The seed was planted : the Saõ Paulo roots of Brazils rural labor movement 1924 1964 Argues that rural land and labor activism extend back to 1920s at least in São Paulo state. Details interaction of rural workers with Vargas state the Partido Comunista Brasileiro Catholic Church and other actors and workers responses to repression after 1964. Important antidote to generally ahistorical analyses of contemporary Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra Handbook of Latin American Studies v. 58