Questão agrária em José de Souza Martins

Abstract

This work aims to analyze part of the scientific production of sociologist José de Souza Martins, especially with regard to the registration of the Agrarian Question. Martins is one of the main authors of the theme and his publications have a strong influence on rural sociology and Brazilian Social Thought as a whole. Inspired by Henri Lefebvre's refined Marxian dialectic, the author seeks to highlight the contradictions imposed by the expansion of capitalism in the countryside and all the complexity that derives from it. Thus, Martins sees the role of rural workers as the key to overcoming historical contradictions, while the Church would be the main questioner of this process, given that, unlike other mediators, it sought to meet the real needs of rural subjects. Nevertheless, in the mid-1990s, Martins distanced himself from the Church, understanding that it began to “partisanize” the Agrarian Question and, together with the MST and the PT, he wanted a revolution project that fell short of the immediate needs of rural workers. Convergent with the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government's Agrarian Reform project, which aimed to regain control of land through land regularization, Martins criticizes the defection of dialogue (in the wake of an ideological opposition) and the demand for a radical reform of sectors from the left. Furthermore, Martins became one of the main critics of the PT government in the beginning of the 21st century, exalting its deterioration in the face of political agreements signed and its insufficiency with regard to rural issues.