Capítulos do antifascismo brasileiro: Frente Única Antifascista e Aliança Nacional Libertadora (1933-1935)

Abstract

This dissertation intends to investigate the meanings of fascism and antifascism developed by two self-proclaimed antifascist organizations which existed in Brazil between 1933 and 1935: the Frente Única Antifascista and the Aliança Nacional Libertadora. The first few years of the 1930’s were marked by the worldwide spread of fascism which followed the nazi rise to power in Germany. In Brazil, Integralism, the biggest fascist mass movement in Latin America, also grew and began to conquer the nation’s public spaces. This growth of Brazilian fascism, along with the frantic political life in post-1930 Brazil, led to a reaction from left-wing sectors, which formed several antifascist fronts. Although these groups had different forms of organization and different views on the specificity of the fascist phenomenon, both aimed for the coalescence of distinct political forces through the use of multiple tactics, such as printed press, speeches and counter-demonstrations. Through both the analysis of these organizations’ newspapers and of the memoirists who privileged certain moments of Brazilian antifascism, we aimed to comprehend how the concepts of fascism and antifascism were actively built by the antifascist militants and how these chapters of the history of antifascism in Brazil may help reflect on the present-day political struggles.