Forjando o inimigo: Getúlio Vargas, a mídia e o grande medo do comunismo

Abstract

The main objective of this master's dissertation is to study how communists, communism, and the concepts that make up their ideology went from being simple, but staunch political opponents, to becoming a permanent justification to reinforce the authoritarianism of the state during the period of Getulio Vargas. It was not only the Getúlio state that was part of the process, but also the hegemonic class, owner or concessionaire of the media, newspapers, and radio stations, as well as conservative classes and institutions and the Church. This dissertation emphasizes the press in the resignification of communism and, in turn, emphasizes its role in the (re)formation of the Brazilian collective imagination. Through the manipulation of the meaning of the term by propaganda, communism was transformed into an element of negative labeling and, therefore, into a resource for sustaining power. the aversion to communism, not only through strong and permanent propaganda, in which the successive official press and propaganda departments stood out, but also through the violent repression of the State, especially during the Estado Novo dictatorship, which was the outcome of the previously described process.