The Christian corporation in a transnational perspective: Interactions and Transfers Between Catholic Organizations for Workers in Camaragibe (Brazil) and Val-des-Bois (France)

Abstract

This article analyses interactions and transfers between Brazilian and French confessional labour corporations and catholic laymen, mainly entrepreneurs. It is of particular interest to understand the connections of the militant and entrepreneur Carlos Alberto de Menezes, from Camaragibe, Brazil, and Léon Harmel, from Val-des-Bois, France, in the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first of the twentieth century. Attention is given to the Christian corporation model and the bon patron culture that Menezes learned from Harmel. Menenez brought the model to Brazil, adapted it and recreated it in Camaragibe.

Keywords

• christian corporation
• social catholicism
• associationism
• labour history
• transnational history