Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Partido dos Trabalhadores redirects here. For the returning from exile with the 1979 Amnesty law, many
Bissau-Guinean party, see Workers Party (Guinea- of them having endured imprisonment and torture at the
Bissau).
hands of the military regime[15] in addition to years of
exile.[14] Dilma Rousse herself was imprisoned and tortured by the dictatorship.[16]
Not to be confused with the Brazilian Labour
The party was launched under a democratic socialism
Party or the Labour Party of Brazil.
trend.[17] After the 1964 coup d'tat, Brazils main fedThe Workers Party (Portuguese: Partido dos Traba- eration of labor unions, the General Command of Worklhadores, PT) is a centre-left[9] political party in Brazil. ers (Comando Geral dos Trabalhadores CGT) which
Launched in 1980, it is recognized as one of the largest since its formation gathered leaders approved by the
and most important left-wing movements of Latin Amer- Ministry of Labour, a practice tied to the fact that since
ica. It governs at the federal level in a coalition govern- the Vargas dictatorship, unions had become quasi-state
ment with several other parties since January 1, 2003. organs was dissolved, while unions themselves suered
After the 2010 parliamentary election, PT became the intervention of the military regime. The resurgence of an
largest party in the Chamber of Deputies and the second organized labour movement, evidenced by strikes in the
largest in the Federal Senate for the rst time ever.[10] ABC Region on the late 1970s led by Luiz Incio Lula
Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, the President with the highest da Silva, enabled the reorganization of the labour moveapproval rating in the history of the country, is PTs most ment without the direct interference of the State. The
prominent member.[11] His successor, Dilma Rousse, is movement originally sought to act exclusively in union
also a member of PT; she took oce on January 1, 2011. politics, but the survival of a conservative unionism under
The partys symbols are the red ag with a white star in the the domination of the State (evidenced in the refoundacenter; the ve-pointed red star, inscribed with the initials tion of CGT) and the inuence exercised over the trade
PT in the center; and the Workers Party' s anthem.[12] union movement by leaders of traditional left-wing parWorkers Partys TSE (Supreme Electoral Court) Identi- ties, such as the Brazilian Communist Party, forced the
unionist movement of ABC, encouraged by anti-Stalinist
cation Number is 13.
leaders, to organize its own party, in a strategy similar to
Both born from the opposition to the military dicta- that held by the Solidarno union movement in Poland.
torship, PT and the Social Democracy Party are since
the mid-1990s the biggest adversaries in contemporary Therefore, the Workers Party emerged rejecting the traBrazilian politics, with their candidates nishing either ditional leaders of ocial unionism, and seeking to put
rst or second on the ballot on the last ve presidential into practice a new form of democratic socialism, trying
elections. Both parties generally prohibit any kind of to reject political models it regarded as decaying, such as
the Soviet and Chinese ones. It represented the conucoalition or ocial cooperation with each other.
ence between unionism and anti-Stalinist intelligentsia.
It was ocially recognized as a party by the Brazilian
Supreme Electoral Court on February 11, 1982.[18] The
rst membership card belonged to art critic and forThe Workers Party was launched by a heterogeneous mer Trotskyst activist Mrio Pedrosa, followed by literCandido, and historian Srgio Buargroup made up of militants opposed to Brazils military ary scholar Antonio
[19]
Holandas
daughter, Ana de Holanda,
que
de
Holanda.
government, trade unionists, left-wing intellectuals and
[13]
later
became
Minister
of
Culture
in the Rousse cabinet.
artists, and Catholics linked to the liberation theology,
on February 10, 1980 at Colgio Sion in So Paulo, a private Catholic school for girls.[14] The party emerged as a
result of the approach between the labor movements in 1.1 Electoral history
the ABC Region such as the Conferncia das Classes
Trabalhadoras (Conclat), which later developed into the Since 1988, the Workers Party has grown in popularCentral nica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) which carried ity on the national stage by winning the elections in
major strikes from 1978 to 1980, and the old Brazilian many of the largest Brazilian cities, such as So Paulo,
left-wing, whose proponents, many of whom were jour- Fortaleza, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, and Goinia, as
nalists, intellectuals, artists, and union organizers, were well as in some important states, such as Rio Grande do
History
HISTORY
won the election in the rst round with 54% of the votes.
However, it has been noted that the elections were not
a complete disaster for PT, which signicantly increased
its presence in the Congress and elected for the rst time
two state governors.[22] Cardoso would be re-elected in
1998.
2002 general elections
Main article: Brazilian general election, 2002
After the detrition of PSDBs image and as a result of
an economic crisis that burst in the nal years of Cardosos government, Lula won the 2002 presidential elecLocal Workers Party headquarters in Belo Horizonte, Minas tion in the second round with over 52 million votes, beGerais.
coming the most voted president in history, surpassing
Ronald Reagan. However, Lulas record was surpassed by
George W. Bush (in his re-election campaign) and Barack
Sul, Esprito Santo, and the Federal District. This win- Obama.
ning streak culminated with the victory of its presidential candidate, Luiz Incio Lula da Silva in 2002, who 2006 general elections
succeeded Fernando Henrique Cardoso of the Brazilian Main article: Brazilian general election, 2006
Social Democracy Party (Partido da Social Democracia
Brasileira PSDB). PSDB, for its defense of economic
On October 29, 2006, the Workers Party won 83 seats
liberalism, is the partys main electoral rival, as well as the
in the Chamber of Deputies and 11 seats in the Senate.
Democrats, heir of the National Renewal Alliance Party
Luiz Incio Lula da Silva was re-elected with more than
(Aliana Renovadora Nacional ARENA), ruling party
60% of the votes, extending his position as President of
during the military dictatorship. Along with the Socialist
Brazil until January 1, 2011.[23]
Peoples Party (Partido Popular Socialista PPS), a dissidence of the Brazilian Communist Party (Partido Comu- The Workers Party is now the second largest party in
nista Brasileiro PCB), they form the centre-right oppo- the Chamber of Deputies, the fourth largest party in the
Senate, and has 5 state governorships. However, it only
sition to the Lula administration.
gained control of one among the ten richest states (Bahia).
1989 presidential elections
2010 general elections
Main article: Brazilian presidential election, 1989
3
trol of 311 seats in the lower house and 50 seats in the
upper house, a broad majority in both houses which the
Lula administration never had. This election also saw the
decrease in the number of seats controlled by the centreright opposition bloc; it shrank from 133 to 111 deputies.
The left-wing opposition, formed by PSOL, retained control of three seats.
The party was also expected to elect its presidential candidate Dilma Rousse in the rst round. However, she was
not able to receive the necessary amount of valid votes
(over 50%) and a second round, in which she scored 56%
of the votes, took place on October 31, 2010. On January
1, 2011, she was inaugurated and thus became the rst
female head of government ever in the history of Brazil,
and the rst de facto female head of state since the death
of Maria I, Queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal,
Brazil and the Algarves, in 1816.
Also in the 2010 elections PT retained control of the governorships of Bahia, Sergipe, and Acre, in addition to
gaining back control of Rio Grande do Sul and the Federal District. Nevertheless, it lost control of Par. Candidates supported by the party won the race in Amap,
Cear, Esprito Santo, Maranho, Mato Grosso, Pernambuco, Piau, and Rio de Janeiro, which means that PT
would participate in 13 out of 27 state governorships.
According to a poll conducted by IBOPE on 31 October 2010, during the second round voting, Workers Party
candidate Dilma Rousse had an overwhelming majority
of votes among the poorest Brazilians.[24] Her lead was of
26% among those who earned a minimum wage or less
per month.[24] She also had the majority of votes among
Catholics (58%), blacks (65%) and mixed-race Brazilians (60%).[24] Amongst whites and Protestants, Dilma
was statistically tie to Jos Serra; her lead was of only
4% on both demographical groups.[24] Even though she
was the rst female candidate in a major party, her votes
amongst men was wider than amongst women.[24]
4 Political crises
4.1 Internal debate, 20032007
The changes in the political orientation of PT (from a farleft socialist to a centre-left social-democratic party) after
Lula was elected President were well received by many in
the population, but, as a historically more radical party,
PT has experienced a series of internal struggles with
members who have refused to embrace the new political
positions of the party. These struggles have fueled public
debates, the worst of which had its climax in December
2003, when four dissident legislators were expelled from
2 Electoral results
the party for not following majority sanctioned political
decisions.[25] Among these members were congressman
2.1 Presidential elections
Joo Batista Oliveira de Araujo (known as Bab), and
senator Helosa Helena, who formed the Partido Socialismo e Liberdade (PSOL) in June 2004 and ran for Presi2.2 Parliamentary elections
dent in 2006, becoming, at the time, the woman who had
2.3 Present composition of the House of garnered the most votes in Brazilian history.
In another move, 112 members of the radical-wing of the
Representatives
party announced they were abandoning PT in the World
Social Forum, in Porto Alegre, on January 30, 2005.
3 Voter base
They also published a manifesto entitled Manifesto of the
Rupture that states that PT is no longer an instrument of
Most of Workers Party votes in presidential elections social transformation, but only an instrument of the stasince 2006 stems from the North and Northeast regions tus quo, continuing with references to the International
of Brazil. Nevertheless, the party has always won ev- Monetary Fund and other economic and social issues.
ery presidential election in Rio de Janeiro since 1998
and in Minas Gerais since 2002; these are two of the
three largest states by number of voters and together they
comprise 18,5% of voters. The party also maintains a 4.2 The 2006 electoral scandal
stronghold in the southernmost state of Rio Grande do
Sul, where it has won continuously since the second round This scandal was unfolded around September 2006, just
of 1989 until 2002. Although it lost there in both rounds two weeks before general elections. As a result, Berzoni
of 2006, it has won again in 2010 and Dilma Rousse left the coordination of Lulas re-election after an alcurrently leads the polls there for her re-election. Orig- leged use of PTs budget (which is partially state-funded,
inally an urban party, with ties to ABC Region's union- through party allowances) to purchase, from a confessed
ism, PT has recently seen a major increase of its support fraudster, a dossier that would be used to attack political
in smaller towns. Most of PTs rejection comes from So adversaries. On April 25, 2007, the Supreme Electoral
Paulo; it has won elections there only once, in 2002 (both Tribunal unanimously cleared Lula of any responsibility
rounds).
for this scandal.[26]
7 FAMOUS MEMBERS
4.3
Popular Socialist Action Trotskyist faction that seceded in 2005 and joined the Socialism and Freedom Party, which was formed by other PT factions
in the year before.
Organization
Left Articulation
Socialist Democracy
Radical Democracy
Socialist Brazil
Socialist Forum
5.1.3 Other tendencies
PT Movement
Action and Socialist Identity Movement
Unity and Struggle Articulation
6 Relations with
Labour Party
the
British
7 Famous members
5.1.1
Former factions
5
Antnio Palocci
Arlindo Chinaglia
Benedita da Silva
Binho Marques
Chico Buarque
Chico Mendes
Dilma Rousse
Eduardo Suplicy
Fernando Haddad
Fernando Pimentel
Guido Mantega
Jaques Wagner
Joo Paulo Cunha
Luis Favre
Luiz Gushiken
Luizianne Lins
Marcelo Dda
Marco Aurlio Garcia
Marilena Chaui
Marta Suplicy
[15]
Olvio Dutra
[16] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/world/americas/
president-rousseffs-decades-old-torture-detailed.html?
pagewanted=all&_r=0
Paulo Delgado
Paulo Freire
Srgio Buarque de Holanda
Tarso Genro
Wellington Dias
[3] AMARAL, Oswaldo E. do. A estrela no mais vermelha: as mudanas do programa petista nos anos
1990. So Paulo, Garoni, 2003.
References
10
[28] http://g1.globo.com/jornal-nacional/noticia/2013/11/
onze-reus-do-mensalao-sao-conduzidos-para-presidio-no-df.
9.3
html
[29] Mandelson under re in Brazil. BBC News. July 23,
1998. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
Further reading
9.1
Annotated Bibliography
In English
9.2
EXTERNAL LINKS
In Portuguese
10 External links
More about Pt Brazil
(Portuguese) Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (Brazilian
Electoral Superior Court)
(Portuguese) Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers
Party) ocial webpage
11
11.1
11.2
Images
11.3
Content license