Indirect precedents of 1918 insurrection were the arrival of works by Bakunin, Kropotkin and other European libertarian writers to Brazil by the end of the 19th century together with Italian and Spanish immigrants from Europe, to serve as cheap labor force in factories and farms of wealthy Brazilian entrepreneurs.

But directly, the insurrection is the consequence of the high level of organization among the Brazilian proletariat in the first decades of the 20th century, especially in Rio de Janeiro, at the time the capital, and in São Paulo.

As a consequence of the First World War, the high cost of living had hit mostly the poorer strata of the population, and the hunger of thousands resulted in the looting of warehouses and commerce.

Work conditions in factories, as in neighborhoods such as Barreto, Santo Aleixo and the city of Rio de Janeiro, were terrible, in badly-lit workplaces, full of smoke, where there were no proper bathrooms for the employees but holes on the ground.

[5] In August, workers from Companhia Cantareira and Viação Fluminense went on strike for better wages and an eight-hour working day, paralyzing both the Rio – Niterói ferryboats and the tramways.

[8][9] They counted on sectors of low ranking army officials to join, led by the lieutenant Jorge Elias Ajuz, who was responsible for the uprising's military strategy.

These plans involved directly above 400 workers, and indirectly thousands of others, to the takeover and encirclement of the Government Palace, the establishment of a lightning general strike of many sectors of the proletariat, the planting of 1600 bombs to sabotage energy lines and transport, and the occupation of police stations and military bases to maintain focal points of resistance.

The battle at the Confiança factory between the police and the insurgents resulted in the death of the textile industry trade unionist Manuel Martins and the injury of another worker who died days later.

Conflicts between the police and protesters in front of the Confiança factory resulted in the death of textile industry syndicalist Manuel Martins and of another wounded worker the next few days.

The insurrection was widely used as a reason for Delfim Moreira, acting president, to persecute and put an end to countless anarchist organizations, many of them without any involvement in the events.

On November 20, the federal government decreed the dissolution of the UGT, along with the closure of the metal workers, civil builders and textile industry unions that were still on strike – which lasted another two weeks.