Getúlio Vargas and the communists: alignments and contradictions in the pages of Editorial Calvino (1933–1948)

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between the communist editor José Calvino Filho, his publishing house, and the figure of Getúlio Vargas during different phases of Vargas’ government. In the 1930s, Calvino Filho Editor even published a work by Vargas himself, De 1929 a 1934, a compilation of the president’s speeches, while simultaneously facing censorship from the same government starting in 1934. In the 1940s, the now–called Editorial Calvino released a series of prefaces in its publications praising Vargas and his administration, alongside a series of articles by editor Calvino Filho in the newspaper Diário da Noite with a similar tone. This period corresponds to when the PCB (Communist Party of Brazil) pursued its political line of National Unity, supporting Vargas during the war effort that began in 1942. After the end of the Estado Novo, new publications
by Calvino Filho emerged, heavily criticizing Vargas’ government, demonstrating how this relationship was always marked by tensions and contradictions. Finally, through an analysis of the political actions of José Calvino Filho and his publishing house, it becomes evident that the rapprochement between communists and labor movements in Brazil has consistently been framed around a central theme: nationalism.