EM CAMPO CONTRA O INIMIGO VERMELHO: A IGREJA CATÓLICA NA DISPUTA PELA SINDICALIZAÇÃO DOS TRABALHADORES RURAIS NO CEARÁ

Abstract

The present article discusses the intervention projects of Catholic Church in the world of work, in particular, those aimed to regimentation, direction and organization of rural workers in Ceará. It also discusses the dispute of this institution with leftist groups and parties about the control and direction of the workers unionization process during the 1950s and early 1960s, when social unrest around the land question had assumed frightening proportions for the most conservatives sectors in Brazilian society. In order to set an effective action that could promote better living conditions for rural workers and consequently ensuring social harmony, the Catholic Church mobilized Catholic organizations, including circles of workers that turned to be the safe and given presence of Catholic Church in the heart of rural workers from Ceará and others states of the Northeast. The confrontation between the conservative Catholic clergy members, who guided the circulista action in rural areas and the “red enemies”, as the Communists were named, occurred throughout the process. Fearing the spread of the Peasant Leagues, the Ceará circulismo lifted a high banner of anti-communism, with the purpose to bar the PCB´s infiltration and revolutionary ideas, that were contrary to the social order and harmony among men, according to the orientation of social encyclicals.