Quiz 13: Brazil: Populism and the Struggle for Democracy in a Multiracial Society

Valorization refers to a government policy of A) maintaining coffee prices by assigning strict quotas to exporters. B) expanding coffee exports by using barter in international trade. C) maintaining coffee prices by requiring payment in U.S. dollars. D) maintaining coffee prices by withholding stocks from the market.

The collapse of Brazil's rubber cycle was due to A) a blight on the rubber trees. B) attacks on rubber collectors by hostile natives. C) competition from more efficient plantations in the Far East. D) the development of synthetic rubber.

The junior officers' revolt of the 1920s A) signaled the origins of a struggle by Brazil's middle class to seize power from the rural oligarchy. B) reflected their belief that only a strong military dictatorship could solve Brazil's social problems. C) reflected their awareness of the crucial importance of the agrarian problem. D) reflected the charismatic appeal of Luís Carlos Prestes.

The Vargas revolution of 1930 represented a victory for A) urban groups favoring industrialization and modernization of Brazil's socioeconomic structures. B) the cattle raisers of Rio Grande do Sul over the coffee interests of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. C) small landowners over the fazendeiro class. D) the Brazilian working class.

Vargas's solutions for the Great Depression centered on A) abandonment of efforts to rescue coffee from its plight. B) encouragement of foreign investment in Brazil. C) large public works financed through taxes on large estates. D) import substitution through industrialization.

Vargas's program of social reform included A) the creation of an elaborate social security system for the working class. B) a land reform looking to the liquidation of the latifundio. C) an electoral code granting the vote to illiterates. D) nationalization of large foreign companies.

The Estado Novo of 1937 A) closely resembled European fascist states in its structure and aims. B) despite its repressive aspects, continued the effort to achieve economic independence. C) sided with the Axis powers during World War II. D) imposed sharp restrictions on the influx of foreign capital.

Vargas's suicide A) foreshadowed the defeat of the populist model of independent capitalist development. B) signaled the rebirth of democracy in Brazil. C) represented a victory for middle-class interests over the fazendeiros. D) paved the way for the establishment of a military dictatorship.

The Kubitschek era was characterized by A) a considerable increase in the value of exports and a sharp decline in inflationary pressures. B) a massive increase of foreign investment attracted by generous incentives. C) a large expansion of social welfare programs. D) inadequate attention to the construction of roads and other needed infrastructure.

Goulart's reform program included A) a tax reform designed to reduce the inequities of Brazil's income distribution. B) expropriation of all estates over a certain size. C) the formation of peasant unions and militias to weaken the power of the fazendeiros. D) denial of the vote to the military.

With respect to the military coup of 1964, the United States A) displayed strict neutrality. B) protested against the coup as an infringement of democracy. C) gave the military assurances of immediate recognition and support for the new government. D) vacillated in its attitude.

After the abolition of slavery, Brazil's white supremacist policies stressed "whitening," a policy that did everything except A) undermine recently emancipated blacks' ability to negotiate favorable wages and working conditions. B) increase opportunities for immigrant women, especially from Italy, who dominated employment in textile industry. C) encourage European immigration by offering free land to prospective immigrants. D) promote interracial marriage as a means of diluting the influence of African culture on Brazil.

During the war, Brazilian women were A) a relatively insignificant proportion of the industrial work force. B) largely docile, hostile to labor unions, willing to accept lower wages than men, and deferred to managerial authority. C) very militant because of their paid and unpaid work responsibilities in the factory and in the home. D) limited to household activities and relatively uninterested in asserting their rights.

In the early twentieth century, expanding market forces A) had very little significant effect on Brazilian social relations. B) created new opportunities for peasants to own property and accumulate wealth. C) produced a wave of unparalleled prosperity that reduced foreign dependence and stabilized Brazilian society. D) dissolved traditional rural patron-client social relations and unleashed a subaltern culture of rural resistance.

During the 1920s, black Brazilians reacted to white supremacist policies by doing everything except A) joining Marcus Garvey's black power movement. B) practicing "candomble," a popular religion that evoked consciousness of the African past. C) creating the Brazilian Black Front to demand black representation in the National Congress. D) organizing massive protests against race discrimination.

Motta Diniz was a 19^th century Brazilian woman who had declared that A) "in all the world, barbarous or civilized, woman is a slave." B) "working women have a right to participate in electoral struggles." C) "women who work in factories... are competing with men..., becoming victims of capitalism." D) "to truly liberate ourselves, we must organize a strike of the wombs."

Berta Lutz was an activist who organized the A) Brazilian Black Front to demand racial integration of all public places. B) Black Experimental Theater to cultivate African consciousness among blacks. C) Brazilian Federation for the Advancement of Women to advocate State intervention to protect female labor. D) São Paulo strike that won significant concessions from industrialists and energized the national labor movement.

The "Thirteen Principles" advocated all the following except A) women's suffrage and civil equality. B) the right to birth control and abortion. C) affirmative action in government employment and medical, disability, and retirement insurance. D) equal pay for equal work, a minimum wage, the eight-hour day, and paid maternity leave for working women.

The Estado Novo, Vargas's Depression-era dictatorship, sought to A) encourage women to work outside the home. B) expand the power and influence of trade unions. C) eliminate special protections for working mothers and children. D) return women to the private patriarchal province of home and family.

Blunted by repression and war-time cooptation of union leadership, worker discontent A) disappeared in the prosperity that flowed from import substitution industrialization. B) gave way to a new era of trade union corruption, quiet cooperation, and class harmony. C) was limited to isolated textile companies that viciously exploited women and child labor. D) expressed itself in popular protest sambas, clandestine factory commissions, and spreading absenteeism.

By the late 1950s and early 1960s, Brazilian workers did all of the following except A) elect leftist union leaders less inclined to collaborate with industrialists or the state. B) become a more significant political force and expanded their autonomy from state controls. C) increasingly rely on strikes and uncompromising demands for wage hikes to secure their interests. D) elect national and state political leaders whose nationalist programs protected Brazilians from foreign competition.

Originally, the samba drew upon ritualistic African rhythms and dance to A) mock the customs, attitudes, dress, and beliefs of the aristocracy. B) prepare for the Lenten season of self-sacrifice. C) celebrate the divine power of Ogun. D) deplore wanton sexuality and wild, defiant behavior.

Which of the following was not typical of samba lyrics? A) They raised serious social and political issues. B) They celebrated technological innovation and modernization. C) They scorned the arrogant power of the upper classes. D) They used clever word play and double entendre to criticize social injustice.

Radio broadcasts of samba music A) popularized it and changed Brazil's national cultural identity. B) expanded its appeal to Paris, from which Francophile Brazilian elites adopted it. C) made it accessible to light-skinned, Eurocentric plantation elites. D) helped local police officials to harass poor people.

Which of the following does not describe the Bossa Nova? A) It rescued Brazilian national music from the uncontrollable rhythms of the samba. B) It emphasized modernity, personal freedom, and the pursuit of individual pleasure. C) It relied heavily on syncopated jazz rhythms imported from the United States. D) It memorialized the daily struggles of Brazil's popular classes.

The leader of the Tenentes Revolt was A) Getulio Vargas. B) Berta Lutz. C) Luis Carlos Prestes. D) João Goulart.

During World War II, a leading role in opposing the Estado Novo dictatorship was played by A) trade union leaders and fazendeiros. B) junior military officers and peasants. C) women's rights groups and rank-and-file workers. D) intellectuals and the middle class.

The military coup that overthrew the Estado Novo dictatorship was led by A) Eurico Dutra. B) Luis Carlos Prestes. C) Getulio Varagas. D) Juscelino Kubitschek.

The Afonso Arinos Act was a rather timid law that nonetheless prohibited A) gender discrimination. B) racial discrimination in Brazil's "racial democracy." C) discrimination against foreigners. D) discrimination against Jews.

Kubitschek relied heavily upon foreign loans to fund a modernization program that included A) creation of a state-owned oil company called Petrobras. B) a shift from agricultural export production to industrial production for the local market. C) expansion of nationalist regulations on foreign investment. D) construction of a new capital, Brasilia, and "highways of national unity."

What factors shaped Brazilian social, economic, and cultural development in the early 20th century and what specific role did women play?

Why was it natural for the revolts of the 1920s to be led by the tenentes, or junior officer class? How did the "long march" influence the reform program of the tenentes?

Describe the populist strategies pursued by Vargas as he sought to construct an autonomous Brazilian capitalism. Why did these strategies fail?

How did race and class rivalries affect the development of popular culture in Brazil?

What factors set the stage for the military coup of 1964? What was the role of the United States in the preparations for the coup?