Maurício Grabois (2 October 1912 – 25 December 1973) was a Brazilian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

of Jewish descent, founder of the modern

Communist Party of Brazil The Communist Party of Brazil ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista do Brasil, PCdoB) is a political party in Brazil. The PCdoB officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist theory. It has national reach and deep penetration in the trade union and student m ...

and one of its leaders until his death in 1973.

Biography

Maurício Grabois was born in

Salvador, Bahia Salvador (English: ''Savior'') is a Brazilian municipality and capital city of the state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognized throughout the country and internationally for its cuisine ...

, a city on the northeast coast of Brazil. His parents were Agustin and Dora Grabois. He graduated from the State Gymnasium of Salvador, an elementary school in his city. At the age of 19 he moved to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

to study at the Realengo Military College (which would later become the

Academia Militar de Agulhas Negras The ''Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras'' (AMAN, en, Military Academy of Agulhas Negras - named after the Agulhas Negras summit) is the biggest among several schools of formation of combatant officers of the Brazilian Army. It originated in ...

). There he became an Marxist-Leninist and spread communism in the military college.

Activism

In Rio de Janeiro, Grabois joined the Communist Youth of Brazil and at the age of twenty-two became its leader. After joining the National Liberation Alliance (Aliança Nacional Libertadora), an organization which gathered

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

military officers he became one of the leaders of the unsuccessful Communist uprising of November, 1935 in Rio de Janeiro, Natal, and

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

. After the failed uprising, he became the editor of an underground Communist newspaper, ''A Classe Operária'' (the Working Class). He was arrested in 1941 and released the following year. The overthrow of

Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...

resulted in the legalization of Communist organizations of Brazil. In 1945 Maurício Grabois was elected federal congressman and became a member of the Foreign Relations Committee of Brazil.

Death

After the Brazilian coup d'état of 1964, Grabois became a proponent of armed struggle to overthrow the military regime. In 1966 the Communist Party of Brazil decided that urban guerrilla warfare tactics were necessary to establish a Communist regime in Brazil. In 1967 Grabois started recruiting guerilla combatants in

Pará Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...

and after a series of clashes with government forces, Grabois had disappeared and later was revealed to have been killed in 1973. Contemporary reports claim he was executed by Major ; a military report places the date of his death at December 25. His death has yet to be officially recognized by the government.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grabois, Mauricio 1912 births 1970s missing person cases 1973 deaths Stalinism Anti-revisionists Brazilian communists Far-left politics in Brazil Communist Party of Brazil politicians Dead and missing in the fight against the military dictatorship in Brazil (1964–1985) Enforced disappearances in Brazil Jewish Brazilian politicians Jewish socialists Missing people Missing person cases in Brazil People murdered in Brazil

Biography

Activism

Death

See also

References