The end of slavery in Brazil and the increase in the number of immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries would abruptly transform the reality of the country's large urban centers.
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Slaves and immigrants went to the main Brazilian cities in search of jobs, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo became the main destination for people who believed that migrating to the urban area would be the solution for their problems. Investment in industrialization generated an increase in the number of job openings, which attracted this poorer population.
When they arrived in the cities, they were soon able to settle down to some work, but as the workforce was unskilled, the bosses paid meager wages. The work routine was exhausting, the lack of supervision and efficient labor laws contributed to the exploitation of employees.
Men, women and many times even children ended up working sixteen hours a day. The salary was barely enough for food, constantly in debt due to the high price of rent, the workers lived in substandard housing, in an unhealthy environment without the slightest sanitation conditions basic.
One of these dwellings was the tenement, a complex formed by several houses and inhabited by several families. Another type of collective housing was the workers' villages, created by employers in regions far from cities and close to factories, these constructions were a way for the boss to keep the employee close to the workplace and under his constant surveillance. This population increase would contribute to the proliferation of various epidemics, which would worry government health agents.
Aiming to put an end to these problems generated by population expansion, the federal and municipal governments would launch a campaign to revitalize urban centers. In addition to trying to contain the spread of epidemics, the government of Rio de Janeiro had a project in mind to increase tourism in the city. it would need to modernize the transport system, widen the streets, the objective was to beautify the city and remove from the center anything that could displease the elites and citizens. tourists.
The urban reform coordinated by the then mayor Pereira Passos began with the removal of tenements and other housing belonging to poor families in the central areas of the city. The order was to demolish everything to contain the epidemics and give way to progress, this policy was also known as “put down”. Residents without a place to stay are transferred to the most distant regions of the city, Mayor Pereira Passos, according to some historians is responsible for stimulating the emergence of the first favelas cariocas.
The urban reform undertaken by Mayor Pereira Passos had the full support of the President of the Republic at the time, Rodrigues Alves. This measure contributed to the increase of contradictions between rich and poor, the poorest population was marginalized, suffered all kinds of prejudice and social exclusion.
In addition to the urban reform, the government began an intense program to eradicate epidemics, led by the public health doctor Oswaldo Cruz vaccination campaigns took the population by surprise. On November 9, 1904, a decree was published authorizing the mandatory vaccination of the population against diseases such as yellow fever, smallpox, bubonic plague and measles. The population rebels against the government's arbitrariness, this reaction became known as the Vaccine Revolt.
The verses written below illustrate very well the social context of the period of popular revolt against vaccination.
In a somewhat distant time,
In the city that today is wonderful,
There was a horrible uprising.
Unhealthy and crowded tenements
They sheltered the poor.
the people died
And from various diseases he suffered.
Oh, what a sad past!
The law people didn't listen to poor ears.
Their voices were mere noises.
And the humble shacks,
They were nothing but hindrances to progress.
Frightened eyes were not significant,
Much less the suffocating screams.
(Vaccine Revolt-Bianca Ferreira Moraes)
The urban reform and the mass vaccination campaign contributed to the reduction of diseases and unhealthy environments, it would have been an excellent government strategy, however the authoritarianism employed by vaccination agents created an environment of panic among the poor population and hardworking.
The campaign became so strict that vaccination certificates were required in several situations: marriage, school enrollment, government jobs, hotel accommodation, factory jobs, etc.
The importance of vaccination campaigns is undeniable, but unlike what happened at the beginning of the 20th century in Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian population is currently oriented on the benefits of vaccines, many diseases were eradicated from Brazil and this is due to the fact that the population's awareness through advertisements on radio, tv or internet promoted by the organs of health.
In 1904, a mixture of fear and revolt took over the population, the urban reform had already excluded them and now the violence undertaken in the health campaigns left these people scared. The lack of information was such that many came to believe that vaccination would be a way to kill the most needy population and solve Brazil's social problems at once. The alternative found was to rebel.
The first outbreaks of popular agitation were registered on the tenth of November, crowds gathered in the center of the city and a true rebellion began. Cars and trams were vandalized, businesses looted, lighting and public pavements were destroyed. Chaos was widespread, to contain the revolt the government would need to tighten repression.
The center of Rio de Janeiro looked more like a battlefield, to contain the popular it was necessary to resort to the help of the armed forces, which used a veritable arsenal to destroy the foci of revolt. Bombs were used in neighborhoods and warships around the federal capital. Mandatory vaccination was temporarily suspended, the government declared a state of emergency to resolve the crisis.
The intensification of repression ended up suffocating the movement and the punishment of those involved should be exemplary to prevent new rebellions from occurring. The Vaccine Revolt left a balance of thirty deaths and more than one hundred wounded. The punishment of the rebels ranged from physical punishment, imprisonment and deportation to the State of Acre.
With the end of the revolt, the government continued normally with vaccination campaigns. This movement involved a set of factors that show the disregard for the welfare of the most needy populations, the rebellion was not only against the vaccine, but also against the humiliating situation with which the underprivileged are forced to live together.
Lorena Castro Alves
Graduated in History and Pedagogy
