Paradise is just ahead: social rights in soviet propaganda to Brazil (1950-1964)

The federation, even though it was created on the initiative of the PCB and led by its militants, was not restricted to the Party, including in its ranks women not affiliated to the communist ideology. Torres, “Imagens Das Mulheres Na Imprensa Comunista Brasileira (1945/1957),” 87. Both orthodox and syncretic wings took active part in the Federation. One of the main struggles sponsored by the FMB was the scarcity, lack or high price of basic consumer goods. Silva, “Mulheres Negras Nos Movimentos de Esquerda Durante a Ditadura No Brasil (1964-1985),” 366. It combined the denunciation of the great political and economic institutions with the traditional figures of daily life, such as the existence of price speculation in the clandestine market and the tyranny of small shop owners. In addressing this issue, the FMB thought of dealing with one of the main demands of Brazilian women, since they were responsible for most of the domestic administration, being the one who purchases the goods necessary for food and the daily sustenance of their family environment. Torres, “Imagens Das Mulheres Na Imprensa Comunista Brasileira (1945/1957),” 84-87.

Important cadres of the PCB and the FMB were portrayed on the MS pages as well as when they became prominent figures of the international women's movement or even the most direct correspondents of the SWC in Moscow. Elisa Branco, for instance, was an important communist leader whose connection with the USSR became emblematic. In 1950, during the parade on September 7th (Independence holiday), she opened a banner with the words 'Soldiers, our sons, will not go to Korea'. For this reason, she was arrested for a year and eight months, being released after an intense mobilization campaign. In 1952 she received the Stalin Peace Prize, later renamed the Lenin Prize. Vrucheniye Mezhdunarodnoy Stalinskoy Premii Elize Branko (TSSDF, 1953).

Figure 8 - Illustration portraying Elisa Branco's act

Source: Juliana de la Torres, “Imagens Das Mulheres Na Imprensa Comunista Brasileira (1945/1957),” 92

An important non-Communist representative of the FMB was the intellectual Branca Fialho, who replaced Alice Tibiriзб after her death and maintained active correspondence with SWC in Moscow. Branca was a supporter of the peace movement and helped found the Brazil-USA Friendship Union and later, together with her husband, the appellate judge Henrique Fialho, founded the Brazil-USRR Cultural Union (UCBU). They visited the USSR after attending to an international congress of lawyers for peace (1951, in Berlin). She maintained a rather curious position of admiration for the USSR while not harassing the capitalist countries.

A close friend of Branca Fialho was the FMB's leader in Duque de Caxias, a city in the then state of Guanabara, near Rio de Janeiro. Lydia's existence came to my knowledge neither from historiography nor from the collective memory of the time, but from the archives of Moscow. Her notoriety was certainly inferior to that of Branco, Fialho, Mochel or Tibiriзб. However, she was one of the most frequent correspondents, with long letters full of emotions. She considered herself to be part of the FMB in 1953 and saw the organization as nonpartisan. It was only in 1958 that she joined the PTB, being a candidate for city council that year. Macedo, 240. Within the period studied in this research, Lydia would travel to USSR, Denmark, Romenia, Czechslovakia, and China. According to Elza Macedo Macedo, 225-27., even not being a communist, Lydia had a great sympathy for the socialist countries and for Lenin and Stalin in her remarks, with almost no negative comment. She mentioned very often all the public services available to the people and how their rights were secured through them.

Maria Aragгo, a black woman and important communist leader in the state of Maranhгo, was a doctor, teacher and journalist. Between the 1940s and 1950s she also became the leader of the newborn FMB. Silva, “Mulheres Negras Nos Movimentos de Esquerda Durante a Ditadura No Brasil (1964-1985),” 64. In 1950s while doing her political work in the countryside, she was attacked by the clergy, even being stoned, and later was imprisoned. While arrested, she was nationally recognized receiving support from the FMB which campaigned for her release. Silva, 136. In 1963, already in another national political situation, she was invited to visit the USSR by the PCB. Escola Nacional Florestan Fernandes, Maria Aragгo e a Organizaзгo Popular, Documentary (Expressгo Popular, 2014),

3.2 The Brazilian reception to Soviet propaganda

The objective of this section is, simultaneously to try to provide a certain contextualization to the reader, and to enter into the theme of the Brazilian reception to Soviet propaganda by analyzing the mentions to Brazil and to Brazilians in the journal La Mujer Soviйtica itself, and a variety of other sources. This other set of sources are Brazilian printed media, memoirs, travel logs and correspondence. In the course of this research, the sources seemed to be separate pieces of information, but by paying more attention it can be seen that they are, in fact, tightly connected to each other. For example, FMB leadership, Branca Fialho, had a trip to USSR of which the accounts were published as a book in 1952 and at the same time she was one the main correspondents with the SWC.

Another evidence of these close connections and how they even go beyond the feminine movement is the travel report wrote by the journalist Nestor de Holanda published in 1959 as Mundo Vermelho (Red World), the same year when an article of his appeared on the pages of MS. There was a network of agents that acted as links to propagate the Soviet message abroad. In this sense, the MS magazine also served as a kind of sound box, which would amplify through resonances the narratives delivered by Soviet sympathetic actors. Correspondence, visits, political gatherings, all these means fed the magazine with articles, interviews, reports, photographs. The MS was, therefore, not only a mean of propaganda, but also as an end, the destination to which the other ways of exchange and collaboration would eventually meet.

The correspondence between Soviet and Brazilian women could be categorized in two ways: one was the one that had a more official character between the SWC and the FMB; the other had a more personal character between individuals from these organizations. Two of the most frequent correspondents were the Brazilian Lydia da Cunha and the Soviet Natasha Berezhnaya. In general, they maintained correspondence because they met personally at international women's movement congresses and events. From then on, they would correspond personally for a long period of time. Natasha and Lydia, for example, “celebrated” five years of friendship in one of their letters.

The letters in general would be written in Portuguese on the Brazilian side and in Spanish on the Soviet side, indicating that this difference in language was not a barrier. Some more official letters, such as those of Branca Fialho, were written in French.

But there was a particularly contrasting aspect to the tone of the correspondence, even when exchanged by individuals rather than organizations. In general, the letters sent by Brazilians were loaded with a more intimate tone, full of questions about the personal lives of their correspondents, with a more informal language manifesting longing for their Soviet peers. The Soviet letters generally did not inquire about the personal lives of Brazilians, but only about the political and social aspects of Brazil and the development of the women's movement. They complained about the delay in sending periodicals, materials, and news about the situation in Brazil. All letters sent and received from correspondents were translated into Russian and they could write reports in Russian about their own correspondence, even when addressed to individuals.

I believe that this contrast in tone was the result of a functional asymmetry between its authors. Brazilian women in general were militant, voluntary, who divided life between work, family and their dedication to political and social activities, according to their predilections and material conditions. In the Soviet case, their “militancy” was their own work. Natasha, for example, worked as an interpreter and translator, so gathering information and corresponding with women from Latin American countries was her earning activity. Soviet women in these positions were therefore under some scrutiny of the organization of which they were part. For this reason, she perhaps avoided talking too openly about her personal life or asking about someone else, but maintained a reactive attitude of answering what was asked and making brief comments about what was told to her. Therefore, as for the tone of the correspondence, Brazilian women sometimes mixed militancy with personal life while the Soviets maintained a more strictly professional relationship. It would take a more careful study to try to figure out to what extent they actually had a real friendship or whether it was perhaps just unilateral.

As Conrad Conrad, What Is Global History, 70. has argued, existing connections are not always (in fact rarely) made equally between the parties. Global History needs to take care not to blur the quality between the connections. In the course of this work, I will try to demonstrate how at certain moments, on both the Brazilian and the Soviet sides, a hierarchical relationship was expressed, in which Brazilians considered themselves inferior or considered their peer Soviets superior in terms of social progress. Social rights played a very important role in this gap because they were a symbol and marker of civilization, with the difference that this did not provoke the biologicist or culturalist reification typical of the colonial mentality. They separated the protected from the unprotected, in which the latter were seen more as victims of the insecurity and neglect of their state than inherently incapable of entering into a Soviet-like state of affairs.

Soviet women would also sometimes respond to small requests, such as sending magazines on specific topics to curious people in Brazil, or forwarding some particular demand for assistance to some other Soviet agency.

In order to better portray the different periods and how distinct topics were highlighted according to the conjuncture of the time, I divided the whole researched period in three smaller intervals of time according to the predominant social-political features found in the sources.

The first period that goes from 1950 to 1954 marks the birth of the Brazilian third republic, the last years of Stalin and the initial phase of the peace movement that Soviets and Brazilians would engage, despite doing it through different levels and other actors. The post-war failed to bring definitive world peace. Instead, the frequent tensions and the moving battleground to the Global South, brought uncertainty and polarization. Simultaneously, it was a time of enchantment with the Soviet Union from part of the Brazilian intelligentsia, which motivated intense political pilgrimage. Journalists, artists, writers, and militants (communist or not) travelled from the other side of the Atlantic to have glimpse on what horrors or wonders were laying behind the Iron Curtain. Some of them left their impressions recorded in travel logs that were published in Brazil as books, or as short articles that would be published in the Soviet Union media, such as the MS magazine, for instance. This stage of the Soviet-Brazilian connections, however was limited to a one-way trip: Brazilians would come to the Soviet Union, or the countries of the socialist block, but not the other way around. That was not unjustified: Dutra's government severed relations with the USSR and anti-communism was raising trend. The Developmentalist government of Kubitschek and Khrushchev's post-Stalinist internationalism, waving to the Global South, and another phase of the peace movement were eminent features of this second interval (1955-1960). The USSR and Brazilian governments started to rehearse an approximation with diplomatic delegations visiting each other and signing trade agreements. The ways of development and industrialization were the gordian knots for the Brazilian government and the general discussion of this time, and certainly the Soviet path was part of the public debate. Within civil societies, cultural and scientific exchange started to grow stronger as well as internal tensions in Brazil started to pop-up.

The third and last term corresponds to the acceleration of reformist and nationalist struggles in Brazil, from 1961 to 1964. In the same proportion that movements for democratic reforms are augmenting in Brazil, with great growth of points of contact with the USSR, hysteria and anti-communist extreme-right movements were also beginning to express themselves in a forceful way. This, of course, was not separate from the outcomes of the Cuban Revolution that aligned itself more clearly with socialism in 1961 and the subsequent melting down of relations between the US and the USSR. The reestablishment of diplomatic relations in 1961 brought all the laurels of Soviet socialism to be proudly exposed to the curious Brazilian public. Cosmonauts, dancers, politicians, and publications did not stop landing on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.

3.3 One-way trip: peace movement and political pilgrimage (1950-1954)

Soviet prestige in the post-war period was great, especially for the feat and protagonist role in defeating fascist troops. Many Brazilian intellectuals, communist or not, did not hide their affection for the USSR and earned it various forms of homage. The poem `Letter to Stalingrad' by Carlos Drummond de Andrade was a good example of the Brazilian admiration to the Soviet military stunt. Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Poesia e Prosa (Rio de Janeiro: Nova Aguilar, 1983). Brazil, as the only country in South America to send troops to fight alongside the Allies, after internal and external pressure, accumulated a nationalist and anti-fascist sentiment that was able to reduce to some degree the anti-communism produced after the 1935 uprising in which the communists in Brazil, supported directly by Moscow and the Comintern, organized a frustrated coup against President Getъlio Vargas who maintained close and friendly relations with the Third Reich. This was highlighted by MS magazine which itself, describing a scientific visit of Soviet astronomers to Brazil in 1947, argued that they were received with `enthusiasm and gratitude for the great achievement of the peoples of the USSR who annihilated the fascist barbarians in Europe and Asia.' “Libros Soviйticos Sobre Los Paнses de Amйrica Latina,” La Mujer Soviйtica, 1951, 60.

In this period (1950-1955) the relations between Brazil and the Soviet Union were conformed mainly through what is called political pilgrimage and its use to change the Soviet image in other countries, as well as to gain supporters for the peace movements driven by the communists and the Soviet state. Raquel Mundim Tфrres accounted for fifty-four authors of travel logs made by Brazilians who came to visit USSR between the 1950s and 1960s. The Vitуria Publishing House, that belonged to the PCB, was responsible for only nine of them. In her study, she found a very diverse political spectrum: thirteen communists, twenty-seven non-communist sympathizers, five anti-communists and nine non-defined. Tфrres, “Transpondo a Cortina de Ferro: Relatos de Viagem de Brasileiros а Uniгo Soviйtica Na Guerra Fria (1951-1963),” 27-29. This clearly shows that there had been a degree of curiosity by the Brazilian intelligentsia, to say the least, about what was happening behind the “Iron Curtain”. In this work, however, I've made brief analysis of only a few of these reports, specifically those that in some way were mentioned in the MS magazine: Until now, I could not find a copy of a book published by one Federation of Brazilian Women's main leader: Branca Fialho. Journey by Graciliano Ramos Graciliano Ramos, Viagem (Tchecoeslovбquia - URSS), 21st ed. (Sгo Paulo e Rio de Janeiro: Record, 2007). and World of Peace by Jorge Amado. Jorge Amado, O Mundo Da Paz: Uniгo Soviйtica e Democracias Populares (Rio de Janeiro: Vitуria, 1952). Both were writers and of such importance that we could equal them to something like Brazil's Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.

3.4 The social rights technology complex

Graciliano Ramos' trip to the USSR and Czechoslovakia, which took place in 1952 at the invitation of the Union of Soviet Writer's, was recorded by him in his book in a very different way from Jorge Amado, for example. Although the two articulate in their speeches an effort to contradict anti-Soviet propaganda, they used contrasting styles. Ramos employed much literary acidity and irony and was not reluctant to record his moments of discomfort with excessive hospitality, the occasions of boredom, and the tedious speeches he had to hear on his way. Jorge Amado, on the other hand, used his lyrical talent to compose a book that not only sought to function as a counter-propaganda, deconstructing every myth and slander thoroughly and with a certain scientific rigor, but also to enormously magnify the USSR as a bastion of peace and freedom in the world. In the MS magazine, however, Ramos would be mentioned only twelve years later.

It was in his travelogue that I found significant notable allusions to the problem of social rights technology discussed in the first chapter of this paper. Ramos made incessant comparisons between Brazil and the USSR, highlighting at every moment the situation of poverty and ignorance of the Brazilian people. 'Originating from another world, we are used to the insufficiency of hospitals, schools, maternity hospitals, we keep in mind the bourgeois pettiness, we cannot get rid of it, and we find it almost impossible to have rooms for all the people forced to move annually.' Ramos, Viagem (Tchecoeslovбquia - URSS), 133-34. In his work, we see an expression of the asymmetry of the connections made between Brazilians and Soviets, in which an inferiority complex tended to appear in Graciliano's discourse. At times, he seemed to express himself as if he was even offended by the size of the Soviet achievements in the educational field, for example:

Inside, a large library, the abundance of literature that comes to us everywhere. Queues in front of bookstores; the editions are sold out with unacceptable speed. Three hundred and fifty thousand state libraries, with seven hundred million volumes. The ones that belong to the unions are twelve thousand with sixty million volumes in them. What is all this writing for? After all, this abundance of printing becomes monotonous, it has the appearance of a mania. We suffocate. Won't we find one illiterate man in this country? Ramos, 99.

In the first chapter I mentioned that the combined existence of daycares, sanatoriums, clinics, schools, libraries, etc., inside of the factories created a sense of self-sufficiency to those who would hear or read about it. The exact same happened to Ramos, while visiting a textile factory in Georgia, he was impressed by the luxury of these “social complex”, as he called them. Ramos, 113-14. Indeed, he was quite impressed with the social and labor rights and the level of education that sometimes his tone seemed to treat Brazil as an inferior. Although, his compliments and admiration towards the USSR prevailed compared to a pessimist tone, always using irony to mock the mainstream discourse: `[The] solid advantages of freedom evaporate in the face of this singular slavery.' Ramos, 110. The right to have vacations enjoyed by the Soviet workers revealed that the country of the forced labor was actually the country of the forced rest, in his views. Ramos, 136.

Jorge Amado, during that time, was fully integrated into the peace movement driven by the USSR and the Communist Parties all around the world. His name was listed as Brazilian representative in a call for a peace pact between the great post-war powers made by the World Peace Council and published as an annex to the 1952 March-April issue of MS. “Llamamiento Del Consejo Mundial de La Paz Sobre La Conclusion de Un Pacto de Paz,” La Mujer Soviйtica, April 1952. He was awarded the Stalin Peace Prize in 1951. During 1948-1949's winter, Amado was travelling through Czechslovakia, East Germany and USSR at the Union of Soviet Writers' invitation. Later, in 1952, he published his remarks as the book afore mentioned. In 1953, Amado also published an article in MS together with a fragment of his book. In this article entitled La Mujer Liberada (The Liberated Woman), he considered the Soviet women as emancipated from the family's oppression typical of the capitalist world, thanks to the conditions provided by the state: `The state has created such conditions for family life - nursery homes, kindergartens, youth organizations, workplace canteens and collective kitchens - that women are able to perfectly execute their profession, without this implying greater difficulties for family life.' Jorge Amado, “La Mujer Liberada,” La Mujer Soviйtica, December 1953, 43. Here, the social rights technology that was provided by the state was the pre-condition of their liberation, sharing the overwhelming domestic responsibilities with the society, but not with men.

Even if not the focus of this work, it is worth to mention that even being more progressive in this regard compared to some Western countries, the USSR and the communist movement in general had a view of women's liberation limited to them breaking through the gender barrier of professions and activities, but not the otherwise. Women were allowed and encouraged to work and have typically masculine professions, however, men were not stimulated to take part in the domestic work and relief women from their historically oppressive “duties”. Equal rights for women, but not equal duties for men. This was clearly marked in the view of many communists, Soviet sympathizers and even the women's movement leaderships of that time. To the best of my knowledge, sexual and reproductive rights and equal gender labor division were not in debate.

3.5 To love is to secure: social rights as conditions for love and happiness

The issue of Soviet Women's elegance and attractiveness This was a constant concern of the editors of the magazine. The international rumor which portrayed Soviet women as being less attractive and allegedly masculine, motivated several articles that were published to contradict this rumor. Amado said that this was one of the most widespread lies against the Soviet women. After checking Brazilian printed media of that time, I can confirm that this rumor was spread even to Brazil. One of the sources cited in this work call the Soviet women portrayed in their magazines as “pinky peasants.” was also addressed by Amado in his article, explaining that Soviet women might be less elegant compared to Parisian or New Yorker high class women, but they were bearers of a higher culture. He said that socialism had other priorities: `Before thinking about the original cut of a dress, one had to think about building socialism, that is, ensuring bread and work for all, building houses for all, building factories, schools and palaces of culture.' Amado, “La Mujer Liberada,” 44. Socialism, in this sense, was related (or almost identified) with security, with labor, living conditions and social rights, such as education and housing. In his book, this question also featured prominently, when comparing the post-war time in West, he emphasized the disillusions of the French and Italian people that fought the fascists just to live a life of material uncertainty. Amado, O Mundo Da Paz: Uniгo Soviйtica e Democracias Populares, 41. Simultaneously, aside from socialism being related to security, the same principles were related to Christianism: `peace for mankind, decent life, support for old-age, education for all […].' Amado, 54-55. The idea of social and material security was even developed as the bedrock of family love:

The love for the Soviet Union is like the grand summary of all that man can love about life, the summary of all great feelings, the noblest and purest. If someone loves his wife and children, his father and mother, if he has in his heart love for his family, the desire to see his children grow up happy, then he has to love the USSR, where the life of children takes place as in a paradise, where there is no homeless and unhappy old age, where family relationships have been stripped of any pettiness, where the love of relatives has been able to gain its integral beauty. One has to love the USSR that has freed parents from daily worries about their children's future, about how to cover the costs of education, their food, which has made the family stronger and deeper. Amado, 16-17.

The sentimental, idealized and romanticized image of the USSR was evident. But what may not be very explored by other works were the links between this “love” and a particular mindset which predicated the idea that people should have their material needs provided. They felt safe and would not worry if they were able to buy bread the next day, if they would still have a job next month, or how they were going to afford living if they got sick, old and unable to work. This form of security was understood as a precondition to happiness and it was supposedly assured to the Soviet people and could be to other nations. Furthermore, this was seen in an idyllic way, as a paradise or a heaven on earth, in the words of Amado, as `dream without sleep.' Amado, 34. The syncretic way of thought on socialism was clearly manifesting.

Social rights as the bedrock of happiness were a frequent allusion found in the correspondence between Brazilian and Soviet women. This is a mark specially from Brazilian women. In a postcard sent by Elisa Branco to the SWC she said: `For a world in which all children live as happy as Soviet children.' Elisa Branco, “Elisa Branco to Soviet Women's Committee,” Postcard, April 8, 1952, f. P7289 op. 2 d. 1289 l. 20a, GARF. Life in USSR was, in these terms, understood as a high parameter of a happy life. When Nina Popova was awarded the Stalin Peace Prize in 1953, the FMB sent a letter saluting the accomplishment as she was one of theirs. In this letter they expressed an idealized and romanticized image of the USSR saying that the country was the Homeland of Socialism, where women have their rights secured, children are healthy and joyful, all people are happy, lovers of peace and progress. FMB, “Federation of Brazilian Women to Soviet Women's Committee,” Letter, August 1953, f. P7289 op. 2 d. 1289 l. 26, GARF. Socialism again was understood not necessarily as the state ownership of the means of production or dictatorship of the proletariat, but as regime of social rights and material conditions were guaranteed.

The Soviet Union was not only being used as a parameter of progress and development in the field of economics and industrialization, but for the Brazilian women to talk about the Soviet women was some kind of tool or even a weapon to convince others on the feasibility of a social rights' regime. Branca Fialho and Arcelina Mochel, the main leaders of the FMB at the time, sent a letter to SWC informing that they were giving lectures all over the country informing Brazilian women about the situation and life and the rights of Soviet women. FMB, “Federation of Brazilian Women to Soviet Women's Committee,” Letter, August 1953, f. P7289 op. 2 d. 1289 l. 17, GARF. To illustrate their leaflet, they also asked for photographs of the recent visit of a Brazilian women delegation to the USSR, probably after the 1953 III World Women's Congress held in Copenhagen.

As parameter and example of a social rights regime, the Brazilian women deal expressed not only their admiration to the Soviet Union, but also their gratitude and, again, love. Elisa Branco, wrote a short note in an article that accounted the opinions of different Stalin Peace Prize awarded personalities. In this note she said: `I am a Brazilian mother, who loves my country and my children, and I want to express my deep love for the Soviet Union. We women profess deep gratitude to the Soviet people for having liberated the women of their country, and for having conquered the right to a free life also for our children in the battles in defense of their motherland.' “La Revolucion de Octubre y La Paz,” La Mujer Soviйtica, October 1954, 03.

To be awarded the Stalin Peace Prize, in result to her brave act and further imprisonment, made Elisa Branco some sort of international celebrity in the women's movement at least. She published several notes in MS magazine during this period in which she emphasized the diverse character of the women's movement in Brazil and worldwide, uniting the women of different religions and race for the betterment of their lives. “En Viesperas de Aсo Nuevo,” La Mujer Soviйtica, May 1955, 27. In fact, many different notes published regarding the FMB, recall its diversity of opinions and the multiple backgrounds of its members, but the common goal of fighting scarcity of goods and inflation. “De Diferentes Paнses,” La Mujer Soviйtica, May 1955, 33. A significant difference between the narratives of the correspondents with MS can be noticed also in the later periods.

Indeed, while some of these Brazilians incorporated the more traditional Soviet lexicon and communicated in a flattering way, expressing stands that looked orthodox and loyal to the line of the party, others blended the viewpoint present in the Soviet propaganda to their own religious or romanticized beliefs. Both trends, syncretism and orthodoxy, were present in the Brazilian reception of the Soviet propaganda. However, in this diversity of approaches what was a point of convergence between all of them was their agreement with the importance of social rights and a positive action of the state to provide a better life to citizens.

3.6 Development, friendship and peace movement (1955-1960)

This next stage in the development of relations between Brazil and the USSR mediated through propaganda is one of significant change and turmoil in both countries. Some coincidences of episodes, although completely different, make this story particularly curious. Getъlio Vargas committed suicide with a shot in his chest approximately six months after Joseph Stalin had also “come out of life to enter the history.” A reference to Vargas' suicide note. The Soviet Union lived what is known as the Thaw period, while Brazil's political temperature was starting to raise in face of the Developmentalist government of Juscelino Kubitschek, recently elected.

In this interlude, both Khrushchev was looking for ways to expand the USSR's international relations, and the Brazilian government was betting everything on development and industrialization by attracting foreign capital. One feature is particularly clear in these Soviet-Brazilian encounters: social and political groups from both countries had distinct points of interest that made them move toward the same goal, but from different perspectives and motivations.

While the “commoners” and civic organizations were more excited about the social rights and the living conditions in USSR, the governments were more preoccupied in strengthening their ties with the purpose of broadening their geopolitical alliances and increasing trade. For instance, a Khrushchev's response to a Brazilian journalist's questions published in MS in December 1958 emphasized that Brazil and USSR never had any clashes and therefore there was no excuse to not maintain diplomatic relations; and, when asked if Soviet Union could assist Brazil in its need for industrialization, Khrushchev said that they could do everything that is possible, increasing the trade of machines, establishing educational programs to train Brazilians professionals or even send Soviet experts to help the country. “Nuestra Simpatia Son Para Las Causas Justas: Respuesta de Nikita Khrushchev a Las Preguntas de Un Periodista Brasileсo,” La Mujer Soviйtica, December 1958, 01.

Friendship and forced diplomacy

Again, the pages of MS magazine were the meeting point for all kinds of relationship between Brazil and the USSR. Among the slogans of peace and social justice, the term 'friendship between peoples' gave an extra color to the content propagated in the MS magazine. Aldenora de Sб Porto Lawyer, writter, screenwritter, Aldenora de Sб Porto had relations with the main party of the labor wing, PTB (Brazilian Labor Party), but also had a relationship with Luiz Carlos Prestes, the secretary general of PCB, and engaged in the campaingn against the preventive arrest of Prestes in 1958. Anita Leocadia Prestes, Anita Prestes interviewed by Giovanny Simon Machado. said, for example, that the northerners are known for being very cold people but this proved to be false, because during her visit to the USSR she did not feel any cold thanks to the “miracle” called friendship. Nadezhda Jimach and Galina Kusnetsova, “ЎBienvenidas!,” La Mujer Soviйtica, December 1958, 04. Something similar was said by the singer Dolores Duran during her tour to Soviet Union in 1958. An article called `Messengers of Friendship' claims that she thought that the Russians would be a cold people, but `This people have a heart so large as the territory where they live.' “Mensajeros de La Amistad,” La Mujer Soviйtica, December 1958, 46.

The article in MS, however, contradicts other reports of the time. Dolores took this tour of the USSR, which was secretly organized by the PCB leader Carlos Marighella He was Clara Charf's husband, which was another pen-pal of the Soviet Women, as it is later mentioned in this work. and even stimulated by the Brazilian government in order to prepare for the resumption of diplomatic relations. But according to Caetano Veloso and Rodrigo Faour, the artist was disappointed with life in socialism, and made some harsh criticism against the USSR in the Brazilian media. She had some sympathy for the communist ideals and had negative view of the American influence on Brazilian art, but was never a communist militant. After she returned from USSR in 1958, an interview Lulu Pavone, “Dolores Duran Rompe Com Os Comunistas,” Pop Politics in Brazil (blog), December 23, 2012, http://brazilian-pop-politics.blogspot.com/2012/. was published where she complained against the overcontrolling behavior of the Brazilian organizers, which would allow her to visit places she wanted, such as a Catholic church, or forbidden her to give negative comments on anything. She also claimed that they were not paid what was promised and that the Soviet people lived a harsh and poor life, without any comfort. The peak of the conflict happened when she refused to give Khrushchev flowers during a scheduled ceremony which made her give up on the tour and split with her partner musicians, who were supposed to go to China later.

In a way, Dolores' account showed that the constitution of so-called friendship between peoples was not a completely natural thing and, was mediated by political interests, sometimes becoming artificial or forced. Dolores reported that it was much welcomed and applauded by the Russian people, but the pressure of the organizers of the artistic tour was one of the main reasons for her leaving it. She did not, however, mention any Soviet authority in organizing the tour, but only the Brazilian side. This case became emblematic because, although Dolores was the side that broke the tour through the socialist world, other artists on tour with her stayed and accused her of preferring to drink whiskey at the American Embassy than to meet the USSR. The exchange between Brazil and the USSR, therefore, showed itself to be a complex phenomenon, in which the Brazilian side very much divided between two worlds, even when sympathetic to the Soviet vision, remained skeptical and developed even some repulsion.

Figure 9- Dolores Duran, Tito Ramalho and fellow musicians on the streets of Leningrad in the summer of 1958

The FMB's demise

The year 1957 was particularly hard for Brazilian women. And although the conditions for a resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries were being built, the tension on Brazilian territory was growing with repressive measures by the government of Juscelino Kubitschek. In early 1957 the FMB was shut down by the government under the justification of “subversive” activities. In a letter dated January 1957, Branca Fialho asked for the interruption of the delivery of MS magazine to the previous address because the Federation headquarters was closed by the police as result of their protest against the war preparations of the JK government. She states that `they are inconvenient when they protest and are united.' Branca Fialho, “Branca Fialho to Soviet Women's Committee,” Letter, January 23, 1957, f. P7289 op. 2 d. 1913 l. 12, GARF. This information was also published when the March issue was already being printed and a small note was included on the last page in an improvised manner. This is the only letter that I could find both in the magazine and the archives simultaneously. “Cuando El Nъmero Estaba En Prensa,” La Mujer Soviйtica, March 1957, 48.

A letter from Pйrola de Carvalho to Natasha Berezhnaya give us a better idea of the degree of unrest in Brazil when she described a strike of five-hundred thousand workers in Sгo Paulo. She said they were suffering greatly from inflation and unemployment. It was a statement consistent with the already mentioned aspect of the FMB whose efforts were mainly directed towards denouncing and fighting the shortage of consumer goods. Apparently, the Soviet suppression of the 1956 Hungarian uprising Pйrola characterized this even as a `regrettable event in all respects.' Even if we cannot deduce her view on the event, it is clear that she abstained herself of using the official Soviet narrative as a “counter-revolutionary” revolt. had a very negative effect on the official press. It was an anti-Soviet wave that, according to Pйrola, was mitigated by the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and the presentation of the Bolshoi Ballet in Brazil during that year. Pйrola de Carvalho, “Pйrola de Carvalho to Natasha Berezhnaya,” Letter, October 17, 1957, f. P7289 op. 2 d. 1913 l. 28-30, GARF. Lydia da Cunha in a letter to Natasha Berezhnaya also expressed this context of repression when she stated that other civil associations had been closed by the government for protesting against the installation of a military base to launch American missiles and rockets on the main island of the Fernando de Noronha archipelago. Lydia da Cunha, “Lydia Da Cunha to Natasha Berezhnaya,” Letter, February 16, 1957, f. P7289 op. 2 d. 1913 l. 16-17, GARF.

Brazilian women, faced with the closure of their federation, experienced a certain ostracism, something that was quite evident in the correspondence between Lydia and Natasha. While Natasha was sending letters and materials about a popular International Seminar on Women's Rights in the USSR Held in Moscow from September15th to 30th, this seminar seemed very important to SWC, since it appeared quite frequently in MS pages. They claimed that the mobilization to participate to this Seminar was so large that the British women organizations alone sent more than eighty thousand questions. During half a month they would discuss different aspects of women's right in USSR, regarding labor, education, healthcare, etc. It seems that there was no Brazilian delegation sent to this event., Lydia lamented about the inactivity they were experiencing in the political work of the Federation. Natasha, on the other hand, complained that she did not get enough letters from Lydia and that she was having trouble understanding what was going on in Brazil. Natasha Berezhnaya, “Natasha Berezhnaya to Lydia Da Cunha,” April 4, 1957, f. P7289 op. 2 d. 1913 l. 19, GARF. A bit of impatience on the Soviet side appeared in this letter and the asymmetrical situation experienced by both women's organizations has revealed itself.

3.7 Friendship, social rights technology and analogical thinking

In general, some of the previously formed links of the peace movement, like the women's and the students' movements continued and were even intensified in this second period. The Soviet and Brazilian women corresponded through a rather long time, they would ask about their lives and children, and would often celebrate their “friendship” in the letters. It is hard to know exactly when they were speaking about their own friendship as individuals and when they were referring to the broader concept of peoples' friendship. They seem to see themselves as representatives of these friendship between Brazil and URSS.

But a wider aspect of the bilateral relationship between governments, that began to take its first steps since the break-up in the previous decade, was added. The reports of visitors to the USSR appeared repeatedly in the magazine, whether they were hostile to the Tupiniquim communists or even the most faithful to the cause of socialism. In 1956 a delegation of Brazilian MPs visited the USSR. Congresswoman Ivete Vargas, Getъlio Vargas' niece and affiliate of the nationalist and labor trend, led a delegation of congressmen and wrote an account that was published in MS in the September issue of that year. She began her account by stating that `Today workers, men and women, have not only obligations but also rights.' In an attempt to make her account more concrete she used narrative examples similar to those found in Soviet propaganda portraying social rights as something guaranteed through a series of devices I coined as social rights technology: `Doctors, hospitals and medicines are accessible to all. Schools of all levels, nurseries, swimming pools, cultural parks and retirement homes are multiplying. All this demonstrates the constant attention to workers.' Ivete Vargas, “Todo Esto Lo a Creado El Pueblo,” La Mujer Soviйtica, September 1956, 33.

Most of the visitor delegations were taken by their Soviet guests not only to the big and historic capitals like Leningrad and Moscow, but also to the cities of the former periphery of the Russian empire like Tiflis, Baku, Yerevan or to the countries of the considered “popular democracies” like Czechoslovakia, Poland and the German Democratic Republic. This certainly reinforces the point I made in the first chapter that the Soviet narrative sought to demonstrate the civilizing character of its system and the application of social rights technology in the process. Vargas and the Brazilian delegation were also brought to one of the places. She mentioned Baku as a place that enjoy political equality to other republics and that it was being economically developed as powerful and rich nation to the happiness of its new generations. Vargas, 33. Later, in her accounts, she mentioned Brazil, as a country that also aspires to be independent, developed and happy as the Soviet Union is. One can clearly see the analogical thinking acting as the promoter of a model here. However, the absence of any mention to socialism or revolution seems to indicate that the Soviet narrative may Even though that MS magazine made its content less “straight forward revolutionary”, not employing controversial terms such as proletarian dictatorship, the celebrations of October Revolution were done every year; Lenin's portrait reduced its frequency but did not vanished (unlike Stalin after 1956). So, at least for the magazine the Revolution still played a part of the propaganda. Especially after the Chinese and Cuban revolutions, this word renewed its importance. have had repressed some aspects that involved the harsh birth of the USSR, giving greater importance to its positive achievements.

In the context of civic organizations, such as the SWC and the FMB, when congresses took place, the Soviets took the opportunity to take the delegations, before or after the event, to get to know different places and institutions. After the IV WIDF Congress held in early June 1958 in Vienna, a delegation of Latin American women, including Brazilians, was taken to visit multiple places in the USSR. While Chileans and Mexicans visited Central Asia, Brazilians went to visit Leningrad and the Baltic republics. In the December 1958 issue, an article reported that after visiting historical sites in Leningrad, such as the Hermitage museum, the guests wanted to visit children's institutions and so they were taken to a pioneer colony, with sanatoriums and children's hospitals. Maria Aragгo, aforementioned, was asked if there were similar institutions in Brazil and allegedly answered: `Yes, in Brazil there are sanatoriums, rest houses and hospitals for children. They are very good institutions. But they have a flaw: they are very expensive to stay in. That is why very few Brazilian children can rest and heal there; only those with wealthy parents...' Jimach and Kusnetsova, “ЎBienvenidas!,” 04. Again, the analogy seemed to be in place while the social rights technology appeal did its magic to distinguish, condensing the already known institutions and arranging them to work for all, not only those who can pay.

Joгo Belline Burza He was one of the founders of the Cultural Association Brazil-USSR and was persecuted and arrested for six months by the military in 1964, even not being a communist. He managed to flee the country and exiled in the Soviet Union. Once there, he became a member of the Academy of Sciences. A case of a political dissident that did not fled the Soviet Union, but there found his refuge., a physician and professor at the University of Sгo Paulo, studied for his Ph.D. in the USSR and spent two years in Soviet territory. A thank-you text of his authorship was published in the April 1958 edition. His account was also characterized by the listing of institutions and public apparatuses `I have been everywhere I wanted, and have known many things. I have seen museums and theatres, parks, schools and universities, hospitals and laboratories. I have seen factories, collective farms, mines, heavy industry centers and atomic energy stations for peaceful use.' Joгo Belline Burza, “Gracias, Uniуn Soviйtica,” La Mujer Soviйtica, April 1958, 41.An article in May 1959 reporting on the lives of Latin American students in Moscow, said a Brazilian physics student lived like any Muscovites, with free access to the library, medical care and paid a very cheap rent, in addition to receiving a scholarship of nine hundred rubles a month. The article ends by emphasizing how this exchange strengthens the friendship of youth. Tamara Yarlomovich, “Ellуs Estudian En Moscъ,” La Mujer Soviйtica, May 1959, 5.

3.8 Syncretic ideals: Soviet atheists were the true Christians

Although, we should not underestimate the ability of the receiver of these messages to filter and adopt them partially, re-elaborating and interpreting according to its own goals and beliefs. As Conrad Conrad, What Is Global History, 78. stated, Global History should be more preoccupied with the process of appropriation rather the origins, to which global challenge these connections were motivated to be made. Soviet Union, as said, did not invented social rights, but it broadcasted to respond to a post-war and Cold War situation of the rising Global South seeking for independence, development and for some particular actors, social rights.

But this challenge was not responded through a monolithic answer. Brazilians would re-elaborate this response in their own terms, even when complying with their Soviet peers. A particular trend in Brazilian speech was perceptible. Even formally agreeing with the Soviet policy, being led and inspired by them, their speech was not quite the same. A short text by Aldenora de Sб Porto published in September 1958 revealed this tenuous difference. Her text, published on the first page of this particular issue of the magazine, was addressed not to the already admirers and followers of the USSR, but to those who were for some reason cultivating a hostile stand. She used as a basis for her argument the criticism of prejudices against the Soviet people and their women, such as being less elegant or masculine because of overwork or being atheistic. She appealed to some kind of religious sentiment:

And a foreigner came to see her, to hear her! She contemplated the clear beauty of her blue eyes, the eloquence of her words, which are Love and Peace. May the hungry wolves devour themselves in their own sands, the truth will break through! To see her in the fullness of her work, it is not necessary to expel God from your religion, it is not necessary to violate the laws of your country. Let us do the same. Let us cease to inquire if in your heart there is a God empowering you with a soul. It is too mesquite to pray for peace only for your own. For this supreme desire for peace is already the presence of good fortune, of one who approaches the true meaning of `love one another.' Aldenora de Sб Porto, “ЎPaz! ЎPaz! ЎPaz!,” La Mujer Soviйtica, September 1958, 01.

She not only identified the Christian principle of 'love one another' with the positions uttered by the Soviet propaganda of peace, but classified it as its “true meaning.” The idyllic romanticism mixed with Christian meanings for peace, love, truth shows that some Brazilian women tended to move towards an syncretic interpretation when they received the Soviet propaganda, adapting it to their context, their mindset so that they idealized an almost Edenic Soviet Union, an almost biblical paradise built on Earth.