Forms of collective action: thoughts on the land disputes in Magé, Rio de Janeiro

This paper aims to discuss certain forms of collective action used by a group of rural workers who were threatened with eviction of the land they lived in. The analysis is based on land conflicts involving settlers and grabbers of two farmlands: América Fabril and Fazenda Conceição de Suruí, both in Magé, a district in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Most of the dispute - between 1960 and 1970 – was during the civil-military dictatorship, a period considered by scholars as a moment of political demobilization. The case stands out among the other land conflicts because of the legal land expropriation achieved by the group of rural workers in 1973 and 1974, respectively. Also, these were the only land expropriations, based on conflicts, between the 1964 coup and the late 1970s so far noticed.