ABSTRACT
This work deals with a moment of the trajectory of the Espírito Santo’s Bank Employees Union between 1953 and 1964, corresponding to a phase of progressive political radicalization and alignment with the Basic Reforms (Reformas de Base) program. The purpose is to explain the abandonment of a moderate reformist orientation in favor of a radical stance. Therefore, it seeks to articulate the theoretical influences of E. P. Thompson and Adam Przeworki, considering the relationship between class experience in the cultural plan and the role of leadership in the given circumstances. Considering the differences between brazilian national and regional instances, and taking the case of the state of Espírito Santo, it defends the thesis that union elites articulated broader aspects with the local reality, in order to appeal to Espirito Santo’s bank employees as members of the whole national working class, for which the Basic Reforms program worked well. It was this strategy that allowed the mobilization of the category based on both their working conditions and in a more general sense. The empirical basis used consisted of interviews, local news coverage and the Union’s documents.
Keywords
Espírito Santo’s Bank Employees Union; Basic Reforms; The Making of Working Class; Reformism; Union’s Moviment