On Guard Against the Red Menace

This book focuses on the values, beliefs, fears, and actions of Brazilian groups that throughout the twentieth century fought the "red menace." It is based on broad and diversified documentary sources, including police files, archives of political leaders, traditional press periodicals, newspapers, and brochures of right-wing organizations, monuments, caricatures, and photographs. The work is a major contribution to better understanding the political impact of right-wing movements in Brazil and the justifications made for the authoritarian coups of 1937 and 1964. The author explains the intricacy of the political movements, leaderships and organizations that gathered around the fight against communism, as well as the ideas and images used to disseminate their arguments, including international sources of inspiration. On Guard Against the Red Menace helps to understand why a candidate of military origin who promises to rid the country of the reds won the October 2018 elections in Brazil, by adopting a discursive strategy that represents the appropriation of the anti-communist tradition analyzed in this book.