“A Sociedade de Instrução e Beneficência A Voz do Operário” Another way of doing politics: on the reform of school services (1924-1935)

Abstract

This article is part of a project about schools and experiences of reference in Portugal in the 20th century. It focuses on the study of Voz do Operário, an institution that developed educational activities for the lower classes in an associative context. We opted for a descriptive presentation with the intention of arguing that the adoption and application of an educational model — inspired by the New Education (Educação Nova) and aimed at a specific audience — was based in a socio-political strategy, which emerged both from the historical conditions of workers’ associativism in the first half of the 20th century, and from the situation Portugal was living due to the crisis of the First Republic, which would lead to the the New State (Estado Novo). In the article, we explain the reform process which was undertaken in the educational services of Voz do Operário between 1924 and 1935. Beforehand, we present a brief history of Portuguese society from the end of the 19th century until the 1950s, to give a representation of the worker's association in its dimension, activity and social meaning.