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The rasga-listas ( or list rippers) were resistance movements to the 1874 lottery law for
compulsory military service Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it contin ...
in the
Empire of Brazil The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay until the latter achieved independence in 1828. The empire's government was a Representative democracy, representative Par ...
. In 1875, when enlistment for the lottery was due to begin, the rebels managed to turn the law into a "dead charter", postponing the lottery indefinitely. The law abolished the forced recruitment practiced by the
Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...
until then. The old model, known as " blood tribute", was violently conducted by a State with limited administrative and extractive capacity over the population, being a cause of popular rejection of military service. A balance between the State, local authorities and free workers protected workers inserted in
patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...
networks from recruitment, restricting military service to the "rabble" of society. The system captured few recruits and proved ineffective during the
Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War (, , ), also known as the War of the Triple Alliance (, , ), was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It wa ...
(1864–1870). The lottery was a European-inspired modernizing reform intended to make recruitment more rational and egalitarian. A large part of the population did not consider equality in the lottery to be fair and did not trust its directors. The lottery did not change the exempt position of the rich, but it tightened the state's demands on the poor population, removing patronage protection. Its beneficiaries, both landowners and workers, did not accept the threat to their way of living with the old recruitment system. Armed mobs of rebels stormed the draft boards and tore up their lists to stop the process. The rebels exhibited great capacity for collective action and were limited in their use of violence. The movement was popular, with support from local elites and prominent female participation (as in the ). Its geographic reach was vast, occurring in ten
provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...
of the current
Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...
and
Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...
regions, with the greatest strength in
Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...
and in the northeastern ''
agreste The agreste (, "countryside") is a narrow zone of Brazil in the states of Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe and Bahia between the coastal forest '' zona da mata'' and the semiarid ''sertão''. The agreste fades out afte ...
''. Its character was legitimist and reactive, defending established rights and the "natural order" against the threat of the new law. It was typical of the interior revolts that took place in Brazil from 1870 onwards, reacting to modernizing reforms. In the Northeast, it was contemporary and had a similar geography to the Quebra-Quilos Revolt. A new Lottery Law, passed in 1908, was finally implemented in 1916.


The 1874 Sortition Law

Soldiers in 19th century Brazil were recruited voluntarily or by force. Recruitment focused on "vagrants, ex-slaves, orphans, criminals, migrants, unskilled workers and the unemployed". Military service was considered degrading by the free poor population. Recruitment, called "blood tribute" at the time, was violent and followed by a life of punishment and low pay. It managed to attract few recruits, as it was carried out by a weak state (police, civil service and
civil registry Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events ( births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in diffe ...
) in a resistant population. The Paraguayan War strained the system and was time-consuming in part due to inefficient mobilization. In Europe, a reference for the Brazilian elite, the period after the
Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
(1870–1871) was marked by
industrialization Industrialisation (British English, UK) American and British English spelling differences, or industrialization (American English, US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an i ...
, states with greater control over their populations and conscript armies, which, after 1–3 years of service, followed into a growing
reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US v ...
. Brazil was very far from this model. Recruitment reform was demanded by military officers and discussed by parliamentarians for decades. It was finally implemented with Law No. 2,556 of 1874, inspired by the French recruitment system. Parish boards composed of the justice of the peace,
vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...
, and the most senior police officer would hold a first lottery of free men aged 19 to 30 for six years of service. The following lotteries, held annually, would choose between 19-year-old men. The lottery would only take place if there were no volunteers to fill the ranks. The reformers thus intended to modernize the
Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
in the European model, replacing the "human hunt" with a more rational and fair system. For them, the law was a major institutional advance. The Army's manpower, and thus its capacity for national defense, would be improved. The government was then surprised by a negative popular reaction, from almost all social strata. The social status of draftees would be higher than former forced recruits, and thus, the service was made more attractive with a ban on corporal punishments and preferences for veterans in admission to public employment. The distribution of the military burden would be through a theoretically blind, equiprobable and impersonal lottery. The rich would remain exempt, however, while the free poor would be hardest hit. Rural workers would lose their traditional paternal protection from landowners. This clientelistic protection was accepted by the "honored poor", small farmers who fulfilled their family and National Guard obligations, for whom forced recruitment was a natural way of differentiating themselves from the lower strata of the population. Traditional recruits were considered riffraff. Equality with them, as would happen in the lottery, would be an odious situation. The protégés considered the inequality in recruitment fair. Society knew how to live with forced recruitment. It fulfilled a moral function, punishing "robust individuals, petty criminals, unfaithful husbands, ungrateful children, less diligent workers." Populations hitherto invisible to the state and hostile to the 1872 Demographic Census would be enlisted. The drawing would not really be equiprobable and impersonal, as the honesty of the recruiters was not relied on. The difference would be that the exemption, previously regulated by law, would be hidden, becoming a market object. The absence of the traditional exemption for married men created resistance to the law among women, although the number of married people until then exempt was not so great, as there were a large number of illegitimate unions and concubinage relationships among the poor. The first lottery would likely be the one with many married couples. Landowners also had a conflict of interest with reformers and the Armed Forces over access to workers. The law could mean the loss of workforce in the fields and the ability to protect workers, children and relatives. Another problem in implementing the law would be the weakness of the state bureaucracy.


Seditions against the law

The enlistment boards were supposed to meet in the churches (centers of public activities) on 1 August 1875. With the news spread, tensions already arose in the preceding months. The malcontents had a simple solution: destroy the drafts. On the day of the meeting, mobs in ten provinces stormed the churches, impeded the work of the boards, and tore up the lists. The rebels could be unarmed or carry sticks, sickles or firearms. The use of violence was regulated, and the reports from the boards often took the form of dialogues between the recruiters and the population. Where there was resistance from the police, the raids resulted in some deaths and injuries. The collective action was well structured and the movements sometimes went beyond the limits of the parishes. Many boards did not meet due to the absence of their members, intimidated by threats made by the ''rasga-listas'' or in agreement with them. There was a special absence of parish priests due to the Religious Issue. There are even records of the authorities participating in the crowds. The activity of the rebels continued throughout the months of joint work and reappeared whenever the government tried to implement the law. The targets were expanded to Masonic lodges, collectors and municipal taxes. Attacks on conscription work continued for years, such as in
Serro Serro is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte and to the Microregions of Brazil, microregion of Conceição do Mato Dentro. As of 2020, the estimated populatio ...
,
Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...
, in 1881, and in
Conceição das Alagoas Conceição das Alagoas is a Brazil, Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the west of the Federative units of Brazil, state of Minas Gerais. Its population was estimated to be 28,346 people living in a total area of 1,348& ...
in 1884. The historical subjects of the movement were anonymous, and many facts were not recorded. The movement was popular, but it had the connivance or support from local elites. Due to the outstanding female participation, the movement was also called “Women's War”. In
Mossoró Mossoró () is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality in the interior of the States of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Norte, recognized as the capital of the Brazilian semi-arid region. Covering an area of approximately , it is the la ...
,
Rio Grande do Norte Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", refe ...
, the organization and execution were exclusively led by women, in the so-called "Women's Mutiny". The geographic distribution was wide, occurring in numerous parishes in Minas Gerais,
São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
,
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
,
Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attracti ...
,
Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...
,
Alagoas Alagoas () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is ...
,
Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...
,
Paraíba Paraíba ( , ; ) is a states of Brazil, state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba i ...
, Rio Grande do Norte and
Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...
. In
Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...
the greater presence of troops prevented riots, but the enlistment suffered many manipulations. The rebel concentrations were in Minas Gerais and in the northeastern ''agreste'', both marked by the greater importance of free work. Minas Gerais also had a population too dispersed for troops to defend the recruitment boards, and a traditional aversion to military service. In August, the board was attacked in 78 localities in the province by mobs of 30 to 500 people, with further fighting continuing until April 1876. The destruction of the lists was accompanied by festive celebrations in the cities. Seditions in São Paulo were limited to regions bordering Minas Gerais. In Ceará, a poor and populous province with a heavy recruitment burden, the revolt was a consequence of the Paraguayan War and rumors circulated of recruitment for a new conflict in Paraguay. At the time, the rebels were accused of
fanaticism Fanaticism is a belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal or an obsessive enthusiasm. The political theorist Zachary R. Goldsmith provides a "cluster account" of the concept of fanaticism, identifying ten main attributes that, in various com ...
, misunderstanding and especially ignorance. Part of the historiography considers the ''rasga-listas'' as "pre-political" social movements of the ''
sertão The ''sertão'' (, plural ''sertões'') is the " hinterland" or " backcountry" of Brazil. The word refers both to one of the four sub-regions of the Northeast Region of Brazil or the hinterlands of the country in general (similar to the specific ...
'', associating them with ''
cangaço ''Cangaço'' () was a phenomenon of Northeast Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This region of Brazil is known for its aridness and hard way of life, and in a form of "social banditry" against the government, many men and women d ...
'' and
messianism Messianism is the belief in the advent of a messiah who acts as the savior of a group of people. Some religions also have messianism-related concepts. Religions with a messiah concept include Hinduism (Kalki), Judaism ( Mashiach), Christianity ( ...
. But the free population had its reasons. The movement was reactive and legitimist, defending established rights and the "natural order of things" against what was considered an unwarranted expansion of government demands. Thus, it was typical of pre-industrial revolts in Europe, a Brazilian
vendée Vendée () is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.jacquerie The Jacquerie () was a popular revolt by peasants that took place in northern France in the early summer of 1358 during the Hundred Years' War. The revolt was centred in the valley of the Oise north of Paris and was suppressed after over tw ...
. The reform hurt the ''sertanejos''' sense of justice, based more on customs than on the laws of a distant state. In the Northeast, the ''rasga-listas'' had a geography similar to that of the Quebra-Quilos revolt, a movement contrary to the implementation of the metric system, but also to the new recruitment law, and the Ronco da Abelha Revolt and the "Marimbondos", years earlier. They had in common the fears of the ''sertanejos'' with the secularization and rationalization imposed by the Europeanizing elites. This unrest would begin in the 1870s, with the Muckers and the Vintém revols, ending with the
Canudos Canudos is a municipality in the northeast region of Bahia, Brazil. The original town, since flooded by the Cocorobó Dam, was the scene of violent clashes between peasants and republican police in the 1890s. The municipality contains part of ...
and Contestado Wars, decades later. The crowds cheered the monarchy, the Catholic Church and the old law, presenting themselves as restorers of order. The new law was called "barbaric", having come to "enslave the people". The ''rasga-listas'' claimed to be defenders of religion and were hostile to Freemasonry, reflecting the rupture between State and Church that occurred with the Religious Issue. In some places they were in favor of the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
due to some of this party's leadership that was against the law. However, the discontent went beyond religious and partisan issues.


Results

The 1874 law became a "dead charter". Resistance in the elite and popular groups was very strong. The lottery in the Army was delayed thanks to a slight increase in the number of volunteers in 1875–1876 and cuts in personnel in 1877–1880. Forced conscription was formally abolished, but the police compelled prisoners to enlist as volunteers. The political elite, which also benefited from patronage, knew how to retreat. Consensus grew around forced recruitment, rather than drawing lots in the balance between the state, local elites and the honorable poor. In 1903, an attempt to sort maritime workers for the
Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...
was abandoned after it was met with a strike by dockers. The old system lasted until a new lottery law. The demand for military modernization remained, and the lottery was approved in 1908, but it also encountered difficulties. The first lottery under the new law was not held until 1916.


References


Citations


Bibliography

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External links

* * {{Cite act, type=Decree, number=5,881, date=27 February 1875, url=https://www2.camara.leg.br/legin/fed/decret/1824-1899/decreto-5881-27-fevereiro-1875-549858-publicacaooriginal-65391-pe.html, language=pt Rebellions in Brazil Peasant revolts 1875 in Brazil