Representing the Vanguard: The Evolution of Working-Class Imagery in the Liga Operaira/Convêrgencia Socialista, 1974–1980

This paper examines the social history of members of the left-wing student activist group Liga Operária, and later Convergência Socialista, who, in the late 1970s, made the strategic decision to assimilate into blue-collar communities located in the rapidly growing industrial neighborhoods surrounding the city of São Paulo. Targeting the bourgeoning automotive labor sector, "proletarized" activists performed numerous union-oriented activities and became important participants within the labor movement and working-class communities. This paper analyzes the manner in which these activists were represented in Brazilian society from 1974 to 1980. I examine the development of the group's constructed self-identity as depicted in its own news journals, as well as in other pertinent student publications, as well as alternative images created by the mainstream news media and the DEOPS Military Police force. Using a textual analysis of these documents, I argue that the proletarization of a small number of activists in the Liga Operária/Convergência Socialista transformed the identity of the group, thus, allowing non-proletarized members to see themselves as active participants in a vanguard working-class organization.