The more the march of the preventive counter-revolutionary coup d’Etat of the Armed Forces advances in Brasil, the more the divergences show up in their leadership as a reflection of the contradictions in the local ruling classes of big bourgeois and landlords.
This historical division in the Armed Forces can be explained because of the semicolonial and semifeudal character of our country, whose backward capitalism is based on a big bourgeoisie with feudal origin associated to the landownership and submmitted to imperialism. The big bourgeoisie is composed by two fractions: a compradora – linked to the business and banks – and a bureaucratic, originated from the merging of the large capital and the State, configurating the State monopoly capital. This bureaucratic fraction is different because it uses the State for leveraging their capital through financing opportunities, tax waivers and some other ways to handle the national treasure.
The political diferentiation and struggles between the fractions of the big bourgeoisie and the landownership, determined by the semicolonial and semifeudal nature, were originated from a pact imposition between the landlords from São Paulo and Minas Gerais who, with the Republic declaration, had their oligarchies placed in the complete political domain of a lackey State to the English imperialism. It was among the young officials that were expressed in a overwhelming manner the anti-oligarchic democratic aims resulting in the emergence, in the form of an armed struggle, of the Movimento Tenentista in the 20 and 30 decades of last century.
Despite all heroism and invincibility, the Coluna Prestes, as a result of the rebellions from July 5th, 1922 to 1924, of its political debility ( resulting from its ideological eclecticism) did not succeed in removing the oligarchic Artur Bernardes’ government. However, it has seriously shaken the colonels’republic. It was then that the Liberal Movement led by Getulio Vargas, taking possession of the Tenentismo’s goals, put an end in the “Old Republic” through an armed movement, badly named “The 1930 Revolution”.
The huge majority of the General Staff of the Coluna Prestes would join the movement Vargas was leading ( who had been the Finance Minister of Washington Luis government, under the Old Republic). In the first years of 1930, part of the members of Tenentismo were frustated with Vargas government, accusing him of betraying the movement ideals and becoming opposition to it. From this military dissidence, plus part of the petty and media bourgeoisie ( intellectuals included), it would result the Liberating National Alliance (ANL). It was led by the Communist Party of Brasil, with a relatively solid programme advocating the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, agrarian and democratic national revolution. The anti-imperialist and anti-fascist character ( fascism was rising in Europe and soon Vargas government would join it). Right after an organized fascist movement appeared – the Brazilian Integralist Action, the ‘green hens’ – that was the peak of cohesion in that first fascist experience with a united anti-fascist front in the whole world.
The Tenentismo members who followed Vargas, re-incorporated to the Armed Forces ( there were not a few who reached high positions), went definitely to the reaction field by confronting the 1935 People’s Upheaval.
They united with the militaries and forces against which they had fought during the whole decade of 1920 when they were part of the democratic way. The anti-communism consolidated itself as the ideology of the bureaucratic way of which the Armed Forces are the medulla. Nevertheless, the military grasping, superficial and moralistic that considers the politicians corruption the country’s evil has been consolidated after the Second World War, already under the USA wings, and did not finish the differences corresponding to the bureaucratic and compradora fractions and the landlords. The narrow bourgeois nationalism, linked to the ilusion of “development” with no rupture with the imperialist power, is composed of the anti-communism with the sell-out generals as always, maintainning the nature of the Armed Forces as lackeys of the Yankee imperialism.Thus, the country’s history has been crossing several crisis in which the reactionary role played by the Armed Forces was decisive to devastate the democratic way with fire and sword, with their trials to accomplish the democratic revolution, pending and backward, in order to liquidate this old semifeudal and semicolonial system and its bureaucratic capitalism to give freedom to the people and nation. In a more explicit or underground manner, the struggle between the several fractions of the bourgeoisie and its correspondence in the Armed Forces has been following the history in Brasil as part of the bureaucratic way on its either fascist or demo-liberal form ( the old democracy).
By now, with the machinations for the preventive counter-revolutionary military coup, the debate seems to be updated into two stances being one Temer’s defence of the neo-liberal assault, represented by general Mourão’s speech and against the development theories, remainders of the deep crisis of the bureaucratic capitalism in Brasil.
The appearance of CIA files in 2015, only now opened publicy by the newpaper Globo as a “scoop”, and its repercussion made by the Globo Group, reveals two aspects. The first one is the confirmation of what the torture victims had already exposed on the CIA and generals involvement, including the torture sessions and further murders with the awareness and compliance from the high commands, including the president himself. The second one, the breaking of the Geisel’s immage within part of the officials. His picture was built inside and outside the barracks as a man who had defended the national industry including the war industry, who has signed a nuclear agreement with Germany and has broken the military agreement with the USA, has implemented the development thesis with the PNDs (National Development Plans) and more, who has led the transition from dictatorship to democracy.
This sector of the officials, at least to some extent, has had a good relationship with the three first PT governments which have accepted their requirements for upgrading the Armed Forces: Army, Navy and Air-force, and have implemented development thesis till its last crisis.
With Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment and Temer’s rising, the parcel more recationary and accostumed to the “market” dictates and, of course, to the dictates to the American Embassy takes over. The presence more intense of the generals in the government positions, besides the military intervention in Rio de Janeiro ( which started three months ago) has corroborrated for the reactionarization process and, more, the direction of the preventive military counter-revolutionary coup d’Etat against people’s revolt who cannot stand anymore such an exploitation and oppression.
It is almost certain that the news propagation of the archives contents has warmed up still more and created an internal struggle within the Armed Forces that becomes it public as an weapon for the coup-plotting sectors to assure a command unity.