A Intelectualidade urbana e a “questão servil”: a proposta liberal para o fim do escravismo no Jornal dos Economistas (Brasil, década de 1880)

Abstract

The Jornal dos Economistas was an important media vehicle in late nineteenth-century Rio de Janeiro concerned with modernization and economic affairs. Its theoretical references where inspired by the classics of western economic thought. One of the main themes favored by the Jornal was the restructuring of urban and rural labor relations. In particular, the Jornal held the opinion that wage work in agriculture was a viable alternative to slavery. Therefore, assuming that capitalist labor relations were a necessary solution to the crisis of Negro slavery, the Journal dos Economistas went against the mainstream solutions brought forth by the large estate owners.