The time before, a time of claims and conquests (1953-1964)

Memory and identity of the naval workers of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

The article seeks to understand the uses of memory by a group of naval workers from the cities of Niterói and São Gonçalo, testifying about the repression practiced by the civil-military dictatorship (1964-1985), in the Comissão Estadual da Verdade do Rio de Janeiro (cev-rj). The time before the dictatorship, remembered as the time of claims and conquests, is hailed by our respondents as a period that turned union leadership into a political vanguard. Memories of a golden age, imaginary or not, make it possible to discuss the history of these workers around Guanabara Bay in the liberal-democratic republic interrupted by the 1964 coup.