To provide a rubber composition for breakers, which can reduce the usage of raw materials originated from petroleum resources and simultaneously enables both the maintenance of characteristics and the improvement of processability required for rubber compositions for breakers, such as durability and steel adhesiveness, and to provide a pneumatic tire having a breaker using the rubber composition and having improved travel safety.

This rubber composition for the breakers comprises a rubber component, and 20 to 60 pts.mass of silica and 0.5 to 15 pts.mass of at least one of a terpene-based resin and a rosin-based resin relative to 100 pts.mass of the rubber composition, wherein the rubber component contains 30 to 100 mass% of a natural rubber component comprising at least one of natural rubber and a modified natural rubber, and the pneumatic tire has a breaker using the rubber composition.