Foundation of the Worker’s Party in Brazil (1980-1985)
Introduction
The Brazilian leftist, Worker’s Party is currently a highly popular political party among Brazilians of all walks and class (Rubin, 2010). The parties inception took place in the early 80’s, however; it good to be cognizant of the fact that the party had its long traditional roots in the early 60’s when the leftist guerilla movements were common among most Latin American nations. The party has had a long struggle in the opposition for an inordinate length of time prior to its final clinching of the government leadership in 2002, led by Lula da Silva. The party has made major contributions to the transformation of the Brazilian political landscape since its inception.
The party is credited with the fierce fight against corruption, and the search for transparency, accountability and more participation of the citizenry in the governance of Brazil (Rubin, 2010). Organized from the grassroots levels, the party has been able to display the essence of “power for the people.” Dilma Rousseff is the current political leader of the Brazilian Worker’s Party (PT) and an ex-guerilla. Her position as the Brazilian president confirms the success of the Worker’s Party (PT) that started as a leftist movement in the early 1960’s. Her election after Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, portrays and confirms the strong trust and loyalty that the Brazilian people hold about the PT, which started off from humble beginnings in the sixties and got spurred to it heights of success by Lula da Silva’s success in 2002 presidential elections.
Prior to the party’s success in the presidential bid, the PT was credited with a number of changes in Brazil, which were initiated as a result of its effort in the opposition. The party has had a successful trajectory since the 70’s when Brazilian leadership was held by a dictatorial military leadership, which had come to place as a response to the fear of the armed leftist guerillas. The nation now thrives under a successful, democratic political leadership with a dynamically growing economy, with competitive, fair and free politics as well as a diminishing rate of poverty among the populace. The nation seems to be on the path to being one of the major world economies and super power. Notably, much of the success can be attributed in one way or another to the Worker’s Party. The party has been the core of the success story for the nation of Brazil through providing leadership, historical lessons and political inspiration as well as guiding and initiating policy formulation (Baiocchi, 2003). This paper reviews the historical events and surroundings within which the PT was developed, especially; in the 80’s.
However, a little focus is also directed to the political, economic and social events that took place in times prior to the party’s inception, because these played a major role in determining the party’s direction and development. This work shall include the objectives of the party’s formation, its actual formation and its eventual impact on the Brazilian political landscape. The party’s development through time and its contribution to the politics and economy of Brazil shall also be highlighted. Perhaps the best place to start with is the historical highlight of political leadership prior to the 80’s.
Brazilian political leadership was initially formed after the pre-colonial period and this was based on Integralism (Ação Integralista Brasileira)-a form of Fascism conceived in 1932 by Plinio Salgado. The integralist party formed the core Brazilian politics in the 1930’s. The party’s principles upheld Catholicism and corporativism and just like many other fascist regimes the political leadership of Brazil in this era shunned communist and capitalist inclinations. It is from this fascist front that the “Green shirts” would emerge as the scion to the leftist movement and the eventual culmination into the Worker’s Party. The “Green shirts” were armed groups that would later develop into ‘guerillas.’ The Vargas era that lasted between 1937 and 1945 heavily inclined on fascist principles.
However, this would later gradually change as time went by. In 1961 Janio Quadros was elected by Brazilians for presidency and he took on power with a vice-president from a different party- João Goulart. Quadros successfully managed the economy and he was able to reduce budgetary deficits, however; he later opted to resign after the legislative arm of government refused to offer him more power. After his resignation João Goulart takes over, but since he lacks political backing and trust among the people his governance turns out to be ineffective. Feeling defeated and possibly lacking support among the people and fellow political leaders. João Goulart works with his brother-in-law (a governor of Sao Paulo during his regime) to arm labor unions and mobilize forces to create a political showdown. It is from these armed labor union members that the PT would later develop into a full fledged political party. Despite the fact that Goulart had initiated the movement with self interests at heart, this would later change as the movement adopted an agenda to fight for the people and their rights from the grassroots (Hunter, 2007).
The military in this era saw this as a threat to their existence. They thought the organized militia formed by the labor unions would attempt to replace or overthrow the military. As a result, the military decided to overthrow Goulart. The military took over political leadership and created a new structure of leadership. Between 1985 and 1990 Jose Sarney, the vice-president elect became the president after the death of the elected president. Jose initiated an expanded money supply in a bid to revive the economy, but this led to hyperinflation and tough economic times ensued. Jose led the nation up till 1990 when Fernando Collor was elected as the new president through the National Reconstruction Party, beating Lula da Silva by a very narrow margin. However, he later resigns to avoid impeachment over corruption.
As the progression through time and handing over of power proceeds the PT led by Lula da Silva since the 80’s keeps on with its struggle for power with unsuccessful bids all throughout the 80’s and 90’s. However, despite the fact that the party fails to clinch power, they still keep the government on its toes through the opposition. Since the formation of the PT in the period of the 80’s and 90’s, the Brazilian nation encounters a myriad of economic and political challenges. In a 1994 try Lula da Silva lost again to Fernando Cardoso, who was elected by virtue of his successful program that helped alleviate problems of inflation that had begun since Jose Sarney’s reign. Cardoso managed to win support over the right and center of the political wing. Cardoso’s relatively successful reign ran for two terms and he was finally succeeded by Lula da Silva in 2002 (Sofia & Baiocchi, 2007).
Lula da Silva had humble origins in North Eastern parts of Brazil. He later migrated to Sao Paulo where he joined the Metal Worker’s Union in 1969. Later, he became the union’s president in 1975. Lula actively participated in formation of PT. The PT was not very influential in its early stages due to the clamp down by the military to any perceived rebellion which had earlier been associated to the armed union members’ militia. However, with the return of civilian rule, the PT gained renewed popularity in 1985. The party had a lot of influence on the political arena at this period. In 1986 Lula began his political journey with PT after being elected as the representative of Sao Paulo state. Thereafter, he began vying for presidency for four consecutive elections (1989, 1994, 1998 and 2002) and he finally won in 2002. Finally, after the long struggle in the opposition in the Worker’s Party, the electorate had perceived him to be worthwhile. Lula was successful to rule for two consecutive terms because of his good leadership.
The development of the Worker’s Party and its firm installation in society and politics was as a result of the facts that it represented and the aims that it wanted to achieve. Through the 70’s the Brazilian’s lived a seemingly oppressed life under a military regime led by the Brazilian military after overthrowing João Goulart in a coup de tat. The regime was oppressive and reactionary to any kind of perceived resistance, and it is in this period that the Worker’s Party scion remained dormant due to fear of the military. However, the military was later to fail in leadership due to poor policies that led to hyperinflation and an extremely poor economy. This led to the creation of a perception among the people that the country was headed in the wrong direction due to the poor economic performance that it was experiencing (Baiocchi, 2003). All throughout the eighties and nineties the economy of Brazil suffered from hyperinflation coupled with excessive foreign debt.
The nation’s economy plummeted to very dismal levels and people had to barely survive especially, during the global inflation period. The inflation coupled by the military oppression elicited for a call of new leadership and a regime that would restore the nation to its better state. During this very lengthy period that spanned over three decades there were various economic initiatives that were made by the government, but most of them proved to be futile and several attempts to go back to the drawing board failed miserably leaving the country under poor economic status. This would later continue to be the trend till 1994 when finally the introduced Plano Real would finally lead to positive changes. The plan brought about stability which enabled the nation to sustain the growth of its economy. Amidst these economic, political and social struggles there was rampant poverty, violent crime, corruption and illiteracy all of which contributed to the worsening of the situation (Baiocchi, 2007).
It was against this back drop of economic, social and political failures that the Worker’s Party was organized. The failure of the Brazilian economy particularly hit hard the lower classes of society constituting of peasants, plantation workers and factory workers in the informal urban settlements. The bite of the hard economic times portrayed a failure by government policy and actions. As such citizens and more so unionized workers under various industries directed their grievances against the government and the major industrial leaders and companies for what they perceived was poor pay for work and living conditions. It is around such social and economic issues that the leaders and founders of the Worker’s Party were able to unite and create a single channel through which they could make their voices heard-the Worker’s Party.
The Worker’s Party represented the common man from the grassroots and as such it was perceived as a party of the middle and lower classes that were seeking economic liberty, better pay and working conditions as well as better leadership and governance that would make all the above mentioned desires realizable. Whilst campaigning for the betterment of society the party and its leadership through the observation of party principles was well aware of the fact that none of these desires could be attained without the proper leadership which in turn would shape policy formulation and implementation towards poverty alleviation and economic improvement. The struggles of the Brazilian economy were compounded by social ills that made it even more difficult for the nation to liberate itself from the economic troubles that it had in the 80’s. These economic problems had developed since the 70’s, but since there was no clearly focused leadership from military which ruled for a better part of the 70’s it was difficult to make any progress whatsoever. Rampant corruption, illiteracy and lack of accountability led to a further decline of the economy.
Earlier initiated plans aimed at harnessing external borrowing to boost the economy failed because of factors such as corruption and thus driving the nation further in to debt and poverty. It was against this back drop that the founders of the Worker’s Party organized their forum to create a voice for the weak through which they could make their grievances heard. In essence the political turmoil and formation of movements such the one initiated by the worker’s union was prompted by a failed state of economy and politics which seemed to spell doom for the nation. The suffering of the lowly in the economic classes prompted them to support a party that they thought embodied their interests and beliefs, and with such strong support from a large number of union workers and families the party was able to grow into a full fledged political party.
According to Baiocchi (2007), the struggle towards a better Brazil the party has helped the realization of very many positive achievements in Brazil. After the founding of PT in the late 70’s the party embraced ideologies that may have been seemingly contradictory such as class-consciousness, workerism, participatory democracy, and the establishment of social movements’ autonomy. In the 80’s the party was lauded for its democratic organization and in the 90’s its local governance model was later to draw attention to the party. The party’s crafting of the participatory governance model attracted many among the leadership and later led to the expansion of it influence and members. The part’s model of participatory democracy helped solve a lot governance disputes and this helped contribute the image of the party. Programs such as participatory budgeting implemented in Porto Alegre made clear settings in which the claimants were allowed to participate in the negotiations (Shah, 2007). This not only created satisfaction for the citizenry, but it also created some form of legitimacy in government actions by involving the populace in decision-making. Administrators found a way to generate consensus on platforms of a redistributive nature and thus helped improve governance the overall image of PT which would later culminate to its success after 2002 (Shah, 2007).
Conclusively, the Worker’s Party has had a long journey since the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and now the 2000’s. The party had its humble beginnings in workers’ unions unionized for the sake of creating a common voice and platform upon which to air their grievances to the leadership and if possible increase their participation in government or take up direct roles. Baiocchi (2007), state that the main drive was the poor state governance and the economy that seemed to work against the lower economic classes in society. Provided with a more democratic platform free of military controls in the 80’s the party has been able to offer exemplary leadership from the sideline and managed to positively influence policy formulation from the sideline under the opposition umbrella and the long time leaders Lula de Salva. After decades of political participation the leftist party has positively shaped not the politics of Brazil, but also, the economy and policies that now drive the nation towards global economic success, power and presence.
References
Baiocchi G. (2003). The Radical in Power: The Workers’ Party and the Experiments in Urban Democracy in Brazil. US, Zed Books
Baiocchi G. (2007). The Workers’ Party and Political Crisis in Brazil: Lula at Crossroads. Retrieved on March 19, 2011, from http://www.solidarity-us.org/current/node/105
Hunter W. (2007),. The Normalization of an Anomaly: The Workers’ Party in Brazil
World Politics, 59 (3), 440-475
Rubin J. (2010),. The Roots to Brazil’s Success; Huffpost, November 2, 2010. Retrieved on March 19, 2011, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-w-rubin/the-roots-of-brazils-succ_b_777793.html
Shah, A. (2007),. Participatory budgeting, World Bank Publications
Sofia, C. and Baiocchi, G. (2007),. The Brazilian Workers‘ Party: From Local Practices to National Power: Working USA, volume 10, issue 4, pp.411-30
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