From poor immigrants to small industrialists: the formation of the industrial business class in the interior of the state of Sao Paulo/Brazil (1890–1960)

 

Table 1 – General records of small-scale industrial businesses (1890-1930)

Documents	Samples	Total number of industrial businesses	%	Italian origin	Italian origin %
License permits	2,328	446	19.15%	202	45.29%
Tax books – complete documentation	6,598	1,222	18.52%	701	57.36%
Tax books – incomplete documentation	4,150	647	15.59%	346	53.47%
Tax book–1899	2,145	360	16.78%	207	57.5%
Total	15,221	2,675	17.57%	1,456	54.42%

Source: APHRP – License Permits (1891-1902); Yearbook of Trade of the State of São Paulo (1904) and Books of Taxes on Industry, Trade, and Occupations (1899-1930).

 

There were 15,221 records in all; 2,675 were of small industrial businesses, or 17.57% of the total. Of this amount, 54.42% had individuals of Italian origin as owners. Of the 1,452 records of people with Italian surnames, excluding trademarked and duplicate records, we obtained 752 records.[28] We had the names of those who were industrialists and could now check their humble origins. The documentation that could provide us with data about these people when they were still young was the Books of Records of Marriages, because they usually married early, soon after adolescence. With that, there was the possibility that many had declared the profession they had pursued in Italy. Of the 752 people named, 107 were married in Ribeirão Preto. Based on these marriage records, we determined the nationalities of the grooms, their professions, and the occupations of their godfathers and marriage witnesses. The results concerning the nationalities of the grooms are presented in Table 2.

 

 

Table 2 – Nationalities of the Grooms

Nationalities	Grooms
Italian	81
Brazilian	17
Austrian	06
Spanish	01
Not declared	02
Total	107

Source: Books of Records of Marriages of the First Civil Registry Office of Ribeirão Preto (1890-1930).

 

Of the 17 grooms of Brazilian nationality, 10 were children of Italians (the first generation born in Brazil). The documentation does not identify the nationality of the other seven grooms’ parents, but their last names suggest the origin of their parents: Giacheto, Franzoti, Codognotto, Ferracini, Codogno, Casanova, Grandini.

The records of marriages contain the occupations of grooms and witnesses; on that basis, we establish some divisions in the research. So, we first selected grooms who are workers, whose witnesses or godfathers, with few exceptions, were also employed as workers. We classify workers as those who performed manual occupations, with low pay and low social prestige.[29] Frequently, people choose their godparents from among those closest to their social circle, so the profession of the godfather of a groom who is a worker can prove the modest origins of the godson. Secondly, we analyze groom workers whose godfathers performed activities in which they were not necessarily workers themselves or had a high-level profession – or one that provided social status to those who pursued it, aside from being well-paid.[30] Subsequently, we investigated the few records of grooms with high-level professions whose godfathers were workers. Finally, in the last installment of our sample, we analyzed the grooms and godfathers with high-level professions.

The empirical research revealed the data contained in Table 3. The Graph 1 provides us with the percentage of workers in the total sample of business owners. These data support our thesis about the humble origins of these industrialists.

 

Table 3 – The profession pursued by industrial business owners at the time of marriage

Classification	Total of Grooms
Worker grooms with godfathers who are workers	57
Worker grooms with godfathers who hold high-level professions	13
Grooms with high-level professions whose godfathers are workers	04
Grooms and their godfathers who hold high-level professions	31
Total	105*

Source: Books of Records of Marriages of the First Civil Registry Office of Ribeirão Preto (1890-1930).

 

Graph 1 – Percentage of groom workers and those with high-level professions

Source: Books of Records of Marriages of the First Civil Registry Office of Ribeirão Preto (1890-1930).

 

In the sample of 107 industrialists, 70 said they were employed as workers at the time of their marriages. Of these, many had godparents who were also employed as workers. Thus in Ribeirão Preto, those who had modest economic resources but some know-how could take advantage of investment opportunities offered by the city’s economy in order to advance their status from workers to businesspeople.

 

3.2. The foreign origin of the shoemaking business class in the city of Franca

 

In 1920 Franca had 44,308 inhabitants, only 6,193 of whom were immigrants – approximately 14% of the population. Of all foreigners, 2,889 were Italians and 2,281 were Spaniards.[31] Unlike Ribeirão Preto, these immigrants found major obstacles in their strategies of social mobility, as they did not have privileged access to land. By the time these immigrants arrived in the city, they found the city’s rural properties dominated by small units that were already occupied by Brazilians.[32] Moreover, foreigners were not the major source of the labor supply. They had to compete with national migrants, especially miners[33] – the city is close to the state of Minas Gerais – and they were attracted by the possibility of better jobs. Since immigrants had to compete for the best jobs, for many years they often, before settling in urban areas, worked as field hands or paid farmers on someone else’s land.

Another feature of Franca’s economy was that the coffee plantation did not represent a monoculture or a classic model of plantation economy[34] because the smallholdings, farms, and properties in the city had other types of crops or, especially, livestock. Even before the arrival of coffee to the city, livestock was the mainstay of this region’s economy. Franca was a trading post of the “Highway of Goiases” – responsible for commercially connecting the capital of the then-province of São Paulo and Goiás and Mato Grosso – and the mainstay of this Franca market was livestock, meat, and hides.[35] The leather market in town alongside the handicraft products made ​​from leather (including harnesses, boots, sandals, and sheaths) increased the importance of livestock in the city. Along with the arrival of the coffee industry in the late nineteenth century, a booming sector was the leather industry, which, besides supplying a broader trade circuit (the drovers’ route, and later the cities linked by the Mogiana Railroad Company), created the conditions for the development of the shoemaking industry in this location.[36]

As with the embryonic process of industrialization that occurred in Ribeirão Preto (1890-1930), what was most distinctive about establishments arising from the shoemaking industry in Franca between 1900 and 1960 was their size. In a landmark study on this topic based on extensive documentation, Agnaldo de Sousa Barbosa empirically demonstrated that this sector very slowly veered away from the craft production stage. According to him, “[…] o grande capital esteve ausente da formação da indústria do calçado, somente se fazendo presente a partir dos anos 1960, quando o setor já se encontrava plenamente consolidado no município.”[37] These developments often arose from the efforts from simple shoemakers and their hand tools – given that the use of machines in these industries, to date, only complements manual skills, which are ultimately responsible for the final product.

Despite the obstacles encountered in Franca, immigrants and their descendants found in the leather and footwear industry a lever for social mobility. With that in mind, the ethnicity and social origins of these business owners are a relevant factor. Based on this, we surveyed all industrial and commercial establishments registered in Franca between 1900 and 1960. Since the nationality of people for the most part did not appear in the books of Records of Commercial Firms, at the Clerk of the General Register of Mortgages and Annexes of Franca, we adopted the same methodology used with the documentation of Ribeirão Preto. That is, we used the last name as a sorting element. In Franca, unlike in Ribeirão Preto, the Italians did not constitute an absolute majority, because this city had a strong Spanish and Portuguese presence. Distinguishing these two ethnic groups from the rest of the population by surname is somewhat difficult, since many Brazilians have Spanish or Portuguese last names (such as Garcia, Pereira, Oliveira, and Silva). Therefore, to avoid inaccurate results, we studied only people with Italian, Syrian, and Lebanese surnames.[38] These ethnic groups’ participation in the city’s economy provided us with a reasonable sample of the integration of immigrants into the society of Franca, especially in establishments that started the shoemaking cluster. Another point to be explained is that we classified all other ethnicities as “Other.” Starting with the 1940s, the nationality of each person was included in documentation, which facilitated our classification. However, when it came to Brazilians whose names we identified as Italian, Syrian, or Lebanese, we classified them in their nationality of origin.

In order to systematize this research, we created five types of activities to fit the many names of establishments present in the documentation. In Table 4, we list the five types of activities, as well as some sample of establishments.

 

 

Table 4 – Classification of industrial and commercial establishments in Franca
(1900-1960)

Type of activity	Designation of the establishment
Rural activity	Farming development and agricultural development, among others.
Urban commerce	Haberdasheries, fabrics, grocery, pharmacy, butcher, stationery, and taverns, among others.
Other industries	Carpenters, metalworkers, processing of agricultural products, soap factories, and foundries, among others.
Leather-footwear	Tanneries, shoe factories, making of harnesses, and shoe makers, among others.
Provision of services	Transportation services, repair shops, guesthouses, and hotels, among others.

Source: Records of Commercial Firms at the Clerk of the General Register of Mortgages and Annexes of Franca. Municipal Historical Archive of Franca (AHMUF).

 

Even though it was not the purpose of this type of record, some rural activities were included in the documentation. Although they are few in number, we present this data and preserve the computation of total enrollments. Based on the breakdown of establishments, we try to assess the participation of people of foreign origin in each type of activity, within ten-year periods. Table 5 presents the results. The three different shades of gray denote the level of immigrant participation in the type of activity throughout the period presented. Thus, light gray symbolizes that the participation of immigrants was below the number of nationals, medium gray that the number was equal or close to the number of nationals, and dark gray denotes that the number of immigrants was above the number of nationals.

 

Table 5 – Participation of immigrants and their descendants in Franca’s economy

(1900-1960)

1901-1910
Type of business activity	Brazilian	Italian	Syrian or Lebanese	Other	Total
Rural activity	04	00	00	00	04
Urban commerce	91	15	23	10	139
Other industries	03	05	00	00	08
Leather-footwear	16	03	00	00	19
Provision of services	00	01	00	00	01
TOTAL	114	24	23	08	171

 

 

 

 

1911-1920
Type of activity	Brazilian	Italian	Syrian or Lebanese	Other	Total
Rural activity	00	01	00	00	01
Urban commerce	66	13	16	13	108
Other industries	03	04	00	01	08
Leather-footwear	14	04	00	02	20
Provision of services	03	03	00	00	06
TOTAL	86	25	16	16	143

 

 

1921-1930
Type of activity	Brazilian	Italian	Syrian or Lebanese	Other	Total
Rural activity	01	01	00	00	02
Urban commerce	138	39	43	49	269
Other industries	41	22	06	07	76
Leather-footwear	31	17	00	04	52
Provision of services	08	10	00	00	18
TOTAL	219	89	49	60	417

 

1931-1940
Type of activity	Brazilian	Italian	Syrian or Lebanese	Other	Total
Rural activity	00	00	00	00	00
Urban commerce	62	20	22	18	122
Other industries	18	11	02	04	35
Leather-footwear	09	10	01	00	20
Provision of services	01	02	00	01	04
TOTAL	90	43	25	23	181

 

1941-1950
Type of activity	Brazilian	Italian	Syrian or Lebanese	Other	Total
Rural activity	01	00	00	01	02
Urban commerce	344	135	69	85	633
Other industries	42	53	17	05	117
Leather-footwear	48	51	02	16	117
Provision of services	40	20	07	06	73
TOTAL	475	259	95	113	942

 

1951-1960
Type of activity	Brazilian	Italian	Syrian or Lebanese	Other	Total
Rural activity	00	00	00	00	00
Urban commerce	308	107	37	65	517
Other industries	25	22	01	02	50
Leather-footwear	26	17	00	08	51
Provision of services	53	36	01	09	99
TOTAL	412	182	39	84	717

Source: Records of Commercial Firms at the Clerk of the General Register of Mortgages and Annexes of Franca. Municipal Historical Archive of Franca (AHMUF).

 

Although persons of foreign origin were prominent between 1901 and 1910, the number of both other industries, as well as provision of services, is very small. The representation of those of foreign origin in urban commerce, on the other hand, though lower than that of nationals, is significant. In the same period, the leather-footwear establishments were largely owned by nationals. In the subsequent decade, despite a variation in numbers, the situation remained very similar; as for the leather-footwear industry, it showed an increase in the number of foreigners. In the 1920s, there were considerable changes, since in urban commerce the number of nationals compared to foreigners was very similar. Significantly, there was a large increase in the number of leather-footwear establishments, as well as in the participation of immigrants in this business. By the 1930s, the records indicated that there were already more businesses owned by foreigners than by nationals. In the shoemaking industry, although there was a drop in the number of establishments registered, they surpassed the number of nationals. In the following decade, the situation was the same, but there were more leather-footwear establishments, and foreigners far exceeded the number of nationals. In the last decade of the study, there was an economic slowdown in all types of activities, and participation of people of immigrant origin was below or close to that of nationals.

With respect to total percentages, we have prepared Graph 2 regarding the ethnic origin of the Franca business community (1900-1960).

 

 

Graph 2 – Ethnic origin of the business community of Franca

Source: Records of Commercial Firms at the Clerk of the General Register of Mortgages and Annexes of Franca. Municipal Historical Archive of Franca (AHMUF).

 

 

Regarding the ethnic distribution of the shoemaking-business owners, out of the 279 establishments operating during the period of our study, 144 belonged to Brazilians, 102 to persons of Italian origin, three to Syrians or Lebanese, and 30 to individuals of other nationalities. Graph 3 provides the breakdown of this group by ethnic origin.

 

Graph 3 – Ethnic origin of the footwear business community in Franca (1900-1960)

Source: Records of Commercial Firms at the Clerk of the General Register of Mortgages and Annexes of Franca. Municipal Historical Archive of Franca (AHMUF).

 

 

The next stage of the research was to find out how many of these people had humble origins. The documentation used was gathered from the Registry of Marriages, responsible for providing information on the occupations of all newlyweds married in Franca (1906-1960). We present this data in Table 6.

 

Table 6 – Origins and Professions of Grooms Married in Franca (1906-1960)

Employees in commerce/trade
	1906-1910	1911-1920	1921-1930	1931-1940	1941-1950	1951-1960
Brazilians	05	25	33	78	130	135
Immigrants	01	03	04	03	07	01
Descendants	00	04	10	37	63	47
Not declared	00	00	00	00	00	00
TOTAL	06	32	47	118	200	183

 

Employees in industry
	1906-1910	1911-1920	1921-1930	1931-1940	1941-1950	1951-1960
Brazilians	06	29	82	65	105	402
Immigrants	02	32	47	07	03	01
Descendants	00	08	50	18	30	100
Not declared	00	00	00	00	01	00
TOTAL	08	69	179	90	139	503

 

Employees in the fields/countryside
	1906-1910	1911-1920	1921-1930	1931-1940	1941-1950	1951-1960
Brazilians	532	667	834	577	537	601
Immigrants	172	230	192	64	18	06
Descendants	10	129	205	154	105	87
Not declared	02	00	01	03	00	00
TOTAL	716	1026	1232	798	660	694

 

Freelance professionals
	1906-1910	1911-1920	1921-1930	1931-1940	1941-1950	1951-1960
Brazilians	09	27	31	28	41	64
Immigrants	00	02	01	01	00	04
Descendants	00	02	05	08	17	15
Not declared	00	00	00	00	00	00
TOTAL	09	31	37	37	58	83

 

Service providers
	1906-1910	1911-1920	1921-1930	1931-1940	1941-1950	1951-1960
Brazilians	52	148	207	269	416	784
Immigrants	31	67	41	23	18	14
Descendants	10	53	111	145	213	282
Not declared	00	02	00	00	03	00
TOTAL	93	270	359	437	650	1080

 

Commercial businessmen
	1906-1910	1911-1920	1921-1930	1931-1940	1941-1950	1951-1960
Brazilians	11	49	41	40	33	85
Immigrants	10	27	51	35	10	16
Descendants	01	17	22	41	35	70
Not declared	00	00	00	00	00	00
TOTAL	22	93	114	116	78	171

 

 

 

Industrialists
	1906-1910	1911-1920	1921-1930	1931-1940	1941-1950	1951-1960
Brazilians	03	05	09	02	06	17
Immigrants	02	01	02	02	01	01
Descendants	00	00	02	03	10	19
TOTAL	05	06	13	07	17	37

 

Landowners
	1906-1910	1911-1920	1921-1930	1931-1940	1941-1950	1951-1960
Brazilians	04	06	03	09	28	93
Immigrants	00	00	00	00	01	00
Descendants	00	00	00	02	02	01
Not declared	00	00	00	00	00	00
TOTAL	04	06	03	11	31	94

 

Leather-footwear sector
	1906-1910	1911-1920	1921-1930	1931-1940	1941-1950	1951-1960
Brazilians	15	28	32	54	129	139
Immigrants	05	04	03	02	02	00
Descendants	01	07	21	37	82	58
Not declared	00	00	00	00	00	00
TOTAL	21	39	56	93	213	197

 

Did not declare a profession
	1906-1910	1911-1920	1921-1930	1931-1940	1941-1950	1951-1960
Brazilians	54	31	09	09	11	11
Immigrants	20	08	02	00	02	00
Descendants	03	07	06	06	04	06
Not declared	00	02	00	00	00	00
TOTAL	77	48	17	15	17	17

 

TOTAL NUMBER OF MARRIAGES
	1906-1910	1911-1920	1921-1930	1931-1940	1941-1950	1951-1960
TOTAL	961	1620	2057	1722	2063	3059

Source: Registers of banns of marriages performed in Franca between 1906 and 1960. Municipal Historical Archive of Franca (AHMUF).

 

We used the same grayscale to rate the number of people of foreign origin in relation to nationals, and the darker the shade, the more foreigners. In only a few cases do the numbers of immigrants and their descendants match or exceed those of Brazilians. Immigrants and descendants equaled or exceeded Brazilians, for some decades, among commercial businessmen. And despite the small number of self-proclaimed industrialist grooms, during the last three decades of our study, the number of foreigners and descendants surpassed those of Brazilians – as our thesis anticipated. With respect to employees in industries, only twice between 1910 and 1920 did the number of foreigners exceed those of Brazilians. Among the employees in the fields, immigrants and descendants were always outnumbered.

Another observation about the rural population is necessary: there were few married owners of rural properties in the city. The reason may be that rural Franca properties tended to be medium-sized and small. When these medium and small farmers disclosed their profession to the Marriage Registrar, they may have preferred to call themselves farm workers. Therefore, there may have been many of these included in the study as employees in the fields. Those who said they were landowners or farmers were, perhaps among other things, large landowners in the strictest sense of the term.

There were always a large number of immigrant grooms along with descendant grooms who worked in the leather-footwear industry sector, despite being outnumbered by the Brazilians throughout this period. In the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s they made up approximately 40% of all the grooms in this economic sector.

Of the owners of the 279 establishments surveyed in the first phase of the study, 144 were married in Franca. Of these, 72 were born in Brazil to Brazilian parents; 62 were born in Brazil of foreign parents, and 10 were born abroad. That is, half of the sample was of foreign origin. Table 7 contains the occupations performed by these businessmen at the time of their marriage.

 

Table 7 – Professional Occupation Performed at the Time of Marriage

Performed business activities	Total
Tailor	01
Artist	06
Barber	02
Chauffeur	01
Store owner	06
Retail	04
Cutter	01
Shoe cutter	01
Store employee	05
Employee of the Franca Electric Company	01
Industrial worker	01
Farmer	07
Carpenter	02
Mechanic	02
Laborer	15
Mason	02
Teacher	01
Shoemaker	35
Saddle maker	04
Traveler	01
Not declared	06
Lawyer	01
Banker	01
Dentist	01
Merchant	08
Accountant	04
Pharmacist	01
Bookkeeper	03
Industrialist	15

 

 

Performed business activities	Total
Dealer/salesperson	04
Owner	01
Chemist	01
TOTAL	144

Source: Registers of banns of marriages performed in Franca between 1906 and 1960. Municipal Historical Archive of Franca (AHMUF).

 

Based on these professions, we repeat the classifications previously used, namely those of worker [39] and high-level profession.[40] Thus Graph 4 shows the percentages for both categories.

Prominent among the occupations declared at the time of marriage were those related to the workers’ own activities, that is, handicrafts, which were poorly paid and without much social prestige. And, in smaller numbers, those with a high-level profession, with higher social status.

 

 

Graph 4 – Professional origin of the businessmen in the leather-footwear industry at the time of marriage (1900-1960)

Source: Registers of banns of marriages performed in Franca between 1906 and 1960. Municipal Historical Archive of Franca (AHMUF).

 

 

Besides this observation, the fact that the shoemaking industry demanded more craftsmanship than technology and machinery at that embryonic stage, investment in this activity was not an obstacle to immigrants or their poor descendants. The important thing to start the business was the know-how – brought over from Europe, Syria, or Lebanon, or learned in Brazil, perhaps with a cobbler.

 

Final Considerations

 

The creation of the manufacturing business class in the state of São Paulo took on complex traits and even characteristics that belie the consensus created by the academic literature, which is responsible for directly associating the figure of the industrialist with that of the rich foreigner or the coffee grower-investor and associating poverty with the immigrant worker. However, during the process of industrialization in Ribeirão Preto and Franca, the wealthy immigrant or the coffee grower were absent. Those who prevailed arrived at the right place at the right time and made full use of the opportunities created by societies undergoing change amid the dynamics created by the coffee economy.

The small manufacturing enterprises of these two cities represented the opposite of the medium and large industries in the city of São Paulo during the same period. Therefore, when discussing industrialization and immigration in the state of São Paulo, the simple actions of foreign workers and their descendants, holders of a certain know-how, can help tell an important story about the creation of the business community in Brazil.

 

References

 

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Caio Prado Júnior, História econômica do Brasil, São Paulo, Brasiliense, 1976.

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Samuel L. Baily, The adjustment of Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires and New York (1870-1914). In American Historical Review 88, nº. 2 (April 1983): 281-305.

Sérgio Silva, Expansão cafeeira e origens da indústria no Brasil, São Paulo, Alfa-Omega, 1995.

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Wilson Cano, Raízes da concentração social em São Paulo, São Paulo, Unicamp/IE, 1998.