On the way to Araguaia: three militant paths

Abstract This article presents the militant trajectories of Maurício Grabois, Elza Monnerat, and João Amazonas, members of the Communist Party of Brazil sent to the Araguaia region to organize an armed movement against the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship established with the 1964 coup. I aim to shed light on the construction of a high-risk militant engagement. Drawing on the literature on social movements, these trajectories are presented observing the agents’ biographical availability, their ideological identification to the movement, their social networks, and the role of state repression. These militants were older than most Brazilians who joined the armed left. During their long paths as militants for the communist party, the predisposition created by their militant socialization was corroborated by national and international political events, the collective and personal experiences of persecution, prison, living underground, and the changes in their organization. (AU)