The Brazilian Labour Party ( pt, Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro, PTB) was a

populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...

political party 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 ...

founded in 1945 by supporters of President

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 ...

. It was dismantled by the Institutional Act Number Two in 1965 during the

military dictatorship in Brazil 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 ...

History

The party was founded by followers of President Getúlio Vargas on May 15, 1945, during the final days of his Estado Novo. It grew rapidly under the leadership of Vargas, the most important Brazilian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

of the early to mid-20th century. Its main goal was to prevent a growth of

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

membership among urban workers.About PTB
at Fundação Getúlio Vargas official website. According to Vargas himself, the party was created to "serve as a buffer between the unions and the communists." PTB's support came from the

trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...

controlled by the Ministry of Labour, and its trump card was the prestige of Getúlio Vargas, its honorary chairman, which introduced social and labor legislation in the country. From 1945 to 1962, PTB was the third force in Brazilian politics, after the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(PSD) and the National Democratic Union (UDN), but it became more popular than the UDN in the 1962 Congressional elections. In 1950, Vargas was elected to a second term through PTB. Vargas committed suicide in 1954, and his heir

João Goulart João Belchior Marques Goulart (1 March 1919 – 6 December 1976), commonly known as Jango, was a Brazilian politician who served as the 24th president of Brazil until a military coup d'état deposed him on 1 April 1964. He was considered the ...

became the central figure in the party along with the

Leonel Brizola Leonel de Moura Brizola (22 January 1922 – 21 June 2004) 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 Brazi ...

. Since the party was a close ally of PSD, also founded by supporters of the late Vargas, it remained in power when

Juscelino Kubitschek Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira (; 12 September 1902 – 22 August 1976), also known by his initials JK, was a prominent Brazilian politician who served as the 21st president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. His term was marked by economic prosp ...

was elected President in 1955. Goulart was elected Vice President in 1955 and 1960, becoming President in 1961 with the resignation of

Jânio Quadros Jânio da Silva Quadros (; January 25, 1917 – February 16, 1992) was a Brazilian lawyer and Politics of Brazil, politician who served as the 22nd president of Brazil from January 31 to August 25, 1961, when he resigned from office. He als ...

. PTB was in power again, but Goulart was overthrown by a military-led

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

in 1964. Various PTB figures were removed from the National Congress, and all political parties, including PTB, were dissolved on October 27, 1965. Nearly all of the party merged with the bulk of the PSD to form the

Brazilian Democratic Movement The Brazilian Democratic Movement ( pt, Movimento Democrático Brasileiro, MDB) 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, ...

, the only opposition party permitted for the first decade of the military dictatorship. A new PTB, this time a

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...

party, was established by

Ivete Vargas Cândida Ivete Vargas Martins (17 July 1927 – 3 January 1984), commonly known as Ivete Vargas, was a Brazilian journalist and politician. Political career and background Ivete Vargas was the daughter of Newton Barbosa Tatsch and Cân ...

, Getúlio's niece, in 1980, with the end of the artificial two-party system imposed by the military regime. Brizola led the majority of the PTB's former followers into the Democratic Labour Party.Riordan Roett, ''Brazil: politics in a patrimonial society ''. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999, , page 50, available a

/ref>

References

{{Reflist Defunct political parties in Brazil Labour parties Political parties established in 1945 Social democratic parties in Brazil Political parties disestablished in 1965 1945 establishments in Brazil 1964 disestablishments in Brazil Vargas Era Banned socialist parties