We need to build struggle and a socialist alternative!
Every day we see and feel new reasons for the urgency of defeating Bolsonaro. Rising prices and hunger, unemployment, corruption in education, sabotage of the Covid vaccination, new cases of racism and police violence, privatisation, social cuts and environmental destruction with deforestation, the release of pesticides, mining and attacks on indigenous peoples. Along with this, we see constant attacks on trade union and democratic rights and the coup threat, fomenting an authoritarian, sexist, racist and lgbtphobic agenda.
The Bolsonaro government brings together the very worst in today’s society. Authoritarians and reactionaries who despise democratic rights, together with the corrupt parties of the “Centrão”, attacking our rights, carrying out privatisations and benefiting big business.
Defeating Bolsonaro is a central task. However, defeating Bolsonarismo is not just about voting. Bolsonaro has already made it explicit that he will not respect the result of the elections. Even without counting on the explicit support of most of the ruling class and imperialism for a coup today, Bolsonaro intends to create the political conditions for his far-right movement to remain alive and active in the coming period.
We cannot rely on institutions shaped to serve the country’s elite, from the police that daily kill young black men from the periphery, the congress that implemented the coup against Dilma or the judiciary, which upholds the unequal foundations of this society.
The Bolsonaro phenomenon did not appear from nowhere, it is not an aberration or an historical accident. This reactionary right wing that has been growing worldwide is a symptom of the crisis of this system, which, despite the existence of wealth never before seen in the history of humanity, is unable to resolve the most basic needs of working people for food security, housing, education, health and the preservation of nature.
The economic, social and environmental crisis we are experiencing are the causes of the political crisis that led to Bolsonaro’s victory. To confront all this it is necessary to attack the power structures of this society. Therefore, the struggle to defeat Bolsonaro cannot be separated from the construction of a socialist alternative.
More than ever, it is necessary to mobilise and organise even during the elections. The struggle against the coup and to get rid of Bolsonaro must continue and be built on grassroots organisation, in neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools and universities. We propose the formation of struggle committees that should function as a united front of workers and can bring together those who want to fight against Bolsonaro, whether they vote for Lula in the first round or not.
These should serve to mobilise from the rank and file in the territories, trade unions, social movements and universities, helping to raise the real demands of the working class and poor. They can also prepare the mobilisation for a likely second round, but also serve as a base to mobilise against coup attempts. In the unions we should prepare the ground for strikes if Bolsonaro and his cronies try to prevent Lula’s inauguration.
We need to prepare for the great struggles that will come after the elections, even with Bolsonaro’s defeat. Despite implementing important social policies, the PT governments’ class conciliation policy and alliances with the right failed to address problems rooted in the structures of this system, which puts profit above life.
These policies, which prevented structural changes and paved the way for coups, remain in place today, and are now crowned with the agreement to put bourgeois politician Geraldo Alckmin, as Lula’s vice-president.
It will be necessary to maintain the independence of the trade unions, social movements and the socialist left in the face of a future Lula government. In a context of global crisis, any real advance will only be achieved by force. For this it is necessary to elect representatives at the service of our struggles and who defend a socialist program that goes beyond the limits of this system.
That is why we are calling for votes for the PSOL candidates, but, even though the majority of the party has decided to back Lula and Alckmin, we will not be voting for them in the first round. This is also true in the states where PSOL gave up its own candidacy for governor in favour of supporting the candidates of the PT, like in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. Our vote will be for candidates of the socialist left who do not make alliances with the bourgeoisie, to carry out the necessary construction and dialogue. In the second round we will be in the streets campaigning, defending a vote for Lula to defeat Bolsonaro and his cronies in the states, as we already did in relation to Haddad in 2018.
Only the creation of a socialist society — a society based on people’s needs and not on profit — can lead to the end of wars, oppression, poverty and environmental destruction.
We Say:
- Kick Out Bolsonaro, Mourão and the neoliberal and authoritarian agenda!
- Unite the struggles against Bolsonaro and for rights, jobs, wages, land, democratic freedoms and for life!
- Massive public investments to get out of the crisis, especially for health, vaccine, education, employment, housing and transport.
- Price control on food, energy and fuel and emergency aid of a minimum wage.
- For the employment of the equivalent of 1% of GDP to combat violence against women and the LGBTQIA+ population. Against the genocide of black people: against the war on drugs, for the demilitarization and social control of the police.
- Zero deforestation, no to exploitation of Indigenous lands, quilombolas and traditional populations. Agrarian reform now! Nationalization of mining companies and 100% state-owned Petrobras. Invest in alternative energies and free public mass transport not based on fossil fuels.
- Break with neoliberal policies! Revoke the social security and labour counter-reforms. Renationalise privatised companies. Repeal the spending cap, the Fiscal Responsibility Law, and the Divestment of Federal Revenues.
- Tax the super-rich and large fortunes! End tax exonerations for large companies. Audit and cancel the public debt to the big capitalists.
- Break with the economic power over society: nationalisation of the banks and financial system and the big companies that control the economy, under the control and management of workers’ representatives.
- Vote for candidates of the PSOL and the socialist left! Build an alliance with parties and organisations of the socialist left and combative social movements and raise an anti-capitalist and socialist programme!
- Build Committees of Struggle against the coup and for Bolsonaro Out! Build from the grassroots the struggle in the streets and workplaces, schools and neighbourhoods to stop the coup intentions of Bolsonaro and get our demands from the ruling class.
- For an anti-capitalist and socialist way out of the crisis for the working class!
