Milk coffee politics

Milk coffee politics or café com leite politics (Portuguese pronunciation: [kaˈfɛ kõ ˈlejtʃi]) is a term that refers to the oligarchic domination of Brazilian politics under the so-called Old Republic (1889–1930) by the landed gentries of São Paulo (dominated by the coffee industry) and Minas Gerais (dominated by the dairy industry), being represented by the Republican Party of São Paulo (PRP) and the Republican Party of Minas Gerais (PRM).

The severe drought of 1877 in the Northeast and the ensuing economic collapse — along with the abolition of slavery in 1888 — propelled the mass labor migration of emancipated slaves and other peasants from Northeast to Southeast, precipitating the decay of established sugar oligarchies of the North.

With the concurrent growth of coffee in the Southeast, São Paulo, now emerging as the central state, began to increase in power under the Old Republic.

Northeastern landowners bitterly opposed rival oligarchs in São Paulo, explaining their role in the Revolution of 1930.

There were more cases of organized political opposition to the coffee with milk politics before the Revolution of 1930, such as the 1910 presidential election, disputed by Hermes da Fonseca (PRC), supported by Minas Gerais, and Ruy Barbosa (PRP), endorsed by São Paulo by means of the Civilist Campaign [pt]; the election of Epitácio Pessoa (PRM) in 1919; and the creation of the Liberator Party (PL) in 1928, in Rio Grande do Sul.