The Brazilian Abolitionist Confederation was a political organization created on May 9, 1883, which brought together anti-slavery societies from all over the Empire with the objective of pressuring the Brazilian government to put an end to slavery. It mainly used the press, theater, meetings, conferences and local emancipation funds as forms of activism. Some of the most famous leaders of the Brazilian Abolitionist Movement were involved in the organization, such as José do Patrocínio, Joaquim Nabuco, André Rebouças, Luiz Gama and João Clapp.
The institutionalization of the Abolitionist Confederation occurred within a political and economic context marked by strong international pressure to end slavery in Brazil. Although the subject had been in vogue since the late 1860s, it was only in the 1880s that the Abolitionist Movement gained strength. At this time, there was an increase in the circulation of activists, rhetoric and strategies through new technologies such as steamships and telegraph technology, which made it possible to spread political debates and experiences on an international scale and pushed various activists from different countries to build alliances or sociability networks. As a result, groups of people who shared the same interests developed, and over the years these associations began to work together to establish communication, resulting in the emergence of several national political associations. This model of properly structured collective action, known as associativism, was originally found in European countries such as England and France, and was used as a reference by Brazilian anti-slavery activists to build local activism in harmony with the subjectivities found in Brazil's national context and political tradition.
An adaptation made in Brazil can be noted regarding the meeting places, since in other countries, the groups met in churches, and in Brazil, most abolitionists gathered in theaters, which brought some characteristics to the movement, such as involvement with the arts, the dramatization of slavery and the theatricalization of politics. According to a survey carried out in the Almanak Laemmert, Cláudia Regina Andrade dos Santos demonstrates the expansion of associative life in Rio de Janeiro during the 1880s. According to her, the increase in the number of these institutions was strongly connected to the intensification of political debates and the political activism of Brazil's popular abolitionist sectors. She also states that the National Abolitionist Movement changed the field of politics through associations, creating clubs, societies, guilds and schools of different ideological, social and political hues. As a result, in 1883, the Abolitionist Movement succeeded in bringing together various organizations in a common program, known as Abolitionist Confederation.
The Brazilian Abolitionist Confederation was created at 6 p.m. on May 9, 1883, at a meeting organized at the headquarters of Gazeta da Tarde in Rio de Janeiro and was responsible for coordinating several anti-slavery associations and developing the Abolitionist Movement among the provinces of the Empire. It was also able to nationalize the campaign with its way of easily reproducing events and decisions, using public sessions, conferences and festivals. Its activities in newspapers, which published articles, pamphlets, essays, artistic productions, translations and manifestos, were responsible for enabling contact at national level between those who led the provinces and the others who took part in the movement. Before its creation, there were two other institutions fighting against slavery in Brazil: the Sociedade Brasileira Contra a Escravidão (English: Brazilian Society Against Slavery) and the Associação Central Emancipadora (English: Central Emancipation Association).
Initially, the societies that formed the Abolitionist Confederation were mostly student unions, but there was also a social variety, which included associations of printers, commercial employees and former slaves. Most of the organizations were located in the provinces of Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, Ceará, Rio Grande do Sul and Espírito Santo, but as time went by, they became more widespread in the territory. There were several historical figures among the anti-slavery groups that joined the Confederation who stood out for their work in the Abolitionist Movement, including Joaquim Nabuco, André Rebouças, Abílio Borges and Luiz Gama. The last three mentioned receive less prestige when the subject of abolition comes up, but their participation, even if independent, was fundamental to the development of political strategies in the Abolitionist Movement.
Members of the Abolitionist Confederation
Abolitionism had several promoters, both regional and national, including Luiz Gama, who, according to Angela Alonso, was the person behind the articulation of judicial activism; Abílio Borges, who united national and international mobilization; José do Patrocínio, who coordinated the excellent strategies in the public arena; and André Rebouças, the most important articulator of the group, since he was an aristocrat and the son of a politician, which allowed him to circulate in public spaces, do business with employers and get close to students and theater professionals.
One of the greatest virtues of the Brazilian Abolitionist Movement is its diversity – differences in social position, status, region of origin, career, access to the political system among abolitionists – which, despite generating internal conflicts, enables the process of forming new alliances. A significant part of the activists had a lifestyle unrelated to slavery; they were part of the middle and lower sectors of the Empire's urban social stratum. With the end of the transatlantic slave trade and the rise of the interprovincial slave trade, the number of captives had become concentrated in areas of agricultural production and among wealthier families; civil servants, merchants and liberal professionals generally had few or no slaves. Abolitionists also included students, journalists, writers, artists, members of the army, commercial employees, printers, journeymen, among others.
Women took part in activism through philanthropy, organizing events and fundraisers, helping their husbands, fathers and brothers, and taking part in artistic performances. They also founded abolitionist societies, including Ave Libertas, which was formed in Recife. Angela Alonso states that throughout the abolitionist campaign, women were part of six mixed societies and 21 exclusively female societies. In general terms, this diversity boosted the number of people in the movement and made it possible to divide up activities, which proved to be unique but complementary styles of activism.
Manifesto of the Abolitionist Confederation
The Manifesto of the Abolitionist Confederation of Rio de Janeiro was written at a meeting of the Confederation on August 11, 1883, and signed by a group of abolitionist organizations. One of the manifesto's main points was that abolitionist propaganda was not a sentimental anarchist yearning or question, nor was it philosophical, but rather a presentation of the rights contained in parliamentary treaties. Within constitutional limits, abolitionist propaganda had the right to ask to be heard by the people's representatives. The intention of the document is to ensure that all the provinces and people of the Empire listen to what is being said, because according to the text, slave ownership is criminal, given that human freedom is fundamental for the three natural laws of social progress to operate: solidarity, competition and mutuality.
According to the manifesto, the city of Rio de Janeiro is the space that provides the debate over abolition, by uniting and opposing those interested in the issue from an economic, institutional and political perspective. At first, the text presents a history of slavery that began in the colonial period, showing the background to the enslavement of indigenous people and Africans in Brazil. The document also reports on other aspects of the history of the advances and setbacks made in the Empire's path towards abolition.
In the manifesto, freedom must be an essential and decisive principle in the organization of a society. In this political dispute, the Manifesto of the Abolitionist Confederation of Rio de Janeiro states that everyone should be free, affirming that equality and the right to freedom is everyone's right.
Methods of activism In the early days of its formation, the Brazilian Abolitionist Movement interacted with international movements and was inspired by their forms of action. However, given the specificities of the Brazilian scenario, the actions could not simply be transposed to Brazilian militancy. The Anglo-American model of mobilization guided the actions of the Brazilian movement, but unlike the US, for example, which had the support of the Protestant Church and organized its militancy in Quaker associations, in Brazil, a Catholic country, the Church was one of the state institutions, as was slavery. This scenario was similar to that of the Spanish colonies, Puerto Rico and Cuba, which were also going through the abolition process in the 1870s.
The Abolitionist Confederation formulated several strategies to win the fight against slavery, and one of the greatest resources used by the abolitionists was rhetoric, whose practice was introduced by the country's intellectual and political tradition through Portuguese educational institutions. According to the author Júlio César de Souza Dória, rhetoric was the structure of the Brazilian linguistic and political context in the 1880s. The presence of rhetorical elements in parliamentary speeches, streets, conferences and newspaper articles that circulated in the Empire show that the adoption of this discursive practice served as a way of organizing ideas, with the purpose of convincing the public and opponents of the cause. However, after 1885, the Abolitionist Movement, dissatisfied with the slow pace of the project to gradually abolish slavery, rebelled against the state, changing its peaceful orientation.
According to Angela Alonso, there were three phases of the Brazilian Abolitionist Movement. The first took place between 1868 and 1871, when the first cycle of anti-slavery mobilization emerged in the Brazilian public arena, led by members of the imperial elite. The state's reaction to this early mobilization was tolerant, and these pioneering activists of the Abolitionist Movement managed to convey the movement's cause and strategy, even if their actions were not very active.
The second phase took place between 1872 and 1887. With the law in force, the departure of the Conservative Party from government and the arrival of the Liberals, there was a nationalization of mobilization and an intensification of abolitionist protests. Between 1884 and 1887, there were 896 pro-abolition mobilization events in Brazil, without support from other institutions, but also without state repression.
The third and final phase covers the 80s of the 19th century, characterized by the predominance of the Abolitionist Movement. The most radical confrontations between abolitionists and slaveholders took place during this period, mainly in 1885. In this context, the abolitionists used legal and extra-legal strategies to succeed in the end of slavery. In 1884, the movement became institutionalized and began to help the government with the gradual emancipation project. The opposition to the union between the government and the movement was considerable, and the group formed by slave owners showed its strength in the elections. In 1885, the final period of confrontational abolitionist mobilization occurred. After being expelled from the public arena, the movement began to break the law with direct actions.
Legal forms of activism
Press