THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE EMPIRE FROM A MARXIST PERSPECTIVE: ON SOCIAL CLASSES AND REVOLUTION IN O TEMPO SAQUAREMA

Abstract

This text aims to reflect on the Marxist influences in the work of Ilmar Rohloff de Mattos, O Tempo Saquarema (The Saquarema Era). It focuses on the contributions of Caio Prado Jr., Florestan Fernandes, Edward Palmer Thompson, and Antonio Gramsci. The intention is to analyze how the thought of these intellectuals contributed to the definition of what the Saquaremas are and what the "Saquarema era" is about. The first two were fundamental to Mattos's understanding of the historical and economic reality of 19th-century Brazil; the latter two provided the concepts that are fundamental to the definition of the Saquaremas. In this way, we will perceive how the use of the concepts of social class and political party, originally coined for post-industrialized realities, seems to be used by Mattos not only as a strategy for understanding politics in Imperial Brazil, but also as an attempt at acceleration, to see what could not be seen in a non-industrialized reality. This is a work of the history of historiography, that is, an analysis of a text that is a historical narrative, of history looking at itself. The methodology employed is that of theoretical-interpretative analysis, conceiving the conceptual foundations that support Mattos's work.