Plínio Salgado | |
|---|---|
 Plínio Salgado in 1959 | |
| President of theBrazilian Integralist Action | |
| In office February 28, 1934 – December 2, 1937 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Member of theChamber of Deputies | |
| In office March 18, 1963 – February 2, 1975 | |
| Constituency | São Paulo |
| In office February 2, 1959 – March 18, 1963 | |
| Constituency | Paraná |
| State Deputy of São Paulo | |
| In office July 15, 1927 – October 24, 1930 | |
| Constituency | At-large |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1895-01-22)January 22, 1895 São Bento do Sapucaí,São Paulo, Brazil |
| Died | December 8, 1975(1975-12-08) (aged 80) |
| Political party | |
| Spouses | |
| Occupation | Author, journalist, politician, and theologian |
Plínio Salgado (Portuguese:[ˈplĩnjusawˈɡadu]; January 22, 1895 – December 8, 1975) was a Brazilian politician, writer, journalist, and theologian. He founded and ledBrazilian Integralist Action, a political party inspired by thefascist regime ofBenito Mussolini.
Initially a supporter of thedictatorship led byGetúlio Vargas, he was later persecuted and exiled in Portugal for promotingan uprising against the government. After his return, he launched thePopular Representation Party, and was elected to representParaná in theChamber of Deputies in 1958, being re-elected in 1962, this time to representSão Paulo. He was also a candidate in the1955 presidential election, securing 8.28% of the votes. After the1964coup d'état, which led to the extinction of political parties, he joined theNational Renewal Alliance, obtaining two terms in the Chamber of Deputies. He retired from politics in 1974, just a year before his death.
Born in the small conservative town ofSão Bento do Sapucaí in theSão Paulo state, Plínio Salgado was the son of Colonel Francisco das Chagas Salgado, a local political leader, and Ana Francisca Rennó Cortez, a teacher. A very active child at school, he had special interest formathematics andgeometry. After the loss of his father, at the age of 16, which is said to have made him a bitter young man, his interests shifted towardspsychology andphilosophy.
At the age of 20, Salgado founded and directed the weekly newspaperCorreio de São Bento.[1] In 1918, he began his political life by taking part in the foundation of a party calledPartido Municipalista.[1] This party congregated town leaders from municipalities in theParaíba Valley region, and advocated municipal autonomy.
Also in that year, Salgado married Maria Amélia Pereira, and on July 6, 1919, his only daughter Maria Amélia Salgado was born. Fifteen days after giving birth to the couple's daughter, Salgado's wife, Maria Amélia died. Filled with sorrow, Plínio left his original study ofmaterialist philosophers, and found comfort in theRoman Catholic theology, and began to study the works of Brazilian Catholic thinkers, such as Raimundo Farias Brito and Jackson Figueiredo.[1] The death of his wife had a great impact on the course of Salgado's life. He would only marry again 17 years later, to Carmela Patti.
Through his articles inCorreio de São Bento, Salgado became known by fellow journalists inSão Paulo, and in 1920 was invited to work there inCorreio Paulistano, the official newspaper of theRepublican Party of São Paulo, where he became a friend of poetMenotti del Picchia.[1] He was a prominent participant in theModern Art Week in 1922, leading the "Nationalists", who wanted no foreign influences and sought a "purely Brazilian" form of art, against the "Anthropophagics", who synthesized a new art from foreign influences.[1]
He published his first novel,The Stranger in 1926.[1] After that, alongsideCassiano Ricardo, del Picchia and Cândido Mota Filho, he launched theGreen-Yellow movement, anationalistic group insideModernist movement.[1] The following year, also alongside del Picchia and Ricardo, Salgado launched theAnta movement, which exalted theindigenous peoples, particularly theTupi, as the true carriers of the Brazilian identity.[1]
That same year, he published his bookLiterature and Politics, in which he defended nationalistic ideas with a strong anti-liberal and pro-latifundia stance, inspired byAlberto Torres and Oliveira Viana.[1] His shift tofar right-wing politics led Ricardo to launch theFlag movement, asocial-democratic breakaway from theGreen-Yellow andAnta movements.[2][3][4]
In 1930, Salgado supported the presidential candidacy ofJúlio Prestes againstGetúlio Vargas.[1] At that time, during a trip toEurope, he became impressed withBenito Mussolini'sFascist movement inItaly.[1] After his return to Brazil, on October 4, 1930, a day after the beginning of the1930 Revolution which deposed PresidentWashington Luís, Salgado wrote two articles inCorreio Paulistano defending Luís's administration.[1] Nevertheless, with the victory of the revolutionaries, he began to support the Vargas regime.[1]
In the newspaperA Razão, founded by Alfredo Egidio de Souza Aranha, Salgado developed an intense campaign against theconstitutionalization of Brazil.[1] As such, he drew the ire of anti-dictatorship activists, who burned down the newspaper's office just before the outbreak of theConstitutionalist Revolution.[1]
At the height of the Vargas dictatorship, Salgado created the Society for Political Studies, which gathered together intellectuals sympathetic to Fascism.[1] Months later, he released theOctober Manifesto, which provided the guidelines of a new political party, theBrazilian Integralist Action.[1]
Salgado adapted virtually allFascist symbols and forms of organization, such as a paramilitary organization with green-shirted uniformed ranks,[1] highly regimented street demonstrations, and aggressive rhetoric, although he publicly rejected racism. The movement was directly financed, in part, by the Italian embassy. TheRoman salute was accompanied by the screaming of theTupi wordAnauê, which means "you are my brother," while the Greek letter sigma (Σ) served as the movement's official symbol.[1] Even though Salgado himself was never an anti-Semite, many of the party members adopted anti-semitic views.
Integralist Action drew its support from lower middle classItalian immigrants, a large part of thePortuguese community, lower middle class Brazilians, and military officers, especially in theNavy. As the party grew, Vargas turned to Integralism as his only mobilized base of support on the right wing, which was elated by his Fascist-style crackdown against the Brazilian left. In 1934, Salgado's movement targeted theCommunist Party, then under the leadership ofLuís Carlos Prestes, as an underground party, mobilizing a conservative support base to engage in street brawls and urban terrorism.
On 1937, Salgado launched his presidential candidacy for the general elections scheduled to take place in January 1938.[1] Aware of Vargas' intention to cancel the election and remain in power, he supported hisEstado Novo coup, hoping to make Integralism the doctrinal basis of the new regime,[1] as Vargas had promised him the office of the Minister of Education.[5] The President, however, banned the Integralist party, treating it the same way he had treated other political parties after transforming Brazil into a one-party state.[1]
In 1938, Integralist militants tried twice, in the months of March and May, to promote uprisings against Vargas.[1] Despite denying involvement in the events,[5] Salgado was arrested after the May uprising and was imprisoned in the 17th-centurySanta Cruz Fortress inNiterói,Rio de Janeiro. About a month later, he was sent to a six-year exile in Portugal.[1] During that period, he persistently sought to rehabilitate himself with the Brazilian regime, praising it in several manifestos, including its decision to declare war against Germany and Italy.[5]
Salgado returned to Brazil in 1945, with the end of theEstado Novo regime, and then founded theParty of Popular Representation, reformulating the integralist doctrine.[1] Still driven by the ambition of becoming president, Salgado ran for presidency under the banner of his new party in 1955 but finished last, obtaining just 8% of the votes (around 714,000 votes).[1] Then he supported the inauguration of President-electJuscelino Kubitschek, challenged by theNational Democratic Union, and was named to head the National Institute for Immigration and Colonization.[5]
Salgado was elected to representParaná in theChamber of Deputies in 1958.[1] He would be re-elected in 1962, this time to represent theSão Paulo state.[1]
In 1964, he was one of the speakers at the March of Family with God for Freedom rally inSão Paulo against PresidentJoão Goulart.[1] Salgado supported the1964coup d'état which overthrew Goulart and, with the introduction of thetwo-party system, he joined theNational Renewal Alliance Party, obtaining two terms as aSão Paulo deputy.
Salgado died in São Paulo on 9 December 1975, aged 80.[6] He is buried atMorumbi Cemetery.[7]
