The conservative use of civil society in Brazil: the influence of the First World War on the political thought of Oliveira Vianna

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article reassesses the Brazilian intellectual and publicist Oliveira Vianna’s reputation as an authoritarian, arguing that he should be understood as a conservative thinker, whose main priority was to render change safe for the existing hierarchical social order. Vianna’s little-known early newspaper articles show that the First World War was a key event in his intellectual formation, raising fears of a threat to Brazil’s sovereignty and integrity. Vianna identified a lack of social solidarity as the main factor in the country’s vulnerability. In the 1920s, he developed a solution based on civil society and the public sphere before turning to syndicalism and corporatism after 1930. His reform of the syndical legislation in 1938-40 shows how his ideas had long-lasting practical repercussions.