History of The Constitution of Brazil - "Estado Novo" Constitution (1937)

"Estado Novo" Constitution (1937)

Background

On the night of November 10, 1937, Vargas announced in a nationwide radio address that he was seizing emergency powers under the pretext of suppressing a Communist-backed coup (the so-called Plano Cohen). On the same night, he promulgated a new constitution that effectively transformed his presidency into a legal dictatorship (the short interval suggesting that the self-coup had been planned well in advance). It was written by the minister of Justice, Francisco Campos, and proofread by Vargas and his minister of War (joint-commander of the Army and Air Force), Eurico Gaspar Dutra.

The Constitution

The new document was called the "Polaca", or Polish, Constitution because it was inspired by the Polish April Constitution of 1935. It was intended to consolidate the powers of the president, while substantially limiting the powers and autonomy of Congress and the judiciary. While clearly dictatorial, it was not intended to be completely totalitarian and repressive. It kept most social improvements of the previous constitution, and added more: The right to education, the right to culture preservation and guidelines for family rights, building on the Civil Code of 1917.

On the other side, however, it heavily concentrated executive power:

• Political parties were dissolved.
• State "presidents" (elected) would be replaced by "interventors" (appointed by the president of the republic).
• Mayors would in their turn be appointed by the interventors.
• Capital punishment was to be enforced on traitors to the state (a fairly broad category).
• All requirements for an outright dictatorship (censorship, purges, militarism, state propaganda, cult of personality and others) were either required, allowed or not forbidden by the constitution.