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the work force, and there were many children; perhaps half of all workers were
under eighteen and almost 8 per cent were under fourteen […] it is not surprising
that whole families went to work, even though women and children were paid less
for equivalent tasks. A budget for a family of seven published by a government
agency in Rio de Janeiro in 1919 allotted four times as much just for food as the
average worker earned in São Paulo […] Working conditions were very hard:
many of the structures housing the machinery were not designed for the purpose,
were poorly lit and ventilated, and without sanitary facilities […] Accidents were
frequent because the weary workers, sometimes put to overtime at no increase in
salary or to work on Sundays, were docked for tardiness and errors if they were
adults, or were beaten if they were children. (Dean 151-2)
Incluso, si se va más allá, se podrían relacionar las constantes rebeliones campesinas
milenaristas, que recorren el final del siglo XIX brasileño, a las rebeliones obreras iniciales del
XX, para entender un malestar común, que caracteriza el espíritu de la época:
Trouble in the backlands also convulsed the nation. The rural disturbances arose
from the gross injustices of Brazilian society, aggravated by the steady expansion
of capitalism inland as communications and transportation networks reached out
from the ports with increasing effectiveness. Capitalism brought new cultural
values that challenged the folkways of the interior. As events at Canudos amply
demonstrated, two very different Brazils were coming into closer contact and on
occasion clashing. (Burns, History 299)
Y a ese otro Brasil que se rebelaba se sumaba la frustración de las clases medias, que
tampoco podían participar en un ámbito político prácticamente copado e inabordable, sin
partidos reales y con elecciones decididas entre coronéis y gobernadores. Así se llega a la década
del veinte, que verá el temprano surgimiento del movimiento vanguardista latinoamericano más
complejo −desde el punto de vista de la participación conjunta de todas las artes−, y el inicio de
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