Nós vamos festejar o que?: the May first and the reorganization of the working class

Abstract

This Scientific Initiation project has its object of study the social and political understanding of the ephemeris May 1st during the Brazilian Military Dictatorship, focusing on dates that allow us to think about several conjunctures of the period (i.e. 1968, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984) and in the state of São Paulo, in some experiences in the state capital and in the metropolitan area. It was observed that different types of agents - such as the State, the trade unions, the left organizations and the Catholic Church, for example - gravitated around the date, having interest in establishing narratives and in carrying out activities during this day. From this identification, it began a prior survey of documents in order to support the questioning of these activities' dynamics, the mapping of the players involved in this task and their cultural practices. As a part of the debates concerning the reorganization of the working class in the 1970s, especially based on the efforts carried out by the social movements and the so-called new trade unionism, and to the idea of sites of memory, it is believed that this cultural approach enables new elements to help the comprehension of how was the reconstruction, in the supposedly celebrative scope, the labour movement's self-image over a period of demobilization and strong repression. (AU)