Brazil
under the Rule of the Pro-Imperialistic Goverment Lula
DEMONSTRATIONS
AGAINST
LULA DA SILVA
PARALYSE
BRASÍLIA
Organisation and Translation
from PSTU’s Newspaper Opinião Socialista - December 2004 :
by Eduardo de Almeida Neto
Albuquerque Lemes
Lo Scaltro von Genua
On 25 November
2004 Brasília was shaken by two demonstrations against the government Lula. This
year will end under the sign of street mobilizations to end and points out at
the same time to the perspective of a fierce 2005.
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On November 25, 2004, Brasília was shaken by two
demonstrations against the pro-imperialistic Government Lula.
One of these was the march against the neo-liberal trade
union and work reforms, called up by the National Trade Union of the Lecturers
of the Universities (ANDES: Sindicato Nacional Dos Docentes das Instituições de
Ensino Superior), the National Co-ordination of the Struggles (CONLUTAS:
Coordenação Nacional das Lutas) and several other organizations, which paralyse
the main street of the Brazilian Ministries with circa 15,000 people.
The second demonstration was that of the Landless Rural Workers’
Movement (MST: Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra) with 9,000 people,
which was formed after the Conference on Land and Water.
This one ended before the Central Bank of
For this reason the leadership of the MST refused to unite
with the other demonstration. Meanwhile, the reality prevailed and it showed
that also this march according to its content was a manifestation against the Government
Lula Silva.
November 25, 2004, was dominated by the third large
manifestation against the Government Lula.
In 2003 we had a mobilization of 50,000 people in the framework
of the strikes of officials and employees against the neo-liberal Lula’s reform
of the social assurance system.
On June 16, 2004, the CONLUTAS brought again in Brasília 20,000
demonstrators on the road against the neo-liberal trade union, work and
university reforms.
This year will end under the sign of street mobilizations
to end and points out at the same time to the perspective of a fierce 2005.
The sectors in the march
The march against
the Lula’s neo-liberal reforms was a victory. It combined sectors with
different weights.
The first demonstration was built by the CONLUTAS and the National
Co-ordination of the Students’ Struggles (CONLUTE: Coordenação Nacional de Luta
dos Estudantes) and represented half of the march, so that they were to be well
recognized.
Together with many militants, also the Unified Socialist Workers’
Party (PSTU: Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado) was well visible in
the march: by their size, by the speech choirs against the Government Lula,
against the United Workers’ Trade Union Federation (CUT: Central Única dos Trabalhadores)
and the National Union of Students (UNE: União Nacional dos Estudantes) and by
the enormous dolls of Olinda, banners and posters.
The column of CONLUTAS was composed of parts of the trade
union movement of the whole country and of the young people, which built the
majority of this column together with comrades of the University of Brasília
(UnB: Universidade Nacional de Brasília), University of Campinas (UNICAMP),
University of Rio de Janeiro (UFR: Universidade Federal DO Rio de Janeiro) and
other universities.
The left of the CUT and of the Workers’ Party (PT: Partido
dos Trabalhadores) was the second force in the march, had however much less
enthusiasm. They held neither flags of the PT nor of the CUT and disappeared visually
and politically into the demonstration.
The Party for Socialism and Liberty (P-SOL: Partido
Socialismo e Liberdade) of Heloísa Helena arises for the first time in this
march with banners and flags and clasped also a column of the Movement Land and
Liberty (MTL: Movimento Terra e Liberdade).
It is still time for breaking with the Government Lula, the
CUT and the UNE
in January 2005 on
the World Social Forum (WSF) in
The two demonstrations of November 25, 2004, in Brasília
expressed the feeling of a whole part of the mass movement against the pro-imperialistic
Government Lula.
But contrary to what happened in the elections of October
2004, this feeling was not exploited by the right opposition, because the march
was organized by left sectors, which stand in connection with the mass movement.
The militant basis concentrated in the two marches had a
confrontation position against the Government Lula da Silva.
This happened both in the march of the main street of the
Ministries against the neo-liberal trade union, work and university reforms,
and in the march of the landless rural workers.
The two fierce demonstrations were even more left than parts
of their leadership, as the MST, the CUT and PT left leaderships, which did not
break yet with the government.
The Government Lula in turn follows its course with
absolute clarity.
The agrarian
reform is shut down throughout
Lula da Silva prepares the neo-liberal trade union, work,
and university reforms, which open the way to the Free Trade Agreement of
Americas (FTAA/ALCA) with the
The nepotism in the Lula’s Government becomes obvious in
the context of the negotiations with the bourgeois Party of the Democratic Movement
of Brazil (PMDB: Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro) and the bourgeois
Progress Party (PP: Partido Progressista) of Paulo Maluf, practicing an
impudent exchange of offices and Ministries for political support.
The
CUT and the UNE are still connected with the Government Lula and prepare together
with this the neo-liberal reforms
Eye-catching,
is the fact that the leadership of the MST continues to
support the government, exactly like the PT left.
An important part of the Heloísa Helena’s P-SOL Helena is
still against the break with the CUT and the UNE.
We draw two conclusions from the mobilizations of November
25, 2004, in Brasília:
The first is that the combination of the marches in a
unique large march against the Government Lula da Silva was possible.
The second is that the leadership of the MST must break with
the big agrarian business compromised Lula’s Government, exactly like the left
sectors of CUT, UNE, P-SOL must break with these government-faithful institutions
and build an alternative to the leadership of the workers’ fights together with
CONLUTAS in the context of the National Meeting of January 2005 on the World Social
Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre.
How
does the PSTU of
The PSTU of Brazil works on the basis of the principle
of the democratic centralism.
That is, all comrades of our organization act according to
the same program and the same policy, after that a party-internal democratic
discussion took place.
The centralization of the party actions is necessary,
because we confront ourselves with the bourgeoisie and with the bourgeois state.
Without a centralized structure it is not possibly to
fight for power.
In order to secure the centralization in the action, we
have an extensive liberty for internal discussion: Each politics are constantly
discussed and estimated by the comrades in the meetings of our organization.
The internal democracy means the possibility and the
necessity that the party experiences an extensive debate among the different
positions.
The large political and programmatic decisions are made on
our congress.
In the preparation times of these congresses there is the
possibility of expressing these differences and of developing also tendencies
and fractions (i.e. groups of comrades, which organize themselves for the support
of their suggestions).
But, as far as the policy on the congress is decided, the
tendencies and fractions dissolve and the comrades commit themselves to convert
into the practice the policy which was determined by the majority.
Many independent activists and the majority of the
militants of other parties and organizations do not know or have many doubts
about this democratic centralism.
The chief responsible for this confusion is the Stalinism,
which did not only pave the way for the dictatorship of only one party into the
former workers’ states, but also for the bureaucratic centralism within the
communist parties, in which the leadership decides and the basis obeys.
He, who had other political opinion, was ejected,
slandered or even killed.
Thus it happened in time of Stalin that, in order to
accomplish its bureaucratic counter-revolution, the workers’ democracy, which
existed in time of Lenin and Trotsky in the Bolshevik party, was destroyed and
nearly all of their leaders were killed.
Other comrades are deceived by apparent
"democracy", which exists in parties like the Brazilian Workers’
Party (PT) of Lula da Silva.
In truth there is at all no democracy in the Workers’
Party (PT) of Lula da Silva.
Then, who decides the policy of this party is the party summit,
which is occupied with governors, mayors and parliamentarians, exactly the same
as in the bourgeois parties.
The basis of the Workers’ Party (PT) of
In Brazil the activists of the basis of the Workers’ Party
(PT) were against an alliance with the Liberal Party (PL) of José Alencar, but
the leadership and the "congress" (on which it is only possible to conquer
the majority, if one controls the bourgeois apparatuses; on which one operates
mass co-optations of new members, in order to gather votes without discussion)
have imposed the liberal Alencar in bureaucratic way.
The militant basis is against the neo-liberal health
reform and also against the remaining reforms of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and of the Free Trade Agreement of Americas (FTAA /ALCA).
But the leadership of the Workers’ Party (PT) of Lula
Silva and the adherents of its government operate what they want to do.
The left activists, which revolt against this politics of
the leadership of the Workers’ Party (PT) of
Democratic centralism is by historical experience the only
method, which guarantees that all members of the party, from the leadership up
to the basis, participate at the elaboration of the party politics, at the definition
of a strong and effective policy, in which nobody is privileged, in order to convert
it thereafter into reality together.