In war and peace: the saga of Elisa Branco – woman and communist (1950-1951)

Abstract

At the 1950 military parade on Independence Day in the city of São Paulo, communist activist Elisa Branco Batista protested against the possibility of sending Brazilian soldiers to fight in the Korean War. She was arrested and convicted. Using the newspapers Diário da Noite, Imprensa Popular, Voz Operária and the collection of DEOPS under the custody of the Public Archives of the State of São Paulo, the article’s objective is to discover an important period in the life of Elisa Branco Batista, in the context of the political line established by the Communist Party of Brazil (PCB) in the “Manifesto de Agosto de 1950” and of the performance of Brazilian communists in the campaigns for peace, in the beginning of that decade. The PCB, through its press, developed narratives about Elisa that emphasized her courage, heroism and daring. At the same time, communist newspapers reproduced traditional norms, standards and conventions on the existence of women in Brazilian society. The image that emerged of Elisa was that of the communist activist who should serve as an example for all members of the party, women in particular, acting as a mother, wife and housewife in the private space and working in political and social movements in the public space. Although her name was well known among communist militants in the first half of the 1950s, Elisa Branco later became absent in the militants’ memory and in the historiography about the Brazilian Communist Party.