A strike which endangered national security: The case of sugar and the struggle of workers for better living conditions

Abstract

This study focuses on the "Sugar Strike" of March 1964, which occurred on the eve of the civil-military movement that deposed the Brazilian president João Goulart. The article aims to identify the grievances of the strikers and to analyze the main forms of political action used in support of these demands. The strike was organized within the state of Rio de Janeiro by a union of textile workers after a denunciation that warehouses in the workers' village were stockpiling sugar for the benefit of some "wealthier" customers and refusing to sell the product to weavers. Other unions took industrial action in solidarity and the strike served as a pretext to charge the union president under the National Security Act after the military took power. Based on the concept of moral economy, this paper will try to understand how everyday issues influenced the adherence of workers to popular mobilizations.