Nos trilhos do capital: a ferrovia no processo de integração do Norte de Minas Gerais às relações capitalistas de produção

Abstract

The railstracks of the Brazil’s Central Railroad reached the arid north of Minas in the early twentieth century. Historically, the North of Minas Gerais has been isolated, politically and economically from the most developed regions of the country. In this context, "parallel steel" brought about unprecedented socioeconomic changes. The research articulates, through a broader theoretical approach, the railway construction to the modus operandi of capitalism. The aim of this study is to analyze how the Brazil’s Central Railroad contributed to the historical process of integration of the north of Minas into the capitalism of production. In this sense, we see the importance of the railroads in the process of accumulation and expansion capitalism, ie its use by capital as a mechanism to ensure permanent revolution of the productive forces, expanding markets, expanding the capital for various regions and acting direct in its circulation. In terms of methodology, we turn to the vast bibliography about the railway, the secondary data and conducting structured interviews with local residents to illustrate this process. We noticed that the railroad contributed, so that the capital could continue its historical process that linked the north of Minas to its commodified logic, changing the social relations of production that marked most of the history of the region to integrate it more dynamically to the national capitalism. The development of cities, the emergence of new urban centers in the region, increasing trade and the social division of labor, the emergence of class conflict and the gradual decline of social history; characteristics of history of the north of Minas, dmonstrates the importance of Brazil’s Central Railway as an instrument used by capitalism to ensure its process of accumulation and expansion in the region.