In 1935, another movement at the opposite end of the political spectrum, the communist-backed National Liberation Alliance, attempted a failed revolution against the federal government.

In December, the AIB was forced to dissolve and reorganize as the Brazilian Cultural Association when Vargas decreed all political parties were banned, and their rituals and symbols were outlawed via a provision in the Constitution of 1937.

[2][3] Of the revolutionaries, which included the higher military, coffee growers, and politicians, the two major groups were liberal constitutionalists and the tenentes, or semi-authoritarian nationalist junior officers.

However, the revolt failed after two months due to regionalist sentiments alienating the São Paulo rebels from uniting with other states in opposition to the federal government.

While the catastrophic revolt of 1932 undermined the liberal constitutionalists, the tenentes were not accustomed to a popular following, and despite being the leading voice for socioeconomic issues after 1930, they lost unity after mid-1932 and, essentially, disappeared after 1934.

[10] Since its creation in 1932, the Brazilian Integralist Action (AIB),[c] a far-right movement founded and headed by Plínio Salgado of São Paulo, also recruited the middle class.

Salgado entered the presidential election in June 1937, both claiming he was going to save democracy in the name of Jesus Christ and threatening enemies of the AIB with punishment.

The new atmosphere, hotly antiliberal, gave expression precisely to those groups most openly committed to the suspension of the forms of liberal constitutionalism.

[21] In late September 1937, captain Olímpio Mourão Filho, an Integralist, was found typing a plan in the office of the Army Chief of Staff, eventually reaching senior officials who exposed it to the nation.

It was only revealed years later that, as a member of the AIB's "historical department," Filho was drafting a theoretical communist attack to prepare a counterattack, and that the publicized Cohen Plan, as it was called, differed from his original version.

"[26] Instead of gambling his power with elections, on 10 November Vargas, with military and Integralist support, abrogated the 1934 constitution in favor of Campos's quasi-totalitarian one, gave a speech in which he attacked Congress, declared a national emergency, and transitioned the country from a failing democracy to an official dictatorship.

[27][28] When Vargas made his first public appearance after the installation of the new regime, the Estado Novo, on 15 November to inaugurate a statue of Brazil's first president, Deodoro da Fonseca, the Integralists were there to salute him.

Vargas believed that Salgado and the Integralists were keen on pursuing the example of Adolf Hitler in replacing Paul von Hindenburg and hoped to curtail this.

[29][31] The first signs of the break between the government and the Integralists was Vargas's failure to mention them in his 10 November radio broadcast and Salgado being informed about the coup much later than he believed appropriate.

[d][32] By presidential decree on 2 December, all political parties were outlawed, including the AIB; by a new law code announced via a radio broadcast at midnight, 31 December, and per Article 2 of the new national constitution, only the national flag, anthem, and coat of arms would be permitted instead of those of the states' and the Integralists; and, by inquiring with Campos, Salgado learned Vargas made the appointment of a new Minister of Education contingent on the complete suppression of Integralism.

It involved many intertwined persons and groups: Washington Luís's former Foreign Minister, Otávio Mangabeira; a participant in the Constitutionalist Revolution who had turned down the option to lead the 1930 Revolution, general Euclides Figueiredo [pt]; the exiled former governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Flores da Cunha [pt]; the head of the Army's War Material Division, José Maria Castro Júnior; Integralists such as Belmiro Valverde, the national secretary of the AIB's finances; and Integralist Navy officers.

Salgado had reorganized the AIB as the Brazilian Cultural Association (Associação Brasileira de Cultura) to accommodate with the 2 December decree, and Integralist symbols, uniform, and rituals quietly disappeared.

[39] A small group of insurgents attacked the Post Office and Telegraph building, electricity plants, the Mayrink Veiga Radio Station, and the Naval School.

The Naval School was the most important part of the plan, which would involve the taking of the installations by Integralist sailors which in turn would lead to the capture of Vargas who would have lunch at the base that day.

Indeed, only the assault on the Guanabara Palace, the taking of the Ministry of Navy building and the arrest of general Canrobert Pereira da Costa [pt] were successful.

According to Alzira Vargas, who was present at the palace and took part in the events, some police and military authorities hesitated to help the besieged, raising the suspicion that they were colluding with the integralists.

[35] The rebels also failed to imprison officers such as Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Góis Monteiro, Francisco Campos, Cristóvão Barcelos [pt] and others.

428 on May 16, which transformed the jury trials of the National Security Tribunal [pt], created by Vargas in 1936, into summary rites with deadlines and witnesses reduced to a minimum.