Integralist Youth in the Light of Party Press: Reflections on the 'Arise, Youth!' Section

Abstract

 This article analyzes the discourses and actions of the Águia Branca (White Eagle) Movement within postwar Brazilian integralist press, focusing particularly on the “Ergue-te, mocidade!” (“Rise up, youth!”) section of the nationally circulated weekly A Marcha. Institutionalized under the Confederação de Centros Culturais da Juventude (Confederation of Youth Cultural Centers – CCCJ), the Águia Branca Movement functioned as a political-cultural intervention by Brazilian integralism in the context of redemocratization. Launched in 1952, the initiative represented a strategy to recruit young people for the composition and renewal of integralist political cadres, thereby laying the groundwork for a political project within the democratic framework. Through A Marcha, the main integralist newspaper in the postwar period, this study seeks to examine the nuances of the political languages employed, as well as the concrete experiences of the “white eagles” within various youth associations. Using the “Ergue-te, mocidade!” section - as a material platform for dissemination, indoctrination, and propaganda of the Youth Cultural Centers - this article investigates the mobilization of the Águia Branca youth and its relationship with partisan press dynamics.