The politics of the precariat: From populism to Lulist hegemony

Abstract

Ruy Braga's book, by investigating the trajectory of the modern Brazilian precarious proletariat, becomes an important read for those interested in the topic of the formation and union organization of the working class in the country. Through a thorough review of the literature on this topic, the author seeks to construct a “sociology of workers’ unrest”. The analysis begins with the formation of what the author calls the “Brazilian precariat” during populism, goes through its transformation during the strike cycle of the late 1980s, and, leaving aside the 1990s, begins to examine the period which Braga identified as “Lulist hegemony”. With this route, we intend to demonstrate that, despite the difficulties imposed by peripheral social conditions, the self-organization of the precariat was not blocked and its political practice was transformed into a plebeian union reformism refractory to collaboration with companies and built on the struggle for the implementation and expansion of labor rights through belief in the decision-making power of the grassroots.