From the Cabaret to the Home: The Utopia of the Disciplinary City and Anarchist Resistance - Brazil 1890-1930

An enlightening analysis of the Brazilian anarchist movement.

Challenging the tradition of a history of the labor movement written by intellectuals and leaders linked to the Communist Party, Margareth Rago brings to the fore anarchist militancy, which until then had been discredited, relegated to a romantic, unconscious, and inconsequential moment. Supported by rigorous research and largely unpublished sources, the book clarifies that anarchism was fundamental to the formation of the Brazilian working class and the development of a working-class culture, unique and distinct from that embodied by its bosses.

Furthermore, the author breaks with the masculine and masculinizing version of the history of the working class and the workers' movement. She emphasizes the importance of women's presence in the nascent Brazilian working class, from the late 19th century to the 1930s, and the role that anarchist discourse played in establishing the first questions about gender hierarchies and in asserting women's right to work outside the home.