First congress of
Brazilian Workers
THE political and economic crisis in Brazil continues to grow.
Every day further news confirms the aggravation of a crisis to which, at least for the moment, there is no solution in sight. In the first five days of November, 12,179 workers lost their jobs, including 1,038 public employees in Sao Paolo, a figure greater than the total registered job losses in October. The
• December 23, 1991 the URNG of Guatemala, the PRD of
Mexico, the PUM of Peru, the Frente
Amplio of Uruguay, the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, the PRT of
Mexico, the PRD of Panama, AD-M19 of situation becomes even clearer if we bear in mind that between January and October of this year 14,300 enterprises went to the wall, a growth of 289% over the same period in
1990.
Unprecedented violence (five children murdered each day by the so-called "death squads") goes with growing concentration of wealth (while 50% of the population over ten years old have 11.2% of the national income, the richest one percent take 14.8% of that income, which makes Brazil the country with the highest level of inequality in this respect.
And, finally, this is a society where, despite the
"modernizing" rhetoric of President Fernando Collor de Melo, the remuneration of women workers is 51% below that of men doing the same work.
ALFONSO MORO
VEN before two years of Col-
E are up, the social decay has reached almost unimaginable levels. Despite the repeated "adjustment plans" approved on orders from the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), inflation remains above 20% a month. Some 4.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is transferred annually abroad as service on the foreign debt; on the other hand, it is officially recognized that 45 million Brazilians (more than a third of the total population) live below the poverty level and that some eight million children do not go to school.
Such facts are the background to the first congress of the Workers Party (PT)
which was held in San Bernardo del Campo between November 27 and December
1 this year, which we attended.
The "ABC" industrial corridor (San
Andrés, San Bernardo and Caetano), in the environs of Sao Paolo, is known throughout the world not only because it was here that the military dictatorship
22 sought to set up the shop window of the
"Brazilian miracle", but also because it
International Viewpoint #219 was here, starting in May 1978, that there arose a movement that changed the course of the country's history.
In May and June of that year 4,000 engineering and car workers launched a strike wave to fight against super-exploitation in the factories and to stop the decline in their real wages, a wave that continued throughout These strikes saw big workers' assemblies demanding union independence, the right to collective contracts and democracy within the unions, among other things.
It was this industrial zone, to which further cities such as Diadema have been added - a reflection of the anarchic growth of dependent capitalist societies - that was chosen eleven years later for the holding of the first PT congress.
Its deliberations began with the reading out of messages from, and addresses by, representatives of the 110 foreign organizations that had been invited, including the Cuban Communist party, the FMLN of El Salvador, the FSLN of Nicaragua,
Colombia, the General People's Congress from Libya, and delegations of all kinds social democratic parties of France, Sweden, Denmark and elsewhere. There were also representatives from the embassies of Venezuela, Germany, France and even the United States.
Lula's opening speech was a clear reply to the offensive launched in the country's main newspapers in the preceding days by the right both within and outside the PT, pointing to the lack of unity in the party (with the presentation of 14 different texts seeking to win the support of the majority of the delegates) and a supposed lack of political direction. He also took issue with those who were already dreaming about winning power in 1994 without dealing
Affirming pluralism
Arguing against both, Lula affirmed the pluralism which had been such a feature of the preparatory discussions. He insisted that the PT is not a "one text" party and that the PT's adherents, like Brazilian society as a whole, must begin to learn what a real debate about ideas and different projects is, since the country itself needs this type of democracy.
Later on, and in a clear reference to the struggle inside the party, he said that "there are some who think that the main thing is 1994 (the year in which presidential elections are scheduled), but we know that the key thing is to know how to put forward concrete proposals to people now; the most important thing is that all the delegates gathered here leave knowing what they are going to do in their sectors of intervention when the congress closes. If, on the contrary, we discuss only what we are going to do in 1994, then this congress will have chosen its priorities badly." This was greeted with much applause.
Lula was followed by speeches by the Nicaraguan Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega and other international delegates. Ortega's speech turned on the urgent need for the revolutionaries of all continents to get organized and unite to fight with increased
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BRAZIL Party
December 23, 1991 • #219 International Viewpoint vigour against the new world order that the imperialist countries are trying to
He added that he did not accept that imperialism could dictate the armed struggle. "The struggle of the PT in Brazil is as legitimate as the armed struggle of the peoples of El Salvador, Guate-
Palestine or South Africa. We cannot exclude any possibility to change this unjust system", he concluded.
This night of greetings and presentations took place against the background of a constant hubbub which made it difficult to hear what the speakers were saying, in an atmosphere of fiesta, rejoicing and hope. And before the PT samba school did its piece, Luisa Erundina, the present mayor of Sao Paolo, spoke in the name of the party's 24 mayors. (Another 12 elected on the PT ticket in 1988 have deserted in order to get involved in one or another bourgeois project.)
After giving a brief history of the PT, she ended up with the words: "with our debates, with our unity, we will demonstrate not only that socialism will not die but that it is more alive than ever, that it is thinking and acting; and that Brazil would not be what it is today without the PT."
Before the close, the master of ceremonies informed the conference that 1,090 full delegates had been registered, that there were 400 invited delegates and more than 200 national observers, apart from the international delegations.
November 28 was devoted presentation to approval of the theses on guiding principles, took place in an intense atmosphere. The pluralism and the freedom with which each speaker expressed himself was striking — as was the fact that not one woman spoke in this session — despite there being 219 registered women delegates.
Theses and percentages
A leaflet distributed in the name of the National Directory was distributed to those present entitled "Main Theses and Approximate Percentages of Delegates at the First Congress". It stated that thesis 5, presented by Convergencia
Socialista (a Trotskyist current identifying itself with
Morenoism) had 6-7% of the delegates; thesis 7 (O Trabal-
Lambertist) around 4%; thesis
"A Project for Brazil"
bringing together currents on the right of the PT (Nueva
Izquierda, part of the Vertiente Socialista and some sectors of Articulación) around
12%; thesis 9, "A Revolutionary Course for the PT", presented by the Democracia
Socialista (section of the Fourth International, United Secretariat) about 12%; and thesis 10, "For a Socialist and Revolutionary Course for the PT", which brings together a wide range of left inclined forces, from 10-12%
A notable omission in the leaflet was any mention of thesis 11, put forward by
La Articulación, the largest tendency in the PT, which had the support of some
47% of the delegates and which would finally be approved as the guiding text in the discussion on "socialism and strategy", the first point on the congress' agen-
While the discussions were going on, the international guests were kept busy, with activities going from a display on the
"The PT in government" to a dinner with
A commission of the women delegates at the congress also met the international guests to explain their proposal to the congress for a minimum quota of 30% women in the leading bodies. This proposal was the result of a collective — but not consensual - effort and more than a year of discussions - the issue had been
BRAZIL raised at the 7th National Meeting in 1987, but without any real changes resulting
The proposal came from the majority of the PT women present at the congress, across tendency lines. They also asked the guests to give an account of the feminist movement in their own countries. Many of the guests did not distinguish between the situation of women in their countries and the place of the feminist movement, with the participant from the former ruling party of Panama, the PRD, explaining that his country had solved the problem "years ago, the problem not being the representaton of women in leading bodies, but their abilities." Such remarks aroused strong
Meanwhile the amending commissions continued their work, as dozens of men and women came to the tribune to give fiery and much applauded speeches. It is easy enough to understand that at one and the same time, the common effort that gives the PT its existence is valued, while the participants are aware of the need for a radical change. Even the most rightwing delegates used a class language that would seen very leftwing in many other organiza-
In fact, the PT right knew that it could count on the Brazilian press — whose reports on the congress were highly misleading — and played this card for all it was worth, attempting to retain the offensive throughout the five days of debate, although their political positions were heavily defeated.
Party control over deputies
One of the essential points on the agenda was the discussion on the text "Conception and Practice in the Construction and Intervention of the Party", which dealt with the type of party to be constructed, organizational problems and the problem of escape from party control by leaders with official positions in the United Workers Central (CUT — the biggest Brazilian union confederation) or by mayors and elected representatives.
The consensus expressed in the interventions was unambiguous; there is a danger that the bureaucratization and institutionalization of the party might take on a hardened form, and it was and would be necessary to actively combat this danger.
Questions relating to tendency rights and the representation of women were also addressed in very heated discussions. The negotiations went on for hours without any common position being arrived at. The debate and voting — the closest of all the votes — on the rights of tendencies and their expression in the PT lasted more than three hours. Finally, amendment 23 was adopted by 466 votes to 441, with abstentions from the ultra-left. This gives tendency rights in favourable conditions to those who really want to build the PT and who do not use their prerogatives to 23 conduct a factional struggle against this
International Viewpoint #219 • December 23, 1991
BRAZIL / CHILE party. On the issue of the representation of women, one speaker against explained that this proposal would divide the party, that there was no consensus, that it was necessary to let time do its work.
There were all kinds of comments on this subject. Finally, Benedicta, a longtime militant highly respected for her work with inhabitants of the favelas (shanty towns), and the only mulatto federal deputy, famous for proposing a law to further the fight against apartheid South Africa, argued in favour of the quotas. She made a clearly feminist intervention, explaining that power was in the hands of men and that the class struggle was not asexual.
She ended her passionate speech saying: "we are not asking for a concession, or for something extraordinary; only for what belongs to us as PT militants." The applause announced the results:
the quotas would not be adopted and that their adoption would lead to many changes — he also spoke of the important work led by the women.
Emphasizing the freedom with which everybody had expressed their points of view, and addressing himself to the international delegations, Lula affirmed that they should draw lessons from this congress. He also reminded delegates of the need to sell the PT's new journal, Brazil
"We have both internal and external problems. On the external front we must each day more than ever defend Cuba, fight for the return of Aristide and make the US and its government to understand that we demand that they leave us to control our own destiny and resolve our own problems. On the internal front [we must] step up the struggle against social injustice, the Collor government, for land reform and in defence of wages." To applause and chants of "Lula-la" he concluded: "I do not know if we have the greatness to confront all this."
In any case the congress is not finished. We must wait and see which of the currents, the left or the right, will make the best use of its results. The former have the support of a very radical rank-and-file, the latter of the means for broad public selfpresentation. * 1.The Sao Paolo Forum, bringing together a wide spectrum of Latin American and Caribbean leftwing organizations, held its first meeting in the Brazilian city of Sao Paolo on July 4, 1990 (see IV 190, September 17, 1990). A second meeting took place in Mexico City in 1991.
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