Party (PTB).[12] Previously, many integralists were involved inEnéas Carneiro'sParty of the Reconstruction of the National Order (PRONA), which dissolved in 2006.[13]
On 26 December 2019, a group called the "Popular Nationalist Insurgency Command of the Large Brazilian Integralist Family" claimed responsibility for afirebombing of the headquarters of comedy groupPorta dos Fundos in Rio de Janeiro.[14]
On 30 December 2019, a member of the FIB and formerPatriota and PRONA candidate for Congress, Paulo Fernando Melo da Costa, was appointed as a special advisor toHuman Rights MinisterDamares Alves in the Bolsonaro administration.[15]Sara Winter, a former member of BrazilianFEMEN, who worked in the ministry as national coordinator of maternity policies, while a member of Femen, declared that she sympathized with the ideas of Plínio Salgado, referring to him as a "defender of the country".[16] Also in the Bolsonaro government, Sara was part of the 300 do Brasil group, which had armed members and preached anti-democratic actions like the return ofInstitutional Act Number Five.[17] In her campaign for the Senate in the2022 Brazilian general election in theFederal District, Damares Alves claimed to identify with Integralism.[18]
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