The formation of operating intellectuality at the end of the Eighteenth. Self-teaching and erudition in Ernesto da Silva (1893-1903)

Abstract

The education of the workers was one of the strong themes of the labor movement. In this sense, historians have shown their interest in the initiatives generated within their organizations, such as the creation of schools for children. These are initiatives of a private nature outside the precarious network of primary and secondary education in the State. However, much less attention has been paid to the academic training of this intelligentsia, perhaps because it left little trace in the documentation. One of the reasons for this lack of sources has to do with the fact that this training is self-taught. Ernesto da Silva (1868-1903), typographer, journalist and playwright, whose work reflects a vast culture at various levels: professional, ideological and literary. This article aims at reconstituting and analyzing the academic formation of the socialist intelligentsia. To advance in the knowledge of the personality of this author will allow us to delve into the history of the Portuguese Socialist Party through the biography of one of its most significant figures.