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BrazilianTrotskyist
1st May 2010, 02:23
Comrades,
It's my first post here. =)
Have not seen any report in english, I will try to give a report about the situation in PSOL, the broad anti-capitalist party of Brazil as NPA in France.

In the last Congress, last year, a crisis started in PSOL with the desintegration of the last majority, of MES (Socialist Left Movement) and APS (Socialist Popular Action), because of the extremely undemocraticaly methods of MES in the direction of PSOL and because MES negate the importance of the international crisis and pose the issue of corruption as the main theme. This crisis deepened with Heloisa Helena, who stood for presidency and is very known, deciding to stand for Senate again.
The bloc around CSOL presented Plinio de Arruda Sampaio as an alternative in the Congress.
Plinio de Arruda, who is aligned with the left of the PSOL, was viewed as very "radical" and "propagandistic".

After the Congress, MES and Heloisa Helena started trying to make PSOL support Marina Silva, the Green Party candidate. Marina Silva was a PT senator and Minister of Environment who last year joined the Green Party. Beyond MES, APS and Enlace (the section of the USFI) were voting for conversations with Marina for a "commum programme". They argued that this was "progressive" and could open opportunities for the left.
The left-wing of PSOL, CSOL (a split from PSTU-LIT, wich is my organization), CST (UIT-QI) and the comrades of the LSR (CWI), strongly opposed this policy.
While MES was trying to support Marina Silva, Marina was on tv defending publicaly the economic policies of the government, and there were manifestos signed by hundreds of known left militants of the landless movements, and other social movements outside PSOL supporting Plinio de Arruda to stand for presidency. It opened a strong crisis inside currents like APS and Enlace, who decided that was not possible to support Marina Silva, and this helped to grew inside APS and Enlace the idea that Plinio de Arruda was the only viable candidate, so APS and Enlace decided to support Plinio.

A conference would be held in Rio de Janeiro to decide the candidate for presidency and the right wing of PSOL (the Bloc around MES and Heloisa Helena) tried everything, like frauds to have more delegates and "kidnapping" the website of the party, but the majority of the party and these basis was supporting Plinio and the bloc around MES decided to not participate in the conference.

Plinio de Arruda Sampaio will now stand for presidency in the next october elections presenting a clear anti-capitalist and socialist programme to fight against the capitalist crisis and offer an alternative for the working class. :thumbup1: His proposal is to stand an openly socialist campaign, what Heloisa Helena did not.

This is a victory for the left and may positively influence the ways of PSOL and the recomposition of the left in the next period.

Wish that everyone enjoyed the report! :)

Crux
1st May 2010, 02:32
Does this mean that the alliance of PSTU, PSOL and PCB will also stand in the election? And welcome to revleft, comrade. One of our leading members in LSR is a swedish expat, Marcus Kolbrunner and a very good comrade. I met him at the last winter school here in sweden and he held a report on latin america.
While I don't speak prortugese I can read it so-so, so I was already aware of this victory for the left of PSOL, from keeping check on the LSR-page.
I have another question though, is Heleoisa Helena a member of Enlace?

The Vegan Marxist
1st May 2010, 02:35
Thanks for this information, Comrade. And welcome to RevLeft! :thumbup1:

Revy
1st May 2010, 04:12
If I recall correctly, there was some tension in PSOL with Heloisa Helena. Because for some reason she said something against abortion and that caused a lot of controversy because PSOL is pro-choice.

Proletarian Ultra
1st May 2010, 15:24
Holy icepick Batman! I had no idea Brazil was so crawling with Trots!

Crux
2nd May 2010, 22:10
Holy icepick Batman! I had no idea Brazil was so crawling with Trots!Two of the main left parties opposing the PT government PSOL and PSTU are trotskyist. Which reminds me, Brazilian Trotskyist, given that you are a member of a split from the PSTU, what are the PSTU's reasons for not joining PSOL?

BrazilianTrotskyist
3rd May 2010, 01:27
I met Marcus Kolbrunner after the conference. The militants of LSR and CSOL were in the same bar celebrating the victory! :lol:
Heloisa Helena was a leading member of DS (Socialist Democracy, USFI in PT) and a member of Enlace in PSOL, but she was never centralized by Enlace and in the first Congress of PSOL in 2007, she defended against the resolution that PSOL would be for the legalization of abortion (against her organization), she left Enlace and now is very close to MES. Actually the MES does everything she wants because of her electoral potential, including MES voted against the resolution of the abortion with Heloisa, saying that it was not a "principle question".

And about why the PSTU didn't join the PSOL, PSOL is not exactly a trotskyist party, or a revolutionary marxist party, although it has an important influence of trotskyism. All of the founders currents claim to be trotskyist or come from a trotskyist tradition, but after 2005 some militants and APS wich is a big current, joined PSOL. APS comes from a guerrilla and half stalinist half gramscist tradition, but they dont defend stalin anymore.
When there was the split of PT, it started a discussion about the foundation of a new socialist party. One of the reasons that CSOL split from PSTU was because PSTU in this process was advocating for in this new party all organizations should be dissolved and it would be centralized, and naturally would discuss its filiation to LIT. Naturally the militants who were broking with PT at this moment, were from different traditions and would not accept just join a "bigger PSTU".
Inside PSTU, CSOL was defending that was necessary at the actual moment a broad left party, with the organizations having the right of their original boarders and having their own international organizations or not, and this party would not be centralized at the first moment but would be a necessary space for the recomposition of the revolutionary left and a space of debates for the constrution of a commum programme and would be a step for a big revolutionnary party, and the revolutionnaries should defend a revolutionnary program inside it, but PSTU didn't realize that. Of course there are other questions about LIT being a sect and an ossified organization, but one important question was that.
:)

Crux
3rd May 2010, 01:37
Thank you for taking the time to respond, companheiro. So what does this victory for the left in PSOL mean in regards to which parties PSOL will be allying with in the coming election?

Oh and for those interested here is LSR's (CWI Brazil) report on last years PSOL Congress: A congress of crisis and uncertain future (http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/3698)

For those who speak portugese (or, like me, can fake it when no one's watching) there's always Liberdade Socialismo e Revolução's website. (http://www.lsr-cit.org/)
And while we are on that note, Brazilian Trotskyist, aside from making a different judgement during the last P-SOL congress how to best defeat the party-right, what would you say are your, meaning CSOL, differences with LSR?

BrazilianTrotskyist
4th May 2010, 05:59
Unfortunately, possibly the "left front", as we called the last coalition between PSOL, PSTU (LIT) and PCB (One of the two CPs in Brazil, PCdoB is in the government and PCB is in the left opposition), will not happen. Its because PSOL lost much time in conversations with the Green Party wich leds to the desintegration of the left front, and because PSTU and PCB are both using opportunistics arguments to inviabilitate this.

PSTU is putting sectarian arguments about Plinio not defending a socialist program etc. PSTU was asking for Heloisa to stand for presidency, and now says that will not possible the left front because of political disagreements, etc. They would accept Heloisa but don't accept a coalition with Plinio with a much more leftist program because of her electoral weight. In fact they think that PSOL has not the same weight as in last election and Plinio is not so well known as Heloisa, so they have no reason to not have their own candidate.

PCB is in other side, saying that it was not searched and that is no more time and they don't want just an electoral front, but a united front in the struggles. And they will have their own candidate but want political unit of the left against the government in the elections. PSOL is now asking for discuss the differences and the program but both are puting difficulties. So we are pressing in the movements for the unity of the left and try to rebuild the left front, but it will be dificult, and it's horrible.

EDIT: For presidency, now only PSTU and PCB are possible, but maybe in some states like Rio Grande do Sul, the right wing of the party may try to ally with parties outside of the left front locally, like the Green Party, but it will have a strong resistence.

BrazilianTrotskyist
4th May 2010, 06:21
Mayakovsky,

CSOL is an organization still under construction. Beyond comrades broking with LIT, after the split and the foundation of PSOL a lot of comrades from different traditions and including ex-USFI comrades that split from Enlace joined us, and comrades wich CSOL is their first organization, like me.

I think we have different traditions and some differences of interventions in the movement, but I think they are not so great. In my view, we have close interpretations about latin america, the role of Chavez and about the anti-capitalist parties. In a lot of issues we, CSOL and LSR-CWI, have more in common than with CST (UIT) for example. I hope we will work more closely in the next period. ;)

Proletarian Ultra
4th May 2010, 06:37
At first I didn't realize he'd been nominated officially by the party, rather than just running independent of it. Plinio - wow. I am in awe of this guy. He was one of 102 Brazilians stripped - by name - of their constitutional rights when the Junta took over. Been working on land reform at great personal risk to himself since the early 60's.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_x1bC_E6Jgtg/Stt-3t17eCI/AAAAAAAAClE/Oeu9Lj5Ujx0/s400/psolse_plinio.jpg

BTW: This Heloisa Helena seems like a real liability. How come the PSOL website (http://www.psol.org.br/nacional/) has a link at the top for Helena (the party president?) but none for Plinio (the actual candidate). And a big damn picture of Helena. Someone needs to stage an intra-party coup fast.

Crux
4th May 2010, 12:20
At first I didn't realize he'd been nominated officially by the party, rather than just running independent of it. Plinio - wow. I am in awe of this guy. He was one of 102 Brazilians stripped - by name - of their constitutional rights when the Junta took over. Been working on land reform at great personal risk to himself since the early 60's.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_x1bC_E6Jgtg/Stt-3t17eCI/AAAAAAAAClE/Oeu9Lj5Ujx0/s400/psolse_plinio.jpg

BTW: This Heloisa Helena seems like a real liability. How come the PSOL website (http://www.psol.org.br/nacional/) has a link at the top for Helena (the party president?) but none for Plinio (the actual candidate). And a big damn picture of Helena. Someone needs to stage an intra-party coup fast.
The right wing tendency couped the website.

BrazilianTrotskyist: Best of luck, companheiro.