Agradando a Deus e ao diabo: um estudo dos efeitos sociais da gestão de Severino Cabral na cidade e no campo (Campina Grande - 1959-1963).

Abstract

In an attempt to understand the meaning of the management of a mayor, who is known in the social memory of Campina Grande, as the "father of the poor," this work develops an analysis of the Severino Cabral administration in Campina Grande (59-63) and from the consequences of this administration to the whole of the campinense society, from its platform of government, from where it tried to "serve all indistinctly", withdrawing its legitimacy through the support of several fractions of class. Recognizing the variation and ambivalence adopted by the public power, in order to attend to all, and with that, achieve the balance between several social segments, I tried to understand and evaluate the effectiveness of the measures adopted, and, above all, to detect continuities and discontinuities that occurred in this studied management. However, if, on the one hand, the recognition of continuities implied recognizing, in Cabral's management, elements of traditional colonial politics, on the other hand, recognizing discontinuities, by incorporating the demands of the popular classes, pointed to the possibility of a populist politics in Campina Grande. The analysis revealed, however, that Cabral's management should not be classified as a colonelistic practice or a populist practice. In fact, Cabral brought together traces of one and another phenomena - coronelism and populism - thus presenting a system of municipal administration that contained traces of one and the other forms of domination. If, therefore, it did not totally prevent the explication of social conflicts, I knew, however, to administer them, by prevailing the integrating function of the State.