186 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 2 



The assessment and collection of local taxes are 

 made by the State government. Although an offi- 

 cial for this purpose resides in the village, he is 

 directly responsible to municipio officials. The 

 State also assigns to the distrito, of which the vil- 

 lage under study is the seat, a soldado who lives 

 in the village. The local schools are State-estab- 

 lished and supported. The calling of young men 

 for military training is a Federal function. 



In general, little concern is paid locally to poli- 

 tics outside the municipio. In a real sense, the 

 latter is still the fundamental unit of Brazilian 

 Government, in spite of the increasing trend to 

 centralization during the last two decades. For 

 villagers and farmers of the local community, the 

 State government appears remote and the Fed- 

 eral Government has little meaning. "The elec- 

 tion for governor doesn't interest us very much," 

 said a village official and local political leader. 

 "Those people live in another world. It's the 

 election of the prefeito and our own vereador that's 

 aqui em casa (here at home). If our candidates 

 for these two offices are elected, we have support 

 and can get what we need for the village. If we 

 all stick together, we'll come out on top. The fight 

 there in Boa Vista is awfully close and we can 

 turn the scales." 



News of Communist activity in the cities has 

 reached the village but there is no Communist ac- 

 tivity in the community, nor has Communist ide- 

 ology at present any local adepts. 



In a recent election, the larger of the two con- 

 tending parties in the community was led by the 

 sub-delegado whose followers include almost all 

 the residents of the village and a considerable por- 

 tion of those in the surrounding area. The minor- 

 ity group was led by a former suh-delegado who, by 

 reason of certain attitudes of superiority shown 

 in the past tOAvard other members of the commu- 

 nity is not well liked. (See Conflict, p. 196.) The 

 local campaign began approximately 4 months be- 

 fore election and was carried on intensely, without 

 the aid of newspaper, radio, leaflet, or poster, until 

 shortly before the day set for the election, when a 

 few posters and leaflets were brought over from 

 the seat of the municipio and copies of the news- 

 paper published there were also distributed. The 

 campaign proceeded largely by way of conversa- 

 tion whenever, either by accident or design, a 

 local leader met a relative, compadre., or other ac- 



quaintance. The degree of intimacy between the , 

 persons in question, their kinship or compadrio 

 relation, the frequency and intensity of their con- 

 tacts, together with the community of interest 

 which they shared, were the more important con- 

 siderations in determining the effectiveness of this 

 camj^aign. Each leader sought to convey to every- 

 one whose vote he thought he might influence, his 

 own idea as to whom he should vote for and why. 

 The leader of the majority group, for instance, 

 would say : 



You must vote for Januario for prefeito and F14vio 

 for vereador. Those are our candidates. I'm voting tliat 

 way and so are all my brothers, my children, my sons-in- 

 law, my daughters-in-law, and my nephews and nieces ; 

 and so is Inacio and Matias and Little Boots ™' and Do- 

 mingos and Z6 and Simao and Rino and Chiquinho. 

 We are all going to vote that way. Everyone here in 

 the village is with us. And mec& is with us too, I'm sure. 

 I'm going to see all your people, your family, and your 

 compadres and tell them how things are. And then on 

 election day, we'll all stand together. If we are united 

 and strong, we can get something done for this place. 



Later, as the campaign proceeded, this leader 

 remarked : 



Td tiido controlado (Everything is "under control"). 

 The "keys" (men of local prestige) are all declaring them- 

 selves. My two brothers "control" all the people there in 

 Rio Abaiso (a local neigliborhood) as far as the sitio of 

 Little Boots. This side of there, Initio and Joao the Ox 

 are the absolute "keys." On the other side of the village 

 there's Z6 Red and Nego and Biruta who "control" from 

 Z^'s place up to the river. On the side of Sao Jos6 dos 

 Patos, there are the Monteiro and Barreto families. In 

 the Black Cross area, the "keys" are also coming out on 

 our side. And here in the village, I and Little Moustache 

 "control" almost everything. 



One Sunday, about 2 weeks before the day set 

 for the election, the candidates for prefeito and 

 vereador of one of the parties, together with sev- 

 eral friends, came over to the village from the 

 seat of the municipio. Two men from the group 

 went into the principal hotequim to "treat" all the 

 local residents who were present. Other men be- 

 gan to distribute leaflets and posters. Two large 

 banners were strung up in the praqa. On one was 

 printed, "Vote for Bento Amorim for vereador. 

 He is your fellow villager and knows your needs" ; 

 and, on the other, "For -prefeito, Lourengo Barros, 

 the man who has no selfish interests." 



"" A nickname. 



