“In Defense of Democratic and Christian Principles, Defeating the Communist Offensive”: The Large Landowners, the Federation of Rural Associations of Rio Grande do Sul and the 1964 Coup

This article aims to analyze the action and mobilization practices of the ruralists from Rio Grande do Sul who gathered around FARSUL in the early 1960s, marked by the emergence of numerous land reform projects in the state and in the country and by the strength of the land struggle movements. I examine the organization’s activities based on an analysis of documents produced by the Federation itself and news published in mainstream newspapers. Finally, I try to analyze the positions taken by the Federation in the face of the land reform projects sponsored by the Jango government and the mobilizations and articulations of FARSUL in the process that culminated in the 1964 coup.

Keywords:
Coup of 1964; FARSUL; Agrarian Reform; Ruralists