ABSTRACT
This article takes the murder of five rural workers on the terrace of Estreliana sugar factory as a starting point for analysing the struggle for labor rights in Pernambuco's Forest Zone. It investigates how, besides the use of violence, a visual and written narrative was articulated to classify, qualify and build meanings for the vindicatory action of the peasants. It also presents how these meanings, constituted by the ideas of social disorder and subversion, were used by sectors of the agrarian elite to seek benefits from the federal government and strengthen their political power.
Keywords:
rural workers; violence; coup d'état; photography; press; history
