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Socialism in Brazil is generally thought to trace back to the first half of the 19th century. There are documents evidencing the diffusion of socialist ideas since then, but these were individual initiatives with no ability to form groups with actual political activism. [1]
In 1892 the First Socialist Congress of Brazil occurred in Rio de Janeiro. Later that year, in São Paulo, another Socialist Congress, independent from the latter, took place. That same year the Workers' Socialist Party (Partido Operário Socialista) was founded in Rio de Janeiro. This is considered to be the first socialist party in Brazil. In 1895, also in Rio, the Socialist Workers Party (Partido Socialista Operário) was founded. That same year, Silvério Fontes, considered the first Brazilian Marxist, launched the Socialist Center of Santos, which soon published the socialist magazine A Questão Social (The Social Question) and newspaper O Socialista (The Socialist).
The first major socialist party of the country was founded in 1902 in São Paulo, under the auspicious of Italian immigrant Alcebíades Bertollotti, who was once responsible for Avanti , the official newspaper of the Italian Socialist Party. That same year, the Socialist Collective Party (Partido Socialista Coletivista) was founded in Rio de Janeiro, headed by Vicente de Sousa, a teacher at the Colégio Pedro II, and Gustavo Lacerda, a journalist and founder of the Brazilian Press Association (Associação Brasileira de Imprensa – ABI). In 1906, the Independent Workers Party (Partido Operário Independente) was founded; it created a "popular university", which had Rocha Pombo, Manuel Bomfim, and José Veríssimo as teachers. [1]
The diffusion of socialist ideas increased during World War I, but most of the Brazilian left-wing groups were still alienated from the general public. In June 1916, Francisco Vieira da Silva, Toledo de Loiola, Alonso Costa, and Mariano Garcia launched the Manifesto of the Brazilian Socialist Party (Manifesto do Partido Socialista Brasileiro). On May 1st of the following year, the Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Brazil (Manifesto do Partido Socialista do Brasil) was launched, signed by Nestor Peixoto de Oliveira, Isaac Izeckson, and Murilo Araújo. This group launched Evaristo de Morais to the House of Representatives and published two newspapers, Folha Nova (The New Leaf) and Tempos Novos (New Times), both short-lived. [1]
In December 1919, the Socialist League (Liga Socialista) was formed in Rio de Janeiro. Its members started publishing the magazine Clarté in 1921, with the support of Evaristo de Morais, Maurício de Lacerda, Nicanor do Nascimento, Agripino Nazaré, Leônidas de Resende, Pontes de Miranda, among others. The group would extend its influence to São Paulo, with Nereu Rangel Pestana, and to Recife, with Joaquim Pimenta. In 1925 a new Brazilian Socialist Party (Partido Socialista do Brasil) was launched, also formed by the group led by Evaristo de Morais. [1]
The foundation of the Brazilian Communist Party (Partido Comunista Brasileiro – PCB) in 1922 and its rapid growth suffocated the dozens of anarchist organizations which had played an important role in staging major strikes during the previous decade. PCB staged major strikes throughout the 1920s. Also during that period before the 1930 Revolution and Getúlio Vargas' rise to power, Maurício de Lacerda launched the short-lived United Front of the Left (Frente Unida das Esquerdas), whose purpose was to write a draft socialist constitution for Brazil. [1] The political agitation of the period included a movement in the tenente revolts context led by future communist leader Luís Carlos Prestes. Also, as a part of the Tenente revolts, a short-lived commune was formed in Manaus. Prestes was invited by Vargas to lead the military efforts of his uprising against the São Paulo oligarchy, but he refused; he was against an alliance between tenentes and dissident oligarchs. He exiled himself in the Soviet Union and was admitted as a member of PCB. In Moscow, he accepted the task, proposed by the Communist International, of leading a communist upheaval in Brazil.
Political activity was highly repressed during the Vargas regime. On November 23–27, 1935, Prestes' upheaval (Intentona Comunista) took place in Natal, Recife, and Rio de Janeiro almost simultaneously. It was led by the National Liberation Alliance (Aliança Nacional Libertadora – ANL), an organization which gathered anti-fascist (socialist, communist, liberals, progressive and nationalist) military officers. In Natal, the rebels even formed a military junta which ruled the city for four days. According to the official Vargas government account, the rebels killed 32 military officers in Rio de Janeiro, but the event is still questioned. The repression of the uprising resulted not only in the arrest of communist militants involved in it but also the persecution of popular forces in general.
In 1936, Prestes and his wife, Olga Benário Prestes, then pregnant, were arrested as a result of their participation in the upheaval. Benário, a Jewish German-Brazilian communist militant, was deported by the Vargas regime to Nazi Germany. Benário was eventually killed at the Bernburg Euthanasia Centre in 1942; she had given birth at the facility a few years earlier and her daughter, Anita Leocádia Prestes, was handed to Brazilian authorities by the Nazis at age one. With her father still in jail upon her arrival in Brazil, she was raised by her paternal grandmother Leocádia Prestes. Another victim of the Vargas regime was the Italian-Brazilian anarchist Oreste Ristori, deported to the Kingdom of Italy in 1936 and killed by Fascist police officers on December 2, 1943.
In 1937, Vargas imposed a Fourth Constitution for the country, the so-called Polaca, after his government denounced that international military forces were trying to make a "socialist revolution" in Brazil, in what became known as Cohen Plan. This false claim was a pretext for Vargas to perpetuate himself in power. Written by Justice Minister Francisco Campos, the Polaca was inspired by the authoritarian April Constitution of Poland, and was intended to consolidate the executive branch over the legislative and judiciary, implementing what became known as the Estado Novo regime. Polaca banned all political parties, implemented censorship in the press, and suppressed even further the organized movements of workers and of the society in general.
After the end of the Vargas regime in 1945, socialist ideas started developing again in the Post-War period with the creation of the Democratic Left (Esquerda Democrática) party, which was eventually registered as the Brazilian Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Brasileiro – PSB) on the Electoral Justice Court in August 1947. The PCB was also re-legalized, but the fear of communism also increased among the middle and upper classes in the context of the Cold War.
In 1946, Luís Carlos Prestes became the first self-proclaimed communist Senator of Brazil, a feat which would only be repeated sixty years later, when Inácio Arruda was elected to represent Ceará. By 1947, the PCB had nearly 200,000 members, having received 480,000 votes (nearly 9% of the total) in that year's legislative election. The party, however, was denounced as being "internationalist, and therefore not committed to Brazil's own interests" by Eurico Gaspar Dutra in 1948, having its license revoked by the Electoral Justice Court. In 1956, clashes emerged in the party after Nikita Khrushchev denounced Joseph Stalin's policies at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The factionalization of the PCB accelerated after a new Manifesto was approved in 1958, proposing new ways of achieving communist goals, linking the establishment of socialism to the broadening of democracy. Some of its top leaders, dissatisfied with this guidelines, quit PCB and formed a new party, Communist Party of Brazil (Partido Comunista do Brasil – PCdoB), in 1962. As a result, both parties claim to have been established in 1922.
In 1955, the Episcopal Conference of Latin America (Conselho Episcopal Latino Americano – CELAM) was created in Rio de Janeiro. It pushed the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) toward a more socially oriented stance. CELAM is the main basis for the foundation of the Liberation theology, which would play a significant role on the Brazilian left in the following decades, before declining in the late 1990s.
In 1961, after the resignation of Jânio Quadros, Vice-President João Goulart, a social-democrat with popular reform proposals, took office. He would, however, rule the country de facto only in 1963, after a referendum ended the parliamentary system approved by the Congress to prevent the Military Forces from overthrowing him from office due to his progressive views. During Goulart's government, PSB's president João Mangabeira became Justice Minister. A military coup in 1964 deposed Goulart under charges that he was leading a socialist revolution with his Basic Reforms (Reformas de Base) program. Goulart's biggest political opponent – and coup supporter – was Carlos Lacerda, son of Maurício de Lacerda, founder of PCB who later joined the National Democratic Union (União Democrática Nacional – UDN), an anti-Communist party.
With the 1964 coup, all political parties were banned, and socialist organizations had to act clandestinely once again. The creation of bipartisanship in 1965 by a presidential decree allowed moderate left-wing politicians to join the Brazilian Democratic Movement (Movimento Democrático Brasileiro – MDB), the party of consented opposition to the military regime.
In the second half of the 1960s and all through the 1970s, socialists and other opposition groups to the military dictatorship suffered relentless persecution. The vast majority of militants in armed organizations that fought the regime professed socialist ideas, ranging from Leninism to Maoism. As during the Vargas dictatorship, the guerrilla warfare carried out by Communist groups was used by the regime's propaganda as a justification for repression. The slow redemocratization process initiated by Ernesto Geisel in the second half of the 1970s yielded its first gains on the following decade, when socialist and communist parties were once again able to organize freely and stand their own candidates.
In January 1979, at the XI Steelworkers Congress, the proposal to launch the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores – PT), a democratic socialist party, was made. Its official foundation would occur a year later at the Catholic school Colégio Sion (Sion High School) in São Paulo. PT is a result of the approach between trade unionists of the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT), intellectuals, artists, Catholics influenced by liberation theology, and the old Brazilian left. The party, however, can be described as a New Left party, once it refused "taking the path of the old Latin American left, in the form of the guerrilla movement or Stalinism". [2]
In 1984, the Landless Workers' Movement was created as a reaction to the military regime's failed land reform program. This socialist group grew rapidly, becoming the largest social movement organization in Latin America, with an estimated 1.5 million members organized in 23 out of Brazil's 26 states. PT and MST have been closely linked to each other since the mid-1980s, but have grown apart in recent years.
 | This section needs expansionwith: History after 2016, including Lula's third election and tenure, should be added. You can help by adding to it. (October 2023) |
In 1988, rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist Chico Mendes, a member of the PT and an icon of the struggle for preservation of the Amazon rainforest was assassinated in his house in Xapuri, Acre. He is recognized today as one of the first leaders of the Brazilian eco-socialism movement.
In the 1989 election, the PT formed a socialist coalition with the PSB and PC do B and had Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as its presidential candidate. Although feared by the elite for proposing land reform, Lula declared that neither him or his party have ever been Marxist in a televised debate. The democratic socialist Democratic Labour Party (Partido Democrático Trabalhista – PDT), the only Brazilian member of the Socialist International, which claimed to be the actual heir of Goulart's and Vargas' Brazilian Labour Party (Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro – PTB), launched Leonel Brizola as their presidential candidate. Lula narrowly beat Brizola in the first-round and went on to the second round of the election, losing to neoliberal candidate Fernando Collor de Mello.
After two unsuccessful attempts (losing both to Fernando Henrique Cardoso, a Social-Democrat, who soon adhered to the Third Way neoliberal agenda), Lula was eventually elected in 2002. In spite of criticism of his government for alliances with right-wing politicians and practicing some unorthodox neoliberal politics. [2] Even so, Brazilians were overwhelmingly supporting a candidate and a party that harshly criticized the pro-capitalist orthodoxies of neoliberalism and contemporary globalization. [3] Which caused the departure of some factions of the PT, Lula claims he still has "socialist skills". [4] After a pension reform that removed social rights, in addition to the establishment of alliances with the Brazilian Republican Party and the Liberal Party, a major departure from his government and his party was from the group which created the Socialism and Liberty Party (Partido Socialismo e Liberdade – PSOL). In general, the left criticized the Lula government, especially its economic policy. [5]
In 2010, PT's Dilma Rousseff was elected the first female President of Brazil. During her term, Rousseff maintained a majority approval rating throughout her first term. [6] there were widespread protests for better living standards (for example, In 2016, even after more than a decade of socialist rule, the general tax system still remained regressive. [7] ), nevertheless her first government was approved by 63% of Brazilians, while her personal approval rating was at 79%, a personal high. Rousseff was also cited as the preferential candidate for 58% of the voters in the 2014 presidential election, in which she was reelected. [8] Just in 2015, Rousseff's popularity began to decline and in February 2015, a month before the 2015 protests in Brazil began, Rousseff's approval rating dropped 19 points to 23% with 44% disapproving of her. [9] which ended up resulting in Dilma Rousseff's impeachment process. Dilma Rousseff lost the impeachment battle but won a separate Senate vote that intended to ban her from public office for eight years. She added: "They convicted an innocent person and carried out a parliamentary coup." [10]
The president who succeeded Dilma Rousseff was Michel Temer, who brought great names from historical communism to compose his government, such as Roberto Freire (Ministry of Culture [11] ) and Raul Jungmann (Ministry of Defence [12] ).
The following parties have more than 350,000 members:
The following parties have less than 350,000 members and, amongst them, only the Socialism and Liberty Party is represented in the Chamber of Deputies:
The following parties are not legally recognized by the Superior Electoral Court and, therefore, are not allowed to participate in elections:
The socialist movement in Brazil include names like:
Luís Carlos Prestes was a Brazilian revolutionary and politician who served as the general-secretary of the Brazilian Communist Party from 1943 to 1980 and a senator for the Federal District from 1946 to 1948. One of the leading communists in Brazil, Prestes has been regarded by many as one of Brazil's most charismatic yet tragic figures for his leadership of the 1924 tenentist revolt and his subsequent work with the Brazilian communist movement. The 1924 expedition earned Prestes the nickname The Knight of Hope.
The Workers' Party is a centre-left to left-wing political party in Brazil that is currently the country's ruling party. Some scholars classify its ideology in the 21st century as social democracy, with the party shifting from a broadly socialist ideology in the 1990s, although the party retains a marginal far-left faction to this day. Founded in 1980, PT governed at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties from 1 January 2003 to 31 August 2016. After the 2002 parliamentary election, PT became the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies and the largest in the Federal Senate for the first time. With the highest approval rating in the history of the country, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is PT's most prominent member. Dilma Rousseff, also a member of PT, was elected twice but did not finish her second term due to her impeachment in 2016. The party came back to power with Lula's victory in the 2022 presidential election.
The Communist Party of Brazil is a political party in Brazil. The PCdoB officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist theory. It has national reach and deep penetration in the trade union and student movements, but little representation in elected positions.
The Brazilian Democratic Movement is a Brazilian political party. It is considered a "big tent party" and it is one of the parties with the greatest representation throughout the national territory, with the most numbers of senators, mayors and city councillors, always having formed a large part of the National Congress since 1988, and also has the largest number of affiliates, with 2,043,709 members as of July 2023.
The Brazilian Communist Party, originally the Communist Party of Brazil, is a communist party in Brazil, founded on 25 March 1922. Arguably the oldest active political party in Brazil, it played an important role in the country's 20th-century history despite the relatively small number of members. A factional dispute led to the formation of PCdoB in the 1960s, though both communist parties were united in opposition to the Brazilian military government that ruled from 1964 to 1985. But with the fall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of communism circa 1990, the party lost power and international support. An internal coup in 1992 divided the party and formed a new party, called Popular Socialist Party, using the former identification number of the PCB, 23. That party has since moved towards the centre and now goes by the name Cidadania.
The Fourth Brazilian Republic, also known as the "Populist Republic" or as the "Republic of 46", is the period of Brazilian history between 1946 and 1964. It was marked by political instability and the military's pressure on civilian politicians which ended with the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état and the establishment of the Brazilian military dictatorship.
The Democratic Labour Party is a political party in Brazil.
The Socialism and Liberty Party is a left-wing political party in Brazil. The party describes itself as socialist and democratic.
Leonel de Moura Brizola was a Brazilian politician. Launched into politics by Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas in the 1930–1950s, Brizola was the only politician to serve as elected governor of two Brazilian states. An engineer by training, Brizola organized the youth wing of the Brazilian Labour Party and served as state representative for Rio Grande do Sul and mayor of its capital, Porto Alegre. In 1958 he was elected governor and subsequently played a major role in thwarting a first coup attempt by sectors of the armed forces in 1961, who wished to stop João Goulart from assuming the presidency, under allegations of communist ties. Three years later, facing the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état that went on to install the Brazilian military dictatorship, Brizola again wanted the democratic forces to resist, but Goulart did not want to risk the possibility of civil war, and Brizola was exiled in Uruguay.
Cidadania is a Brazilian political party. It was originally founded as the Popular Socialist Party by members of the former Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), as a centre-left social democratic and democratic socialist party. Despite its left-wing alignment, PPS moved to be opposition against the Workers' Party since 2004, forming alliances with centre-right parties, in particular the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), and supporting the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. Later the party's National Convention adopted the new naming in March 2019, and it was later approved by the Superior Electoral Court that September. The party then began moving towards a more social liberal position akin to the third way.
The Brazilian Socialist Party is a political party in Brazil. It was founded in 1947, before being abolished by the military regime in 1965 and re-organised in 1989 after the re-democratisation of Brazil. It elected six Governors in 2010, becoming the second largest party in number of state governments, behind only PSDB. In addition to that, it won 34 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and three seats in the Senate, besides having been a member of the For Brazil to Keep on Changing coalition, which elected Dilma Rousseff as President of Brazil.
Heloísa Helena Lima de Moraes Carvalho is a Brazilian nurse, schoolteacher, and politician, member of the political party Rede Sustentabilidade. She is the Brazilian woman to have received the third highest voting in a presidential race, ranking behind Marina Silva and Dilma Rousseff in 2010.
Dilma Vana Rousseff is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil, holding the position from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the first woman to have held the Brazilian presidency and had previously served as chief of staff to former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from 2005 to 2010. She has been chair of the New Development Bank since March 2023.
The Liberal Party is a far-right political party in Brazil. From its foundation in 2006 until 2019, it was called the Party of the Republic.
Tarso Fernando Herz Genro is a Brazilian politician from the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. A prominent associate of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Genro was one of the most important leaders of the Workers' Party (PT) in the 2000s.
General elections were held in Brazil on 3 October 2010 to elect the president, National Congress and state governors. As no presidential candidate received more than 50% in the first round of voting, a second round was held on 31 October to choose a successor to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party (PT), who was constitutionally ineligible to run for a third term as he has already served two terms after winning the elections in 2002 and being re-elected in 2006.
The Brazilian Labour Party was a political party in Brazil registered in 1981 by Ivete Vargas, niece of President Getúlio Vargas. It claimed the legacy of the historical PTB, although many historians reject this because the early version of PTB was a center-left party with wide support in the working class. It was the seventh largest political party in Brazil with more than a million affiliated as of 2022.
The Free Fatherland Party was a left-wing political party in Brazil. Founded on April 21, 2009 by members of the Revolutionary Movement 8th October (MR-8), it advocates for scientific socialism. Its symbols were a green and yellow flag with a five-pointed red star and the inscription "Pátria Livre". PPL's identification number, as determined by the Supreme Electoral Court, was 54.
Carlos Roberto Lupi is a Brazilian professor and politician. He is the president of the Democratic Labour Party (PDT) and one of the vice presidents of the Socialist International (SI).
The National Liberation Alliance was a left-wing movement formed by sectors of different anti-imperialist, anti-fascist and anti-integralist organizations. The collective had the support of the Brazilian Communist Party.
