Children of the Dark: Communist Women’s Critiques of Child Welfare Policies in Brazil, 1947-1957

• In Event: Innocent Subjects: The Politics of Childhood During Latin America's Long Cold War

Abstract

In 1945 the fall of Getulio Vargas’ dictatorial regime, the Estado Novo, opened a period of political transition that fomented leftist political mobilization. Outlawed under Vargas’ regime, Brazil’s Communist Party (PCB) began attracting new adherents, among them, an increasingly vocal sector of educated, middle and upper-class women. In addition to promoting the economic and political aspirations of the PCB, these women became outspoken critics of the child-centered policy agenda of the Vargas Era (1930-1945). Vargas utilized child well-being as a centerpiece of his development-oriented administration and used the symbol of the child to bolster his paternalistic political persona. From 1930 to 1945, Vargas’ administration introduced child-focused federal and state-level departments and various health and educational programs; however, the promises of these efforts remained unfulfilled by the late 1940s. Leftist women targeted these failings and began publicly criticizing government authorities via print media, radio programs, and street demonstrations. This paper analyzes the critical discourses articulated in the communist women’s journal, Momento Feminino (1947-1957). Paying particular attention to the authors’ investigation of state children’s services, this paper argues that these activists sought to expose the fallacies of contemporary “pro-child” politics. Journal authors also shed light on the plight of Brazil’s poor women and children, often using fiction and art to critique pervasive inequalities in education, health, and well-being. The journal’s contents reveal the extreme inefficacy of Vargas-era child-centered initiatives and provide a compelling counterpoint to the narratives presented in government documents and contemporary print media.

Author

• Cari Maes, Oregon State University