This article discusses the context of socioeducational changes that occurred during the First Republic of Brazil, when urban-industrial growth and the increased organizational and numerical force of workers began to be felt, giving rise to the growth of disputes of different groups regarding the education of workers. It focuses on the polemics waged between members of the Catholic clergy and anarchist militants to get the workers to join their concepts of education.
workers’ movement; education; polemics; anarchism; Catholicism