Editorial – The living ideology of the 1st Revolutionary Division, the Prestes Division
We publish an unofficial translation of the last editorial of A Nova Democracia.
Only the Revolution of New Democracy, led by the proletariat, can transform into reality the democratization of access to land for those who live and work it, the liberation of the Nation from the grips of imperialism, its self-centered and self-sustained industrial economy and technological development and the emancipation of the toiling masses of the city and the countryside for the complete formation of the Brazilian Nation, the New Brazil of the Popular Republic.
The military revolt grew in size and shook the entire country, since the so-called Proclamation of the Republic, which led to the Tenentist Movement, in the 1920s and 1930s, involved the medium and low, democratic and nationalist ranks that emerged within the army and the navy (the air force did not exist yet) of the already old Brazilian State of big landlords and the comprador bourgeoisie, lackeys of imperialism, mainly English, were all was product of a society in deep crisis resulting from its semi-coloniality/semi-feudality and needy backwardness of profound transformations. It is no coincidence that the tenentist’ revolts pointed out against the concentration of land in the latifundium, the political dominance of these feudal oligarchies in the corners, the widespread corruption of the so-called public power – a consequence of the dominance of the oligarchies – and the misery and ignorance imposed on the masses of peasants, poor people in the countryside and the proletarian masses in the big cities. The so-called Tenentista Movement had many important episodes, but without a doubt, its peak was the Undefeated Prestes Division, as a branch of the Paulista Revolt of July 5, 1924, by Miguel Costa and the revolt led by Luís Carlos Prestes in September 1924, in Santo Ângelo (RS), as well as the expression of his left with the Aliança Nacional Libertadora (ANL), a revolutionary united front, initially led by the Communist Party of Brazil, PCB
The Prestes Division, called the 1st Revolutionary Division on April 12, 1925, marched more than 25 thousand kilometers through the South, North and Northeast of the country, crossing more than 13 states, the São Francisco River, the caatinga, the mountains of Minas and the Pantanal, from 1924 to 1927, until it dispersed in Bolivia; it mobilized more than 1,500 revolutionary combatants and gathered popular support from the peasantry wherever it went. Undefeated, despite being persecuted throughout its entire route and facing heavy siege campaigns from troops loyal to the ultra-reactionary government of Arthur Bernardes, the Division defeated twelve generals without losing a single battle, and in it the great military capacity of Luís Carlos Prestes was revealed as a military strategist in the application of mobile warfare combined with guerrilla warfare tactics.
The interpretations that the Tenentista Movement – and the Division – expressed the beginning of military intervention in politics are erroneous: it was not the reactionary, oligarchic and anti-people high rank officers, but the middle rank officers and soldiers, linked to the popular masses, who were the protagonists in these events, which in its cause clashed, not only with the caste privileges of the “barons” in high boots, but with the entire semi-feudal big landlord structure. It is also incorrect to think that the Division’s aspirations were realized in 1930, with the coup d’état of the “Liberal Alliance”. The Division’s democratic aspirations remained pending, even under the government of Getúlio Vargas, so much so that its flags were unfurled again in 1935, with the ANL’s Armed Popular Uprising.
Today, the ideas of Division Prestes are still alive and still pending realization.
Only the Revolution of New Democracy, led by the proletariat, can transform into reality the democratization of access to land for those who live and work it, the liberation of the Nation from the grips of imperialism, its self-centered and self-sustained industrial economy and technological development and the emancipation of working masses of the city and countryside for the complete formation of the Brazilian Nation, the New Brazil of the Popular Republic. As Prestes said, in 1st of November 1935, in the Instructions to the Guerrilla Movement to supporters of the Division in the interior of the country, in which he guided the creation of mass organizations such as peasant leagues and anti-hunger committees to mobilize the masses and create guerrilla groups; and, in a letter, in which he states that, “this time”, the Division will be led by the proletariat.
