What about socialism?
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There was little discussion about socialism at the second Congress of the Workers Party (PT). Carlos Henrique Arabe* reports. The majority "Articulação" current reaffirmed the 7th National Meeting (1990) and lst Congress thesis concerning socialism. The only amendment sent to the assembly for voting was presented by the "Nosso Tempo" ("Our Time") current, which included those PT comrades associated with the Fourth International.
The amendment proposed going beyond the PT's shy programme of "democratic revolution , and setting out the perspective of transition to socialism. "Nosso Tempo" suggested that the PT learn from the experience of popular participation, notably in PTgoverned Rio Grande do Sul state, and develop various elements of direct democracy. The amendment argued that PT local and state governments must have a strategic purpose in broader transformation. This is not the case at the moment, except in Rio Grande do Sul.
The debate did not polarize the Congress. But it was rejected by the "majority" and even most of the PT sectors that label themselves as "left" The "Articulação" group claimed that reaffirming the parties previous resolutions was sufficient. They also argued that the amendment overestimated the strategic value of popular participation experiences, specially the "participative budget" in Rio Grande do Sul.
Other "left" currents claimed the "Nosso Tempo" amendment proposed a concept of attaining socialism through a continuous, evolutionary process, putting aside the fight for a revolutionary rupture. Popular participation
The issue of popular participation is the most significant dimension of the debate, and the most relevant for the concrete policy of PT representatives in local and state governments.
argued that the implementation of processes like Rio Grande do Sul's participative budget has the potential of introducing embryonic forms of direct democracy Such a practice may be inserted into a perspective that will reinforce the need to overcome the limits of representative democracy, linking the material conquests of a majority to a new form of organization of the system of political decision-making
It is quite clear that the transformation of the state into a public good, un-privatized, and not a hostage of private interests, depends on structural modifications in its organization and that this cannot be achieved simply by governing well and honestly. The experience in Rio Grande do Sul confirms the limits of participation in the structures of the capitalist state.
But the problem is that the kind of popular participation that characterises the Rio Grande do Sul administration goes far beyond what the PT practices elsewhere in Brazil. In many cases even where the PT is hegemonic within a local or state government - the motivation to participate is carried on in a very controlled form, subordinated to the Executive or even the head of the Executive. In those situations, "popular participation" accomplishes a very limited function of democratization of political life. It is much more a form of legitimating left-wing governments, without changing the basic mechanism of power — restrictive representative democracy, and the exchange of favors and interests between the state and economic elites.
Most left currents said that the Nosso Tempo amendment overestimates the strategic role of direct democracy experiences. This disagreement within the left seems to reflect incompatible views of the question of power. Some leftists see popular participation PT governments as only a form of "power accumulation", of political and social
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reinforcing of the party, towards a moment of rupture. Only after that 'glorious day' will direct democracy be fully introduced.Naturally, this kind of vision emphasizes the strategic duties that should lead to a revolutionary rupture.
But since such a rupture is absent from the preoccupations of most of the PT, it is difficult to accept that this is the real reason why other left currents opposed the "Nosso Tempo" amendment. Much more popular is the idea that the work of PT governments is the administration of the bourgeois state without proposing its overthrowing. Thus, we should be satisfied with what is done today, especially in what concerns the forms of popular participation, acknowledging this as possible, realistic reform. Process and rupture
The leftist currents in the PT agree that the socialist transformation of the society demands a revolutionary rupture. This idea is generally viewed as a moment concentrated in time when the political and social working class movement focuses its forces against bourgeois domination — against the state — destroying the old oppressive "machine" and creating a new state based on direct democracy.
But this dynamic, best described as a revolution, is never a magic and accidental moment. On the contrary, in all historic revolutionary experiences there had been a previous process of construction of an alternative or double power, combining elements of process and rupture. On many occasions, in many parts of the world, sectors of the left satisfy themselves with grand proclamations about the need for
For no contribution to the construction of a program that overcomes the traditional ("stages") view that separates "maximum" (socialist) and "minimum" (almost class-conciliatory) programs. The "question of power" becomes reduced to the question of whether the self-styled revolutionary party has total hegemony or not.
In other words, a critical analysis of past revolutions and the class struggle in Brazil does not justify the leftist criticism of the alleged "evolutionary" character of the Nosso Tempo amendment.
The amendment also approaches the fight against privatization and market domination, demanding (re)nationalisation of strategic sectors (banks and monopolies), linking it to a system of social control over the state. It emphasizes that it is possible and relevant to integrate into this perspective the initiatives and experiences of cooperativism, self-government and non-capitalist forms of economic organization. This concerns the conquests land reform, particularly the struggle of the Landless Movement (MST) and resistance to economic disintegration and unemployment. The amendment gives importance to these aspects and tries to add them to the party's program in order to guide its action of opposing the government. * * Carlos Henrique Arabe is a member of the PT's National Leadership (DN). He is a leading member of ociated with the Fourth International. DS is the m component in the Nosso Tempo current, which won 10% support at the recent PT Congress. *
"Nosso Tempo" document popular control over the without markets (though intending to eliminate them in
Popular self-government [Excerpts from the Nosso Tempo amendment to the main text at the recent 2nd PT Congress] Our democratic and popular program must be guided by a conception of socialism that represents the control, by the organized masses, of society's economic and political manageSocialism will make possible popular sovereignty over the definition of the destinies of society, currently alienated by the capitalist market and a state organization that, as the Communist Manifesto says, works as a "executive committee with the charge of managing the common businesses of the bourgeoisie."
This means the creation of institutions that occupy the place taken by the capitalist market and the bourgeois state. Those institutions must be based on the free association of workers, on the autonomous, democratic and sovereign activity of the population.
We don't want statism, merely promoting social changes from above, with popular participation controlled by the state machine. Nor do we want market domination, where popular needs are subject to an external logic that favors the owners of capital.
Our program must develop all forms of popular self-organization and social control over the state and the market.
Our experience in the last few years is extremely useful in making this program concrete. We have seen advances in popular participation in many city halls, specially in Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul state. It has been shown that this form of treating the state is democratic and efficient.
other hand, it is necessary to make advances in the short or medium term, naturally). Control over markets must be performed by public organisms. At this stage, that can only mean state organisms subject to popular control.
From a democratic standpoint it does not make any sense to replace state functions with a wider role for the capitalist markets. This would result in diminishing people's ability to decide.
It would be a retrogression as far as democracy is concerned. The state must have the capacity to coordinate economic activities, so that they become compatible with the project of democratic and popular development, and it becomes possible to steadily reduce social and regional inequalities.
To that end it is not necessary to make all the economy statecontrolled, but it is most necessary that many strategic industries be under social (state) ownership... " Extracts from the amendment "Socialism as organized, solidarity-based, people's self-government"
International Viewpoint #319 February 2000 35
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