The Ipesianos in power (1964-1967)

Abstract

The article aims to identify and analyze the political presence of entrepreneurs and techno-entrepreneurs associated with and partners of the Instituto de Pesquisas e Estudos Sociais (IPES) and their area of influence at important levels of the Brazilian state in the period 1964-1967, government of Castello Branco. These are the federal state-owned companies in which members and associates of IPES occupied manage- ment positions. IPES was a rich and sophisticated business entity that developed legal and illegal actions and strategies in order to create the bases of opposition that could destabilize and empty the João Goulart government (1961-1964), which was creating measures that directly affected the economic interests of capital. The central conclusion is that the presence and formal participation of class fractions in the state apparatus implied the control of the state and the guarantee of its influence over the decision-making process, which served the economic interests of its class. For this purpose, the documents produced by IPES, held in the National Archives and at the CPDOC/FGV, and the data of the state-owned companies and their directions, which were collected through Access to Information, were analyzed in detail, collating them with other primary sources, such as articles and bibliographies.