‘Your vote is your weapon”: Local and electorate power (1947-1959)

Abstract

The following article presents the results and conclusions of research into electoral mobilization in Canoas, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, between 1947 and 1959. Canoas is a municipality in the Porto Alegre metropolitan region, emancipated in 1939 and to have held its first elections only upon the introduction of the Estado Novo regime. It underwent significant population growth in the 1940s and 1950s thanks to the migration of workers from the countryside to the city, leading to the emergence of new neighborhoods mostly inhabited by working-class families. The municipal elections during the period are part of the context of incorporating urban workers into the electoral scenario, expanding the electoral body, and consolidating the experience of Brazilian democracy, to have been initiated in 1945. In order to establish a prestigious image, parties and candidates located a possible channel for communicating with voters in the local press, with journalists, publishers, writers, and commentators mostly identified with the various political groups. The news, articles, and advertisements published in the press have been analyzed not only as strategies to gain votes, but also as practices stirring voters’ interest in the electoral contest, establishing a relationship between voting and everyday life.