ABSTRACT
We deal with the first 15 years of the Vargas government, its labor legislation and attitude toward the valorization of work and workers. From the analysis of the struggles of the workers' movement, from the research in their newspapers and programs and from Vargas documents, its objectives are verified: that of drafting labor legislation, which contemplates and submits workers; to force businessmen to respect such legislation, aims to achieve social peace, true democracy, which could only be maintained by putting an end to liberalism and governing through authoritarian centralism, which he called authoritarian democracy.
KEYWORDS:
the first Vargas government; labor legislation; workers' struggles; liberalism; authoritarianism