Revolts of 1923–1924

Political and economic unrest sparked revolts in Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo in 1923 and 1924. When the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Antônio Augusto Borges de Medeiros, ran for a fifth consecutive term, his opponents united in the Liberation Alliance to support the candidacy of Joaquim Francisco de Assis Brasil. Borges apparently garnered the requisite three-quarters of the popular vote, but the Libertadores claimed fraud, and on inauguration day (25 January 1923), uprisings erupted throughout the state. The unrest was resolved in December 1923 with the Pact of Pedras Altas, a compromise that maintained Borges's right to the governorship while granting some concessions to the opposition. Discontent continued to simmer, nonetheless, especially in the state's outlying areas.

On 5 July 1924, the second anniversary of the Tenentes' Revolt, military officers who remained unhappy with the political preeminence of Brazil's coffee elite represented by President Artur da Silva Bernardes rebelled in several states. They were most successful in São Paulo, where they captured and held the state capital for almost three weeks before fleeing into the interior. By late 1924 the rebel forces, under the leadership of Isidoro Dias Lopes, had moved into the state of Paraná, where they controlled the towns of Guaíra, Foz do Igaçu, and Catanduvas. Meanwhile, rebellion erupted once again in Rio Grande do Sul, this time in army garrisons of the Missões district. The Paulistas found support for their movement in Luis Carlos Prestes, a young captain at the time, who linked Rio Grande's revolt to that of São Paulo. Many gaucho rebels, when forced into flight by government forces, joined Isidoro Dias Lopes's troops in Paraná. Following the fall of Catanduvas, the center of the rebellion, on 27 March 1925, leaders agreed to carry the struggle to overthrow Bernardes to the more remote interior. Thus began the three-year march of the Prestes Column through the backlands of Brazil.

See alsoTenentismo .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

E. Bradford Burns, A History of Brazil (1970).

Joseph L. Love, Rio Grande do Sul and Brazilian Regionalism, 1882–1930 (1971).

Edgard Carone, Revoluções do Brasil contemporâneo, 1922–1938 (1975).

Ronald M. Schneider, "Order and Progress": A Political History of Brazil (1991).

Additional Bibliography

Antonacci, Maria Antoneta. RS, as oposições & a Revolução de 1923. Porto Alegre: Mercado Aberto, 1981.

Caldas, Pedro Henrique. Zeca Netto & a conquista de Pelotas. Porto Alegre: Ediiçoes EST, 1995.

Cunha, José Antonio Flores da. A campanha de 1923. Brasília: Senado Federal, 1979.

Franco, Sergio da Costa. A pacifacaçao de 1923: As negociações de Bagé. Porto Alegre: Editora da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 1996.

Lago, Luis A. Correa do. Oswaldo Aranha, o Rio Grande e a Revoluçao de 1930: Um político gaucho na República Velha. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Noval Fronteira, 1995.

                                         Joan E. Meznar