Two Speeches/June 29th, 1940

by Getúlio Vargas

Speech of President Vargas at Ilha do Viana, on “Seamen՚s Day”, June 29th, 1940.

Gentlemen:

 

THIS homage of the Seamen՚s Federation, legitimate expression of its 100,000 members who work at sea, in shipyards and in port services, in which participate other professional groups, greatly comforts me, for it renews the solidarity which I have always found in Brazilian workers, now, more than ever, willing to support the Government in this moment of disturbances and apprehensions when it becomes necessary to maintain the strictest vigilance and to have serene courage in defining the course of the Nation.

It was a great satisfaction to see that you understood the words of patriotic foresightedness and sincerity that I addressed to the Nation on “Navy Day”, grasping the true significance that I myself meant to give them: a warning of the hard lessons that the present times bring, forcing upon the peoples, the mobilization of all their energies in order that they may not be caught unprepared or involved in the events.

I called the attention of the Brazilian people to the transformations through which the world is now undergoing, in the face of which we cannot remain indifferent or, allow ourselves become more interested in regretting the irremediable misfortunes of other peoples than in caring for our own best interests; I reasserted our purpose of peaceful collaboration and solidarity with the peoples of this Continent, whose destinies are indentified with ours by links of historical formation and by similar desires for progress; pointed out the necessity of making the country stronger, both economically and militarily; and finally, I endeavoured to show, by citing facts, that the regime of November 10th, while being a consequence of the readjustment and balance of our social forces, is also the most adapted to the circumstances of contemporary life.

My speech on that momentous day was quite plain, both in its form and thought. But, it is not with distorted commentaries or with the malevolent publication of isolated sentences that it may be interpreted.

I do not retract myself, nor do I retract any of the ideas I expressed. On the contrary, I only have full reason to reaffirm them integrally. The old foxes of politics, the stubborn gossip-mongers, the incorrigible non-conformists, lacking all civic dignity, and even a few of good faith who tried to spread trouble, did not perceive, perhaps, that they were allowing themselves to be exploited by agents of international disturbance, paid to foment dissension to satisfy hatred and inconfessable aims. It is easy to discover and identify these noxious elements, the profiteers, the makers of wars, the people without a country willing to negotiate anything and the people who although they have a country, do not know how to defend it.

Many of them, undesirable elsewhere, filtered clandestinely into this country to the detriment of the honest activities of our hospitality, became the instruments of the plots and intrigues of cosmopolitan finance, voracious and unscrupulous.

To these I did not speak, of course. I spoke to the Brazilian people and to those who consider Brazil as they do their own country, and I am certain that events themselves have made the truth of my assertions ever more evident.

Directly responsible for the future of our people, I have no right to allow them to be illuded nor to lure them into mistakes of mere sentimentality. A great thinker said that it was not possible to serve duty and passion at the same time. He who allows himself to be dominated by passion, loses the sense of reality, dims the most obvious facts and lets himself be involved in the greatest blunders.

It is necessary that we envisage with serene manliness, the impositions of reality and that we repudiate all passionate opinions if we wish to protect the future of our country, for they do not serve her, nor do those who wish to throw the country into the blazing holocaust of international conflicts.

There is at present no reason of any kind, either of a moral or material order, that should counsel us to take the side of any of the peoples involved in the struggle.

That which we must do, is to maintain strict neutrality — an active and vigilant neutrality for the defense of Brazil. No one can rule another՚s conscience, and, in his conscience, everyone may have his own sympathies, but the obligation of every Brazilian patriot is to conduct himself in such a manner as to keep Brazil from war.

It is necessary that we see clearly and that we avoid the sad fate of peoples who, like ostriches, bury their heads, thinking that with this passive attitude they can live through the tempest.

Only by peace and by the union of all, may we succeed in building up our greatness and in forming a great and powerful Nation, with no fears on our part and without giving other Nations reason to fear us.

The Brazilian people may well go on with their activities in the certainty that the Government will maintain order and will insure the tranquility necessary to work for the development of our sources of production and means of trade.

We live in a Continent where Civilization is young, where the most arduous struggle is that for the utilization of the huge resources with which Nature has endowed us. Accustomed as we are to cultivating peace as the guiding policy of international intercourse, we shall remain faithful to the ideal of strengthening ever more and more, the union of the American peoples. To them we are linked for our common defense in the face of alien threats or interferences, and for this very same reason we must refrain from intervening in struggles that are being waged outside the Continent. And this union, this solidarity, to be firm and lasting, must be based upon the mutual respect of national sovereignties, and upon the freedom of political organization, in accordance with our tendencies, interests and necessities.

Thus we understand the Monroe Doctrine and thus, we put it into practice.

Our Pan-Americanism never had in view the defense of political regimes, for this would mean an attempt against the rights of other peoples to direct their internal life and to govern themselves. We have been an Empire and today we are a Republic, but never did this change of regime divert us from this policy of cooperation, which is a tradition in our history.

Workers:

You are an element of efficient collaboration in the work of reconstruction to which we have devoted ourselves. In peace, you combine your efforts to that of all Brazil to develop and to consolidate national progress; in war, as a reserve of our military force, you have your place in the ranks, whenever the circumstances require the forceful repulsion of any attempt whatsoever against our moral and material patrimony.

The working people have in the present regime, a definite position and know how to answer to the responsabilities incident to this position, maintaining their cohesion and repudiating all that might reduce our civic pride and threaten the security of our national unity.

Let us therefore have faith in the future, and let us be prepared with virile courage to fulfill our destiny as the builders of a new civilization, more united, in thought and in action, ready to accept the same risks and suffer the same vicissitudes, because any sacrifice for one՚s country, is a duty and an honor.