Socialist Democracy
* Brazil Jean Dupont interviews three leading members of Socialist Democracy, the revolutionary current within the Rio Grande do Sul Workers Party
Lucio Costa is the Communication Secretary of the Workers Party in Rio Grande do Sul. "A bad Leninist and a bad Catholic," he makes no apologies for Socialist Democracy's willingness to take positions in state institutions, or any of their other unorthodox policies.
"There is no manual for social revolution, insists Costa. "Many "Leninists" forget that Lenin based his political thinking on a thorough analysis of his country's political economy and history. His What is to Be Done? was written for one country, at one moment. If we understand Leninism as absolute confidence in the working class, and an absolute conviction that communists must organise in a democratic and coordinated fashion, then we in Socialist Democracy (DS) are perfect Leninists. Or maybe I am just a bad Leninist, as well as a bad Catholic."
"There is an immense difference between our tendency in Brazil, and much of the European Trotskyist movement, for example. For us, the value of Trotskyism is its critique of Stalinism, its insistence on democracy in the movement, and Trotsky's analysis of the degeneration of the Russian revolution. But, as for the model of party building adopted by most European Trotskyist organisations, I find it, frankly, unconvincing.
"For these reasons, I would say that here in Rio Grande do Sul, DS is not a Trotskyist organisation. Maybe one in four of our cadre are 'pure' Trotskyists. Many of the rest have their roots and their identity closer to the progressive catholic movements. In fact, when church people join DS, we tell them not to leave the church. But that is hardly surprising here in Brazil, Latin America
*The Latin American left has tried everything-armed struggle, populism, electoral politics. So what we now say— and what Che Guevara and Fidel Castro said the most important thing is to do things, not tell other people what they
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City counsellor Helena Bonhumá instit shares much of Costa's outlook, but proce worries that DS has moved too far from more its roots in the rank and file movement.
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"We are all in the institutions now,"
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Like much of the Brazilian left, that
Socialist Democracy (DS) began in the the m student vanguard. In 1979, the current from decided to focus its activities on the can c labour movement. But, unlike "turns to have industry" by revolutionary groups in gIves many imperialist countries, the strategy confli was not based on cadre taking jobs in the .
industrial working class-largely because of the marked income differentials at that time.
Bonhumá has fond memories of that period. "We built massive popular movements, and gained a lot of experience. I myself began organising women agricultural workers. Women united to identify and defend their rights, and we forced the
Ma trade unions to vote to accept women as the members.
"In those days, the DS had a big sta impact in the social movements. We need to rebuild that area of our work. To have
T more people in the social movements. To reinforce the autonomy of the social inc movements, irrespective of the type of and government. Despite their many positive
In qualities, the people now leading the ten social movements don't come from our
320 tradition.
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Socialist Democracy Winning the majority The Socialist Democracy tendency is not confined to Rio Grande do Sul. Mark Johnson spoke to Joaquim Soriano, a tendency leader, and member of the PT's national secretariat. "I can understand why, at times, some revolutionaries are frustrated with the moderate PT leadership," says Soriano. "But it would be an irresponsible error to march out of the party on the basis of some ultraradical critique. The vanguard of the popular movements and trade unions is still firmly inside the PT, and the left is strong."
"The left should stay inside the PT, and try to win majority support," says Soriano. He points out that moderate and radical currents in the party recently united on key questions. "The party's parliamentary fraction-most of which supports the moderate leadership tendency in the PT, has agreed to call for the impeachment of Presi14 International Viewpoint #313 July 1999 іпрі dent Fernando Henrique Cardoso."
For Soriano and other members of Socialist Democracy, this shows the importance of their work within the
The DS current is trying to reinforcing its national profile, regularise its publication Em Tempo, and increase training activities. "I'd like us to have more national visibility," says Soriano. "But we can't negate the reality of our disparate level and focus of intervention." In Rio Grande do Sul the current represents about 25% of party membership, and almost half the government. In Rio de Janiero state, the current is one of the smaller left currents in a party dominated by the centre-left. But Socialist Democracy members play an influential role in the state's trade unions. "Branding everything we do with a big "Socialist Democracy" sticker isn't the answer," says Soriano.
According to Soriano, foreigners often misinterpret the nature of the
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"So the Trotskyist origins of the
DS current do not mean that we are an "entryist" group, trying to build th a party within a party. We have pc taken what we think is useful from st
Trotsky and Lenin. But we don't ag have much in common with many of ra the self-styled revolutionary groups that use the 'classics' to condemn us th for our participation in the PT project, and, in places like Rio ar
Grande do Sul, our role in local government." * ea fu
*Socialist Democracy is the largest Latin American group associated with the Fourth International.
The PT website (in Portuguese) is at <www.pt.org.br>
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"But, if anything, the DS tendency is towards a greater involvement in the institutions. This is a complicated process. It is not just a question of having more and more positions in the state, at the expense of the social movements. We are also going deeper into the state. The PT victory in the state government means that we have much more power than at the municipal level. True, we are further from the citizen. But at the same time we can create new fields of struggle. We have a broader strategic focus, which gives us the possibility to create bigger conflicts with the establishment.
"The PT and DS are increasingly hegemonic in the left in Rio Grande do Sul state. Many young people want to join the DS because they like Miguel Rosseto, the state's vice governor, and most prominent member of DS. But many of these new comrades have a low level of political education and consciousness. We have to educate these new members about our tradition, our ideas, and our way of working. People don't know who the DS is and what we want. Our identity as a counter-current is less visible than in the past.
"At the same time, our leading role is
9191 9m60 creating exiting new challenges. We are one of the few expressive, radical, national tendencies in the PT. And our role in Rio Grande has captured the interest of the left across Brazil. This gives us a growing power of attraction.
"To try and reinforce the DS, we have created a three-member leadership. Those comrades have elected positions in the PT, but not in government. That gives them the time to develop the DS as well as the PT. Part of their responsibility is to improve our connections with the national leadership of the DS, in Sao Paulo.