Luís Carlos Prestes
Luís Carlos Prestes
The Knight of Hope: Brazilian revolutionary who marched 25,000 km
Many people think I'm crazy. Most men who reach a certain age find their senses. In their youth, they are revolutionaries. Then they marry and must look after a family and settle down. But here I am at my age and I still haven't got good sense. — Interview, 1984
Brazilian revolutionary and politician. As chief of staff of the Prestes Column (1925–1927), he led rebels on a 25,000-km march through Brazil, earning the name 'Knight of Hope.' Elected to the Comintern Executive Committee in 1935, he directed the ANL uprising and spent nine years in prison. He served as general secretary of the Brazilian Communist Party for 37 years (1943–1980), leading labour organizing and anti-dictatorship resistance from underground and Soviet exile. Expelled in the 1980s for opposing the party's Eurocommunist turn, he remained a revolutionary Marxist to the end.
Career timeline
- 1924–1927Chief of Staff, Prestes Column — 25,000 km march through 14 states
- 1931–1934Exiled in USSR; engineer and Marxist study
- 1934Joined the Brazilian Communist Party
- 1935ANL Honorary President · Comintern ECCI member · led armed uprising
- 1936–1945Imprisoned; elected PCB General Secretary (1943)
- 1945–1948Federal Senator; underground after party outlawed (1947)
- 1943–1980General Secretary, Brazilian Communist Party (37 years)
- 1971–1979Soviet exile under military rule; returned with 1979 amnesty