Children in factories: Child Labor in the Rio de Janeiro Textile Industry in the First Republic

Abstract

In the first decades of the 20th century, factory work was one of the activities in which child Labor was most in demand. Children's Labor was central to the expansion of the textile industry in Rio de Janeiro, the largest industrial branch of the period. In this article, we intend to revisit this theme, not only providing new data on the importance of the work of children in the textile industry, but also highlighting the role of children in the labor movement. In addition, we emphasize how the tensions between the public and industrial authorities, as well as the pressure from civil society, in particular the labor movement (with the participation of minors themselves) and international regulations (such as the ILO) impacted and shaped legislation on the minors in the factories, particularly in the 1920s. When exploring a theme in the city of Rio de Janeiro, the article seeks to launch analytical clues that broaden the historiographical debate on this theme, still very concentrated in the case of São Paulo.