ABSTRACT
This paper shows that the universal logic of capitalism can be identified within the singularity of agricultural change in Brazil during the initial period of industrialization (1889-1930), through the mediation of a particular pattern of agricultural transformation based on large estates. The development of agriculture was marked by the process of gradual transformation of the large estates (lafifundia) into modern capitalist enterprises, in such a way that the Brazilian pattern could not be based on small peasant properties. As a result, the development of capitalist relations of production and the productive forces remained weak and was limited to industry, while the majority of the population could not improve its poor living conditions.
KEYWORDS:
Economic history of Brazil; agriculture