On August 11, 1903, workers at the Fábrica de Tecido Cruzeiro, in the neighborhood of Andaraí Grande, went on strike for better working conditions. In the following days, workers throughout Rio de Janeiro began joining the movement, which lasted 26 days. In solidarity, workers from other trades, organized into different associations, also stopped their machines.
The episode took on the character of a general strike, driven by certain shared demands. Among them were the reduction of the workday to eight hours and a 40% wage increase. According to the Sindicato de Trabalhadores em Fábricas de Tecidos, around 40,000 workers (25,000 textile workers) walked off the job in the North, South, and Central zones.
Image description: The image is a black-and-white map illustrating the approximate location of the events of the 1903 General Strike in Rio de Janeiro. On the left side, we see areas such as Jacarepaguá and Campo Grande, while on the right are the neighborhoods of Ilha do Governador and Guanabara Bay. In the center, the neighborhoods of Inhaúma, Engenho Novo, and Engenho Velho stand out. On the right, we find the neighborhoods of São Cristóvão, Santa Rita, Candelária, São José, Sacramento, Santo Antônio, Glória, and Espírito Santo. The map also marks the locations where the strike events took place with dotted circles.Mapa do Rio de Janeiro durante as greves de 1903. Noronha Santos, F. A. As freguesias do Rio Antigo. Rio de Janeiro, O Cruzeiro, 1965
The strike made waves in the press, which reported on the day-to-day developments of the mobilizations. The Rio de Janeiro chief of police, Cardoso de Castro, treated the workers as “troublemakers,” resorting to violence to contain the strike's growing scale. This abuse of authority led to clashes involving exchanges of gunfire, bomb blasts, and many arrests, mainly in the vicinity of the factories.
Image description: The image is a black-and-white engraving. It shows two figures dressed in formal early twentieth-century attire. The man, on the left, wears a military uniform with a buckle and a wide-brimmed hat. The woman, on the right, is in a long dress and holds a pipe. They are standing, talking to each other. Below the image, there is text in Portuguese, but it will not be read here in accordance with the established rules.Charge sobre a greve de 1903. O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 29 de agosto de 1903, n. 0050. Hemeroteca da Biblioteca Nacional
Faced with the strikers' resistance, the Army and the Navy were called in. The order was to force the workers to return to their jobs. The workers' housing complexes were invaded, and anyone who was found at home was taken prisoner to the factories. Even though it did not achieve its demands, the 1903 General Strike was fundamental to strengthening the fight for workers' rights.
