ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the alternative forms of working-class organizations developed to press for workers’ demands and analyzes their contribution to the emergence of the “new union” movement. Although unions had made rapid advances over the years preceding the 1964 coup, they failed to build sturdy organizations capable of withstanding the impact of repression and economic crisis. The massive mobilizations which marked the years between 1958 and 1963 gave the illusion of strong, well developed working-class organizations with the power to confront other political forces. The advent of military rule exposed labor’s weaknesses as workers were unable to resist widespread ministerial interventions and the dismantling of the militant parallel organizations. The main thrusts of the Movimento de Loteamentos Clandestinos were to define the legal situation of the residents and also to obtain urban services for the neighborhoods by pressing for municipal assistance.
