BROKEN CONSERVATIVES

THE POLITICAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY IN AÇU, RIO GRANDE DO NORTE (1876-1884)

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyze the disputes within the Conservative Party in Açu, based on the trajectory of the journalist Elias Souto. The goal is, on the one hand, to identify the networks of sociability present in the Conservative Party; and on the other hand to analyze how these networks were mobilized by two groups that disputed the local command of the Party. The study is anchored theoretically in the concepts of political culture (BERSTEIN, 1998) and action (SOUZA, 2008), as well as in the indicial method (GINZBURG, 1989). The main sources consulted were the newspapers Brado Conservador and Jornal de Açu. From the analysis of the party members' behavior, the study concluded, on the one hand, that the Conservative Party did not constitute a homogeneous bloc; and on the other, that political disputes within the Party were expressions of a broader political culture existing in society, which explains the strategies of struggle adopted by the groups from the mechanisms disposed in their daily lives.