The Workers' Party ( pt-BR, Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT) is a
centre-left
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...
to
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Some scholars classify its ideology in the 21st century as
social democracy
Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
, with the party shifting from a broadly
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
ideology in the 1990s.
Founded in 1980, PT governed at the federal level in a
coalition government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
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
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
and the largest in the
Federal Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature.
Senate or the Senate may also refer to:
* Any one of the national senates in the world, including
** The Brazilian Senate
** The United States Sen ...
for the first time. With the highest approval rating in the history of the country, President-Elect
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party, ...
is PT's most prominent member. His successor
Dilma Rousseff
Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) 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 w ...
, also a member of PT, was elected twice (first on 1 January 2011, and then again on 26 October 2014) but did not finish her second term due to
her impeachment in 2016.
Both born among the opposition to the
1964 ''coup d'état'' and the subsequent
military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer.
The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
, PT and the
Brazilian Social Democracy Party
The Brazilian Social Democracy Party ( pt, Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, PSDB), also known as the Brazilian Social Democratic Party or the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy,. is a political party in Brazil
Brazil has a multi-pa ...
(PSDB) from 1994 to 2014 were the biggest adversaries in contemporary
Brazilian politics
The politics of Brazil take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The political and administrative or ...
, with their candidates finishing either first or second on the ballot on the last six presidential elections. Both parties generally prohibit any kind of coalition or official cooperation with each other.
Despite its relatively large number of supporters, the party has been involved in a number of corruption scandals since Lula first came to power and saw its popular support plummet between 2010 and 2016, with presidential approval ratings falling from over 80% to 9% and successive reductions in all elected offices since 2014.
The party symbols are a five-pointed
red star
A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...
inscribed with the initials "PT" in the center; a
red flag with a white star also with the initials in the center; and the Workers Party's anthem. Its
Superior Electoral Court
The Superior Electoral Court ( pt-BR, Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, TSE) is the highest body of the Brazilian Electoral Justice, which also comprises one Regional Electoral Court ( pt-BR, Tribunal Regional Eleitoral, TRE) in each of the 26 states ...
(TSE) identification number is 13. Members and sympathisers of the party are known as "Petistas".
History
![Dep](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Dep._lula.jpg)
The Workers' Party was launched by a heterogeneous group made up of militants opposed to Brazil's military government, trade unionists, left-wing intellectuals and artists and Catholics linked to the
liberation theology
Liberation theology is a Christian theological approach emphasizing the liberation of the oppressed. In certain contexts, it engages socio-economic analyses, with "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples". In ...
[Samuels, David]
"From Socialism to Social Democracy: Party Organization and The Transformation of the Workers’ Party in Brazil"
''Comparative Political Studies''. p. 3. on 10 February 1980 at Colégio Sion in
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
, a private Catholic school for girls.
[ ]Agência Brasil
Agência Brasil (ABr.) is the national public news agency, run by the Brazilian government. The agency was founded in 1990 and it's part of the public media corporation Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC), created in 2007 to unite two governmen ...
"Saiba mais sobre a história do PT"
Terra. 24 June 2006. The party emerged as a result of the approach between the labor movements in the
ABC Region such as the Conferência das Classes Trabalhadoras (Conclat), later developed into the
Central Única dos Trabalhadores
Central Única dos Trabalhadores ( en, Unified Workers' Central), commonly known by the acronym CUT, is the main national trade union center in Brazil.
History
CUT was formed on 28 August 1983 in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, during the Fi ...
(CUT) which carried major strikes from 1978 to 1980; and the old Brazilian left-wing, whose proponents, many of whom were journalists, intellectuals, artists and union organizers, were returning from exile with the 1979 Amnesty law, many of them having endured imprisonment and torture at the hands of the military regime in addition to years of exile.
Dilma Rousseff
Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) 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 w ...
herself was imprisoned and tortured by the dictatorship.
PT was launched under a
democratic socialism
Democratic socialism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self- ...
trend. After the
1964 ''coup d'état'', Brazil's main federation of labor unions, the General Command of Workers (''Comando Geral dos Trabalhadores'' – CGT), which since its formation gathered leaders approved by the
Ministry of Labour
The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...
, a practice tied to the fact that since
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...
's dictatorship, unions had become quasi-state entities, was dissolved while unions themselves suffered intervention of the military regime. The resurgence of an organized labour movement, evidenced by strikes in the
ABC Region on the late 1970s led by
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party, ...
, enabled the reorganization of the labour movement without the direct interference of the
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
. The movement originally sought to act exclusively in union politics, but the survival of a conservative unionism under the domination of the state (evidenced in the refoundation of CGT) and the influence exercised over the trade union movement by leaders of traditional left-wing parties, such as the
Brazilian Communist Party
The Brazilian Communist Party ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista Brasileiro), originally the Communist Party of Brazil (), is a communist party in Brazil founded on 25 March 1922 which makes the disputed claim of being the oldest political party stil ...
(''Partido Comunista Brasileiro'', PCB), forced the unionist movement of ABC, encouraged by
anti-Stalinist
The anti-Stalinist left is an umbrella term for various kinds of left-wing political movements that opposed Joseph Stalin, Stalinism and the actual system of governance Stalin implemented as leader of the Soviet Union between 1927 and 1953. T ...
leaders, to organize its own party in a strategy similar to that held by the
Solidarność
Solidarity ( pl, „Solidarność”, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" (, abbreviated ''NSZZ „Solidarność”'' ), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. Subseq ...
union movement in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
.
Therefore, PT emerged rejecting the traditional leaders of official unionism and seeking to put into practice a new form of democratic socialism, trying to reject political models it regarded as decaying, such as the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
and
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
ones. It represented the confluence between unionism and anti-Stalinist
intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...
.
![Trabalhadores](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Trabalhadores.JPG)
PT was officially recognized as a party by the
Brazilian Supreme Electoral Court on 11 February 1982. The first membership card belonged to art critic and former
Trotskyist
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...
activist Mário Pedrosa, followed by literary scholar
Antonio Candido
Antonio Candido de Mello e Souza (July 24, 1918 – May 12, 2017) was a Brazilian writer, professor, sociologist, and literary critic. As a critic of Brazilian literature, he is regarded as having been one of the foremost scholars on the subject ...
and historian
Sérgio Buarque de Holanda
Sérgio Buarque de Holanda (July 11, 1902 – April 24, 1982) was a Brazilian historian, writer, journalist and Sociology, sociologist. His greatest achievement was Raízes do Brasil, a landmark of Brazilian sociology, in which he developed the ...
. Holanda's daughter Ana de Holanda later became
Minister of Culture
A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizati ...
in the Rousseff cabinet.
Electoral history
![Eleições PT e PSDB](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Elei%C3%A7%C3%B5es_PT_e_PSDB.gif)
Since 1988, the Workers' Party has grown in popularity on the national stage by winning the elections in many of the largest Brazilian cities, such as
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
,
Fortaleza
Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...
,
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...
,
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...
and
Goiânia
Goiânia (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Goiás. With a population of 1,536,097, it is the second-largest city in the Central-West Region and the 10th-largest in the country. Its metropolitan area has a population ...
as well as in some important states, such as
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...
, Espírito Santo and the
Federal District
A federal district is a type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they e ...
. This winning streak culminated with the victory of its presidential candidate Lula in 2002 who succeeded
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 31 December 2002. He was the first Brazi ...
of the
Brazilian Social Democracy Party
The Brazilian Social Democracy Party ( pt, Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, PSDB), also known as the Brazilian Social Democratic Party or the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy,. is a political party in Brazil
Brazil has a multi-pa ...
(''Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira –'' PSDB). For its defense of
economic liberalism
Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...
, PSDB is the party's main electoral rival as well as the
Democrats, heir of the
National Renewal Alliance
The National Renewal Alliance (Portuguese: ''Aliança Renovadora Nacional'', ARENA) was a far-right political party that existed in Brazil between 1966 and 1979. It was the official party of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 ...
(''Aliança Renovadora Nacional –'' ARENA), ruling party during the
military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer.
The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
. Along with the
Popular Socialist Party (''Partido Popular Socialista –'' PPS), a dissidence of PCB, they form the centre-right opposition to the Lula administration.
1989 presidential elections
In the 1989 general elections, Lula went to the second round with
Fernando Collor de Mello
Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (; born 12 August 1949) is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the Brazilian Senate. Coll ...
. Even though all centrist and left-wing candidates of the first round united around Lula's candidacy, Collor's campaign was strongly supported by the mass media (notably
Rede Globo
TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Gr ...
as seen on the documentary ''
Beyond Citizen Kane
''Beyond Citizen Kane'' is a 1993 British documentary film directed by Simon Hartog, produced by John Ellis (media academic), John Ellis, and first broadcast on Channel 4. It details the dominant position of the Grupo Globo, Globo media group ...
'') and Lula lost in the second round by a close margin of 5.7%.
1994 and 1998 general elections
Leading up to the 1994 general elections, Lula was the leading presidential candidate in the majority of polls. As a result, centrist and right-wing parties openly united for
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 31 December 2002. He was the first Brazi ...
's candidacy. As Minister of Economy, Cardoso created the
Real Plan, which established the
new currency and subsequently ended inflation and provided economic stability. As a result, Cardoso won the election in the first round with 54% of the votes. However, it has been noted that "the elections were not a complete disaster for PT, which significantly increased its presence in the Congress and elected for the first time two state governors".
Cardoso would be re-elected in 1998.
2002 general elections
After the detrition of PSDB's image and as a result of an economic crisis that burst in the final years of Cardoso's government, Lula won the 2002 presidential election in the second round with over 52 million votes, becoming the most voted president in history, surpassing
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
.
2006 general elections
On 29 October 2006, PT won 83 seats in the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
and 11 seats in the
Federal Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature.
Senate or the Senate may also refer to:
* Any one of the national senates in the world, including
** The Brazilian Senate
** The United States Sen ...
. Lula was re-elected with more than 60% of the votes, extending his position as
President of Brazil
The president of Brazil ( pt, Presidente do Brasil), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil ( pt, Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil) or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head o ...
until 1 January 2011.
PT is now the second largest party in the Chamber of Deputies, the fourth largest party in the Federal Senate and has 5 state governorships. However, it only gained control of one among the ten richest states (
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...
).
2010 general elections
![PT-black-cat-toucan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/PT-black-cat-toucan.png)
In the 2010 general elections held on 3 October, PT gained control of 17.15% of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies, a record for the party since 2002. With 88 seats gained, it became the largest party in the lower chamber for the first time ever. PT also became the second largest party in the Federal Senate for the first time after electing of 11 senators, making a total of 14 senators for the 2010–2014 legislature.
Its national coalition gained control 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
centre-right opposition bloc as 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 Rousseff
Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) 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 w ...
in the first round. However, she was not able to receive the necessary number of valid votes (over 50%) and a second round in which she scored 56% of the votes took place on 31 October 2010. On 1 January 2011, she was inaugurated and thus became the first female
head of government
The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...
ever in the
history of Brazil
The history of Brazil begins with indigenous people in Brazil. Europeans arrived in Brazil at the ending of the 15th century. The first European to claim sovereignty over Indigenous lands part of what is now the territory of the Federative Republ ...
and the first ''de facto'' female
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
since the death in 1816 of
Maria I
Dom (title), Dona Maria I (17 December 1734 – 20 March 1816) was Queen of Portugal from 24 February 1777 until her death in 1816. Known as Maria the Pious in Portugal and Maria the Mad in Brazil, she was the first undisputed queen regnant of Por ...
,
Queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.
In the 2010 elections, PT retained control of the governorships of Bahia,
Sergipe
Sergipe (), officially State of Sergipe, is a state of Brazil. Located in the Northeast Region along the Atlantic coast of the country, Sergipe is the smallest state in Brazil by geographical area at , larger only than the Federal District. Serg ...
and
Acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
, in addition to gaining back control of Rio Grande do Sul and the Federal District. Nevertheless, it lost control of
Pará
Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...
. Candidates supported by the party won the race in
Amapá
Amapá () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is in the northern region of Brazil. It is the second least populous state and the eighteenth largest by area. Located in the far northern part of the country, Amapá is bordered clockwise by Fr ...
, Ceará,
Espírito Santo
Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attra ...
, Maranhão,
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP.
Neighboring ...
, Pernambuco,
Piauí
Piaui (, ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP.
Piaui has the shortest coastline of any coastal Brazilian state at 66&n ...
and
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, which means that PT would participate in 13 out of 27 state governorships.
2014 general elections
In the 2014 general elections held on 5 October, the party won 13.9% of the vote and 69 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, down from the 88 seats they gained in 2010. In the first round of the presidential election, Rousseff won 41.6% of the vote but not enough to secure a victory. In the run-off on 26 Octobe, Rousseff was re-elected with a narrow victory with 51.6% of the vote against Senator
Aécio Neves
Aécio Neves da Cunha (; born 10 March 1960) is a Brazilian economist, politician and former president of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). He was the 17th Governor of Minas Gerais from 1 January 2003 to 31 March 2010, and is current ...
Cabinet representation
PT enjoyed strong representation in the cabinets it led for most of the time that it was in office. PT held the majority of cabinet positions in the first two coalitions, with its occupation of ministerial positions comprising 60% in the first coalition, 54.8% in the second coalition and 46.5% in the third coalition.
Ideology
Although PT deliberately never identified itself with a particular brand of leftism, it nevertheless "always defined itself as socialist" and espoused many radical positions.
For example, at the
Brazilian Constituent Assembly of 1988 it advocated repudiation of Brazil's
external debt
A country's gross external debt (or foreign debt) is the liabilities that are owed to nonresidents by residents. The debtors can be governments, corporations or citizens. External debt may be denominated in domestic or foreign currency. It incl ...
, nationalization of the country's banks and mineral wealth and a radical
land reform
Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...
.
[Convocação: Dia Nacional de Mobilização Dilma Presidente 27 DE OUTUBRO](_blank)
, Secretaria de cultura do PT-DF, 22 October 2010 In addition, as a form of protest and as a signal that the party did not fully accept the "rules of the game" PT's delegates refused to sign the draft constitution.
Over the next few years, the party moderated a bit, but it never clearly shed its radicalism and undertook no major reforms of party principles even after Lula's defeat in the
1989 presidential elections.
For example, the resolution from the party's 8th National Meeting in 1993 reaffirmed PT's "revolutionary and socialist character", condemned the "conspiracy" of the elites to subvert democracy, stated that the party advocated "radical agrarian reform and suspension of the external debt" and concluded that "capitalism and private property cannot provide a future for humanity".
![MST International Socialist46623](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/MST_International_Socialist46623.jpeg)
In 1994, Lula ran for the presidency again and during his campaign dismissed
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 31 December 2002. He was the first Brazi ...
's recently implemented Real Plan as an "electoral swindle".
The resolutions from the 1994 National Meeting condemned the "control by the dominant classes over the means of production" and reaffirmed the party's "commitment to socialism".
PT's Program of Government that year also committed the party to "anti-monopolist, anti-
latifúndio, and anti-imperialist change
..as part of a long-term strategy to construct an alternative to capitalism", statements that "sent shivers down the spine of the international financial community". Thus, as of 1995 "little or nothing" had changed in PT's official ideology since the early 1990s.
After Lula's 1994 loss, the party began a slow process of self-examination.
The resolution adopted at its 10th National Meeting in 1995 stated that "our 1994 defeat invites a cruel reflection about our image in society, about the external impact of our internal battles,
ndabout our ideological and political ambiguities".
The move from self-examination did not involve a clean break with the past as in other socialist parties after the end of the Cold War.
The process was gradual, full of contradictions and replete with intra-party tension.
By 1997, the National Meeting resolution redefined PT's version of socialism as a "democratic revolution", emphasizing a political rather than economic vision of socialism that aimed to make the state "more transparent and socially accountable".
Lula's third presidential campaign platform in 1998 cut socialist proposals and even the mention of a transition to a socialist society, but the party's self-definition remained highly ambiguous as the resolution from the party's Meeting that year affirmed that Lula's platform "should not be confused with the socialist program of PT".
Thus, while PT had begun to distance itself from its original socialist rhetoric and proposals by 1998, a clearer shift did not occur until after Lula lost again that year and after Lula and his group had more fully digested the impact of Brazil's changing political context and of Cardoso's economic reforms.
Electoral history
Presidential elections
Chamber of Deputies and Senate elections
Voter base
Most of the Workers' Party votes in presidential elections since 2006 stems from the
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
and
Northeast
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
regions of Brazil. Nevertheless, the party has always won every presidential election in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
from 1998 to 2014, the
Federal District
A federal district is a type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they e ...
from 1989 to 2010 (with the exception in 1998 when Cardoso won there) and in
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
from 2002 to 2014 (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 stronghold in the southernmost state of
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...
, where it has won continuously since the second round of 1989 until 2002. Originally an urban party, with ties to
ABC Region's unionism, PT has recently seen a major increase of its support in smaller towns.
![Registro da Candidatura de Lula - Eleições 2018 12](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Registro_da_Candidatura_de_Lula_-_Elei%C3%A7%C3%B5es_2018_12.jpg)
Most of PT's rejection comes from
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
as it has won elections there only once in 2002 (both rounds). The historical PT rejection in São Paulo was more widespread in interior than the capital as PT won the 1988, 2000 and 2012
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
mayoral election and was a major force in his homeland, the
Greater São Paulo
Greater São Paulo ( pt, Grande São Paulo) is a nonspecific term for one of the multiple definitions of the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil.
Definitions
Metropolitan Area
A legally defined specific term, ''Reg ...
. Despite this, the party lost its support even in the region and has not won any electoral zone in the capital in 2016 municipal elections.
Fernando Haddad
Fernando Haddad (born 25 January 1963) is a Brazilian academic and politician who has served as the Brazilian Minister of Finance since 1 January 2023. He was previously the Mayor of São Paulo from 2013 to 2016. He was the Workers' Party candid ...
, the candidate seeking reelection, stayed in a distant second place, with 36 percentual points below the winner
João Doria
João Agripino da Costa Doria Júnior (; born 16 December 1957) is a Brazilian politician, businessman and journalist who served as Governor of São Paulo, from January 2019 to March 2022. He previously served as the 52nd Mayor of São Paulo fr ...
. PT managed to win in only one city of the region, the small and distant municipality of
Franco da Rocha
Franco da Rocha is a municipality in the state of São Paulo. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 156,492 (2020 est.) in an area of 132.78 km². The suburban city is served by CPTM Line 7 (Ruby).
The munici ...
. PT is also strongly rejected in other states of the
Center-South
Center-South (:ru:Центр-Юг (авиакомпания), «Центр-Юг», ''"Tsentr-Yug"'') was a Russian passenger airline based in Belgorod.
History
In early 2014 the airline received the first of two Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft, wh ...
, such as
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, which until
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
had voted in the Workers Party presidential candidates in all new republic elections except 1994, the party shows strong difficulties to make representatives in federal, state and municipal levels. The party never elected a mayor in the
capital of the state, never elected a governor (
Benedita da Silva
Benedita Souza da Silva Sampaio (, born 26 April 1942) is a Brazilian politician. From a humble background, she faced class and racial prejudice, overcoming it to become the first female and Afro-Brazilian governor of the State of Rio de Janeir ...
, the sole governor of the state from the party, took over because the resignation of the titular
Anthony Garotinho
Anthony William Matheus de Oliveira (born 18 April 1960), also known as Anthony Garotinho, is a Brazilian politician, radio broadcaster and convicted felon. He legally adopted his stage name "Garotinho" (Little Boy in Portuguese), originally a n ...
in 2002, which her party had broken some years early, and was massive defeated in the same year's election by the Garotinho's wife
Rosângela Matheus
Rosângela "Rosinha Garotinho" Barros Assed Matheus de Oliveira, better known simply as Rosinha Garotinho (born April 6, 1963) is a Brazilian politician.
She was the first woman to be elected governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, and the secon ...
) and is often overturned in elections by left-wing parties with much less weight in national elections. The triumphs in the state were more associated with a strong rejection of PSDB in the state (which is even more weak and rejected despite his national strength) than a support of PT's program. In 2018 presidential elections, PT lost in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo with similar percentages in both states, with a difference of only 0.02% less percent of valid votes to the party in São Paulo. Despite being a
southeastern
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
state, many regions of Minas Gerais, especially in the north region of the state, had strong economic, cultural and socially ties with the Northeast.
São Francisco River
The São Francisco River (, ) is a large river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon, the Paraná and t ...
, a symbol of the Northeast, has its source in a small city of Minas,
Pirapora
Pirapora is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in northcentral Minas Gerais in Brazil. The population is 56,640 (2020 est.) in an area of 550 km². The name Pirapora comes from the Tupi language, Tupi words for "fish" + "jump", referring to t ...
. With the exception of Rio Grande do Sul and Distrito Federal, PT never gets an elected governor in the Center-south until 2014, when
Fernando Damata Pimentel
Fernando Damata Pimentel (born 31 March 1951) is a Brazilian politician and economist. He is a member of the Workers' Party (PT). He was the Mayor of Belo Horizonte from 2001 to 2009, the Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade in ...
was elected governor of Minas Gerais.
PT had a strong electoral stronghold in North Brazil and in the Amazonian region; The party triumphed in every state governorship in
Acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
from 1990 to 2018. However, the Acre section of the party is far more independent and moderate than the rest of the party and PT had only won the presidential election in the state twice in 2002 and 2006. PT also lost the governorship of Acre in 2018 to a candidate from right-wing
Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to:
Active parties
* Progressive Party, Brazil
* Progressive Party (Chile)
* Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus
* Dominica Progressive Party
* Progressive Party (Iceland)
* Progressive Party (Sardinia), Italy
...
.
Roraima
Roraima (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas ...
, which the impact of the controversy about the
indigenous territory of
Raposa Serra do Sol
Terra indígena Raposa/Serra do Sol (Portuguese for ''Fox/Sun Hills Indigenous Land'') is an indigenous territory in Brazil, intended to be home to the Macuxi people. It is located in the northern half of the Brazilian state of Roraima and is the ...
, which former President Lula gave strong support despite the opposition of the non-indigenous people; and
Rondonia, which had a large population of evangelicals and south/southeastern migrants, also show reservations about the party. The electoral stronghold was also lost in 2018 elections; PT only triumphed in the states of
Pará
Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...
and
Tocantins
Tocantins () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is the newest state, formed in 1988 and encompassing what had formerly been the northern two-fifths of the state of Goiás. Tocantins covers and had an estimated population of 1,496,880 in 20 ...
, the only states in the region which borders Brazilian Northeast and much of their culture is near from Northwest than the rest of Amazon. In Amazonas, the largest Brazilian states, PT lost in 2018 for the first time since 1998; PT lost in the capital of the state,
Manaus
Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...
, a
free zone which concentrates more than the half of the population of the state; in the large, sparsely inhabited interior of the Amazonian state, PT win by a large margin but insufficient to guarantee the fifth triumph of the party in the state on presidential election.
PT, however, maintained and expanded his stronghold in Northeast Brazil, conquered in Lula first elections in 2002. Since 2002, the only time that a state other than these which did not vote in PT in a presidential election was Alagoas in both rounds of 2002 presidential elections. PT and its allies was able to make big gains in north and northeast regions of Brazil even in times which the party was in crisis, like in the last mayoral elections. PT's most loyal party PCdoB and former allies
Brazilian Socialist Party
The Brazilian Socialist Party ( pt-BR, Partido Socialista Brasileiro, PSB) 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 Bra ...
(''Partido Socialista Brasileiro'' − PSB) and
Democratic Labour Party (''Partido Democrático Trabalhista'' − PDT) made huge gains in region together with PT in the Lula−Rouseff era. PCdoB is now the strongest party in
Maranhão
Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and ...
state and was able to elect the mayor of
Aracaju
Aracaju () is the capital of the state of Sergipe, Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country on the coast, about 350 km (217 mi) north of Salvador. According to the 2020 estimate, the city has 664,908 inhabitants, which re ...
,
Sergipe
Sergipe (), officially State of Sergipe, is a state of Brazil. Located in the Northeast Region along the Atlantic coast of the country, Sergipe is the smallest state in Brazil by geographical area at , larger only than the Federal District. Serg ...
; PSB is now the strongest party in the states of
Pernambuco
Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...
and
Paraíba
Paraíba ( Tupi: ''pa'ra a'íba''; ) is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba ...
; and PDT was able to triumph in three capitals of the northeastern. Despite losing all capitals in northwest, PT had the governorships of three northwestern states,
Piauí
Piaui (, ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP.
Piaui has the shortest coastline of any coastal Brazilian state at 66&n ...
,
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...
and
Ceará
Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...
. The governorship of Bahia, conquered in 2006, is symbolical. The party was a stronghold of
Liberal Front Party
The Democrats ( pt, Democratas, DEM) was a centre-right political party in Brazil that merged with the Social Liberal Party to found the Brazil Union in 2021. It was founded in 1985 under the name of Liberal Front Party (''Partido da Frente Libe ...
(''Partido da Frente Liberal'' − PFL), now
Democrats (''Democratas'' − DEM), the greatest ideological rival of PT in national level. PSDB is a strongest party and headed all presidential tickets which PFL/DEM participated since 1994, but the origin of PSDB resembling with the origins PT as a leftist opposition to the dictatorship, and the parties had strong links until PSDB broke with PT and join in a coalition with PFL, a right-wing party with strong fiscal conservative views, associated with the
Brazilian military regime
The military dictatorship in Brazil ( pt, ditadura militar) was established on 1 April 1964, after a coup d'état by the Brazilian Armed Forces, with support from the United States government, against President João Goulart. The Brazilian dicta ...
in 1993 and the homeland of
Antônio Carlos Magalhães
Antônio Carlos Peixoto de Magalhães (4 September 1927 – 20 July 2007), also known by his initials ACM, was a Brazilian politician. He served as Governor of Bahia three times and represented Bahia in the Senate of Brazil three times.
Magalhãe ...
, the strongest leadership of PFL and a fierce foe of PT. Bahia is now the main stronghold of PT, the most reliable state for the Petismo and is considered a governance model to the party. Despite this, the state's capital
Salvador
Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to:
* Salvador (name)
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
*Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music
** ''Salvador'' ( ...
is governed by
ACM Neto
ACM or A.C.M. may refer to:
Aviation
* AGM-129 ACM, 1990–2012 USAF cruise missile
* Air chief marshal
* Air combat manoeuvring or dogfighting
* Air cycle machine
* Arica Airport (Colombia) (IATA: ACM), in Arica, Amazonas, Colombia
Computing
* ...
, a leading member of
DEM
DEM was the ISO 4217 currency code for the Deutsche Mark, former currency of Germany
Computing
* Digital elevation model, a digital representation of ground-surface topography or terrain
** .dem, a common extension for USGS DEM files
* Discrete ...
and grandson of Antonio Carlos Magalhães.
The party is often accused of exploiting the North–South divide in Brazil to gain votes in the northeast. The party denies the claims and accuses the opposition to do the same in the South and Southeast.
According to a poll conducted by IBOPE on 31 October 2010, during the second round voting PT's candidate Dilma Rouseff had an overwhelming majority of votes among the poorest Brazilians.
[Entre mais pobres, Dilma teve 26 pontos de folga](_blank)
O Estado de S. Paulo
''O Estado de S. Paulo'' (; ), also known as ''Estadão'' (; ), is a daily newspaper published in São Paulo, Brazil. It is the third largest newspaper in Brazil, and its format changed from broadsheet to berliner on October 17, 2021.
It has t ...
. 7 November 2010. Her lead was of 26% among those who earned a
minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...
or less per month.
Rouseff also had the majority of votes among Catholics (58%), blacks (65%) and mixed-race Brazilians (60%).
Amongst whites and Protestants, she was
statistically tie to
José Serra
José Serra Chirico (; born 19 March 1942) is a Brazilian politician who has served as a Congressman, Senator, Minister of Planning, Minister of Health, Mayor of São Paulo, Governor of São Paulo state, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Braz ...
and her lead was of only 4% on both demographic groups.
Even though she was the first female candidate in a major party, her votes amongst men was wider than amongst women.
Controversies
2003–2007 internal crisis and split
The changes in the political orientation of PT (from a left-wing socialist to a centre-left
social-democratic
Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
party) after Lula was elected president were well received by many in the population, but as a historically more radical party, the 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 the party for voting against Social Insurance Reform.
Among these members were congressman
João Batista Oliveira de Araujo
João Batista Oliveira de Araujo, also known as Babá, is a Brazilian politician. He is a former member of the Workers' Party (Brazil), Workers' Party (PT), and a founding member of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), in which he is affiliate ...
(known as Babá) and senator
Heloísa Helena, who formed the
Socialism and Liberty Party
The Socialism and Liberty Party ( pt-BR, Partido Socialismo e Liberdade , PSOL ) is a left-wing political party in Brazil. The party describes itself as socialist and democratic.
The party leader is Juliano Medeiros and the federal deputies I ...
(''Partido Socialismo e Liberdade'' − PSOL) in June 2004 and ran for president in 2006, becoming at the time the woman who had garnered the most votes in Brazilian history.
In another move, 112 members of the radical wing of the party announced they were abandoning PT in the
World Social Forum
The World Social Forum (WSF, pt, Fórum Social Mundial ) is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemoni ...
in
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...
on 30 January 2005. They also published a
manifesto
A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...
entitled ''Manifesto of the Rupture'' that states that PT "is no longer an instrument of social transformation, but only an instrument of the status quo", continuing with references to the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
and other economic and social issues.
BANCOOP scandal
This scandal, called the
BANCOOP case
The BANCOOP case is the name used by the Brazilian press for the alleged use of BANCOOP (Housing Cooperative Bank of São Paulo) to benefit the slush funds of the Workers Party (PT), in 2002 and 2004. On October 28, 2010, Judge Patricia Inigo Funes ...
, included
João Vaccari Neto
João Vaccari Neto (born October 30, 1958, São Paulo) is a Brazilian banker and labor union leader. He is the Secretary of Finance and Planning of the Workers Party (PT) and was president of the cooperative known as BANCOOP (Housing Cooperative ...
and four other directors of the housing cooperative. The cooperative received government contracts and had multi-million real revenue. The cooperative was found to have illegally padded the service contracts by 20%, with many of the contracts going unfulfilled. The cooperative eventually folded with a deficit of over R$100 million, requiring liquidation of assets to minimize the loss by members.
2006 electoral scandal
This scandal unfolded around September 2006, just two weeks before general elections. As a result, Berzoini left the coordination of Lula's re-election after allegedly using PT's budget (which is partially state-funded through party allowances) to purchase, from a confessed fraudster, a dossier that would be used to attack political adversaries. On 25 April 2007, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal unanimously cleared Lula of any responsibility for this scandal.
Mensalão scandal
In July 2005, members of the party suffered a
sequence of corruption accusations, started by a deputy of the
Brazilian Labour Party (''Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro –'' PTB),
Roberto Jefferson
Roberto Jefferson Monteiro Francisco (born 14 June 1953) is a Brazilian politician.
Personal life and education
He was born on 14 June 1953, in Petrópolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. He is the son of Neusa Dalva Monteiro Francisco and Ro ...
. Serious evidence for slush funding and bribes-for-votes were presented, dragging PT to the most serious crisis in its history, known colloquially as the ''
Mensalão''.
José Genoíno
José Genoino Neto (born 3 May 1946) is a Brazilian politician.
Biography
Born in Quixeramobim in the state of Ceará, he fought as a guerrilla in one of the movements against the Brazilian military leaders Artur da Costa e Silva, Emílio G ...
resigned as president of the party and was replaced by
Tarso Genro
Tarso Fernando Herz Genro (born March 6, 1947) 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) ...
, former mayor of Porto Alegre. A small minority of party members defected as a result of the crisis. Most of them went to PSOL.
Lava Jato scandal
The investigation of a series of crimes, such corruption and money laundering, led to the arrest of the party's treasurer João Vaccari Neto and his sister-in-law. José Genoino, José Dirceu, Delcídio do Amaral, André Vargas and Delúbio Soares were also arrested in the process. Most recently, former President Lula was arrested in April 2018. However, in March 2021, the
Supreme Federal Court
The Supreme Federal Court ( pt, Supremo Tribunal Federal, , abbreviated STF) is the supreme court (court of last resort) of Brazil, serving primarily as the Constitutional Court of the country. It is the highest court of law in Brazil for consti ...
overturned all the convictions.
Organization
Since its inception the party has been led by the following:
*
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party, ...
(10 February 1980 – 24 January 1994)
*
Rui Falcão (1994)
*
José Dirceu
José Dirceu (; born March 16, 1946), in full José Dirceu de Oliveira e Silva, is a former Brazilian politician. His political rights were suspended by the Brazilian House of Representatives and he was found guilty by the Brazilian Supreme Cour ...
(1995–2002)
*
José Genoíno
José Genoino Neto (born 3 May 1946) is a Brazilian politician.
Biography
Born in Quixeramobim in the state of Ceará, he fought as a guerrilla in one of the movements against the Brazilian military leaders Artur da Costa e Silva, Emílio G ...
(2002–2005)
*
Tarso Genro
Tarso Fernando Herz Genro (born March 6, 1947) 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) ...
(2005) (interim)
*
Ricardo Berzoini
Ricardo José Ribeiro Berzoini (born 10 February 1960 in Juiz de Fora, Brazil) was the President of the Workers' Party of Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in ...
(2005–2006)
*
Marco Aurélio Garcia
Marco Aurélio Garcia (22 June 1941 – 20 July 2017) was a Brazilian politician, as a member of the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores). He was a professor of Latin American History on leave from UNICAMP
The State University of Cam ...
(6 October 2006 – 2 January 2007) (interim)
*
Ricardo Berzoini
Ricardo José Ribeiro Berzoini (born 10 February 1960 in Juiz de Fora, Brazil) was the President of the Workers' Party of Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in ...
(2 January 2007 – 19 February 2010)
*
José Eduardo Dutra (19 February 2010 – 29 April 2011)
*
Rui Falcão (29 April 2011 – 3 June 2017)
*
Gleisi Hoffmann
Gleisi Helena Hoffmann ( or ; born 6 September 1965) is a Brazilian lawyer and politician. She was the Chief of Staff of Brazil from 8 June 2011 to 2 February 2014, during the presidency of Dilma Rousseff. Following her tenure as Chief of Staff, ...
(since 3 June 2017)
Factions
There are about thirty
factions (''tendências'') within PT, ranging from Articulação, the centre-left group that Lula is a part of, to
Marxists
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectic ...
and
Christian socialists
Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing left-wing politics and socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe capi ...
.
Tendencies integrating the Building a New Brazil field
Considered the right-wing of the party, i.e. going from centre to centre-left.
*Articulation - Unity on Struggle (AUNL)
*PT Movement
*Radical Democracy (DR)
Tendencies categorized as the left-wing of the party
* (O Trabalho, OT)
*Left-wing Articulation (AE)
*
Socialist Democracy
Socialist democracy is a political system that aligns with principles of both socialism and democracy. It includes ideologies such as council communism, democratic socialism, and Soviet democracy, as well as Marxist democracy like the dictatorsh ...
(DS)
*Socialist Brazil (BS)
*Democratic Left (ED)
*Popular Socialist Left (EPS)
*Socialist Resistance (RS)
Former factions
*Workers' Cause (CO) – seceded from the party in 1990 as the
Labour Cause's Party (PCO)
* (CS) – seceded in 1993 as part of
Unified Workers' Socialist Party
The United Socialist Workers' Party ( pt, Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado, PSTU) is a Trotskyist party in Brazil. It is the largest section of the International Workers' League (Fourth International) (LIT), an international body ...
(PSTU)
*Workers' Socialist Current (CST) – seceded in 2004 to form the
Socialism and Liberty Party
The Socialism and Liberty Party ( pt-BR, Partido Socialismo e Liberdade , PSOL ) is a left-wing political party in Brazil. The party describes itself as socialist and democratic.
The party leader is Juliano Medeiros and the federal deputies I ...
(PSOL)
*Socialist Left Movement (MES) – seceded in 2004 to form the
Socialism and Liberty Party
The Socialism and Liberty Party ( pt-BR, Partido Socialismo e Liberdade , PSOL ) is a left-wing political party in Brazil. The party describes itself as socialist and democratic.
The party leader is Juliano Medeiros and the federal deputies I ...
(PSOL)
*Popular Socialist Action (APS) – seceded in 2005 and joined the
Socialism and Liberty Party
The Socialism and Liberty Party ( pt-BR, Partido Socialismo e Liberdade , PSOL ) is a left-wing political party in Brazil. The party describes itself as socialist and democratic.
The party leader is Juliano Medeiros and the federal deputies I ...
(PSOL)
*Tendency for the Workers' Revolutionary Party (TPOR) – Trotskyist faction that seceded in 1990 as the Workers' Revolutionary Party (POR)
*Marxist Left (EM), the Brazilian section of the
Trotskyist
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...
International Marxist Tendency
The International Marxist Tendency (IMT) is an international Trotskyism, Trotskyist Political international, political tendency founded by Ted Grant and his supporters following their break with the Committee for a Workers' International (1974) ...
. Marxist Left released a statement saying that "for the revolutionaries, there is no more room for the construction of socialist ideas within PT".
Famous members
Its members are known as ''petistas'', from the Portuguese acronym PT.
*
Henos Amorina
*
Alexandre Padilha
Alexandre Rocha Santos Padilha is a Brazilian physician and politician affiliated with the Workers Party (PT). He was also minister of Institutional Relations in the Lula administration and Minister of Health under Dilma Rousseff. He unsuccess ...
*
Aloízio Mercadante
Aloízio Mercadante Oliva (born 13 May 1954 in Santos, São Paulo) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the Chief of Staff of Brazil between 2014 and 2015. He was a founder of the Workers' Party in February 1980 and vice-chair ...
*
Ana Julia Carepa
*
Antônio Palocci
*
Arlindo Chinaglia
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Benedita da Silva
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Binho Marques
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Cabo Almi
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Chico Buarque
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Chico Mendes
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Dilma Rousseff
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Eduardo Suplicy
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Fernando Haddad
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Fernando Pimentel
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Guido Mantega
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Jaques Wagner
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João Paulo Cunha
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João Vaccari Neto
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José Dirceu
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Luis Favre Luis Favre Argentine (born in Buenos Aires, Argentina 1949) is the pseudonym of Argentine-born Brazilian journalist and political activist Felipe Belisario Wermus. Favre joined the political party Politica Obrera as a young man. Later, he moved to ...
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Luis Inácio Lula da Silva
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Luizianne Lins
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, niece of
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Early political career (1961-1989)
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Paulo Delgado
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Paulo Freire
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Rodrigo Maroni
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Sérgio Buarque de Holanda
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Tarso Genro
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Wellington Dias
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References
Further reading
In English
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In Portuguese
* Couto, A. J. Paula. ''O PT em pílulas''.
* Dacanal, José Hildebrando. ''A nova classe no poder''.
* Demier, Felipe. ''As Transformações do PT e os Rumos da Esquerda no Brasil''.
* Godoy, Dagoberto Lima. ''Neocomunismo no Brasil''.
* Harnecker, Martha (1994). ''O sonho era possível''. São Paulo: Casa das Américas.
* Hohlfeldt, Antônio. ''O fascínio da estrela''.
* Moura, Paulo. ''PT – Comunismo ou Social-Democracia?''.
* Paula Couto, Adolpho João de. ''A face oculta da estrela''.
* Pedrosa, Mário (1980). ''Sobre o PT''. São Paulo: CHED Editorial.
* Pluggina, Percival. ''Crônicas contra o totalitarismo''.
* Tavares, José Antônio Giusti with Fernando Schüller, Ronaldo Moreira Brum and Valério Rohden. ''Totalitarismo tardio – o caso do PT''.
* Singer, André. ''O PT – Folha Explica''.
* Singer, André. ''Os Sentidos do Lulismo''.
Annotated bibliography
Carlos Henrique Metidieri MenegozzoDainis KarepovsAline Fernanda MacielPatrícia Rodrigues da SilvaRodrigo Cesar(2013)
"Partido dos Trabalhadores: bibliografia comentada (1978–2002)"(PDF). São Paulo: Editora Fundação Perseu Abramo. 413 p.
External links
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Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (Brazilian Electoral Superior Court)
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Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers' Party) official webpage
{{Authority control
1980 establishments in Brazil
Political parties established in 1980
Centre-left parties in South America
Democratic socialist parties in South America
Social democratic parties in Brazil