The Free Fatherland Party (, PPL) was a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Founded on April 21, 2009, by members of the Revolutionary Movement 8th October (MR-8), it advocated for

scientific socialism Scientific socialism in Marxism is the application of historical materialism to the development of socialism, as not just a practical and achievable outcome of historical processes, but the only possible outcome. It contrasts with utopian social ...

.Thomaz, Paula
"Em 2012, mais uma opção de partido"
. ''

CartaCapital ''CartaCapital'' is a weekly Brazilian newsmagazine published in Santana de Parnaíba, São Paulo and João Pessoa, Paraíba and distributed throughout the country by Editora Basset. The main focuses of the magazine are politics, economy, socia ...

''. October 5, 2011. Its symbols were a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

and

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...

flag with 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. ...

and the inscription ''"Pátria Livre"''. PPL's identification number, as determined by the Supreme Electoral Court, was 54.

History

PPL was founded mainly by members of the Revolutionary Movement 8th October (MR-8), who were joined by union leaders (linked to the ''Central Geral dos Trabalhadores do Brasil''

national trade union center Organizers within trade unions have sought to increase the bargaining power of workers in regards to collective bargaining by acting in collaboration with other trade unions. Multi-union organizing can take place on an informal basis, or on ...

), student movement activists and feminists. MR-8 was founded in 1964 from a split in the

Brazilian Communist Party The Brazilian Communist Party (), originally the Communist Party of Brazil (), is a communist party in Brazil, founded on 25 March 1922. Arguably the oldest active political party in Brazil, it played an important role in the country's 20th- ...

(PCB), under the name Dissidence of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

(DI-RJ). A Marxist–Leninist

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

group, it promoted armed actions against the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

and advocated the establishment of a

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

in the country. Later, DI-RJ became MR-8 in order to pay a tribute to

Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

, which was captured by the

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Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

on October 8, 1967. Under the new name, the group performed its most notable action: the kidnapping of U.S. Ambassador

Charles Burke Elbrick Charles Burke Elbrick (March 25, 1908 – April 12, 1983) was an American diplomat and career foreign service officer. During his career, he served three ambassadorships: in Portugal, Yugoslavia and Brazil, in addition to numerous minor postings ...

, turned into the 1997 film ''

Four Days in September ''Four Days in September'' () is a 1997 Brazilian thriller film directed by Bruno Barreto and produced by his parents Lucy and Luiz Carlos Barreto. It is a dramatized version of the 1969 kidnapping of the United States Ambassador to Brazil, Ch ...

'' by

Bruno Barreto Bruno Villela Barreto Borges (born 16 March 1955) is a Brazilian film director. Biography Born in Rio de Janeiro, Barreto has been making feature-length films ever since he was 17 years old and remains one of Brazil's most accomplished and pop ...

. Since the beginning of the democratization process, MR-8 was active inside the

Brazilian Democratic Movement Party The Brazilian Democratic Movement (, 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, with the most numbers of senators, ...

(PMDB), being an arm of '' quercismo'' in the social movements. In 2008, after considering a merger with the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

(PT), members of MR-8 decided to create a new political party. The founding act of PPL happened on April 21, 2009 and was attended by hundreds of members of PMDB, as well as several representatives of left-leaning parties, such as PT, PCdoB, PSB, PDT,

PCB PCB may refer to: Science and technology * Polychlorinated biphenyl, an organic chlorine compound, now recognized as an environmental toxin and classified as a persistent organic pollutant * Printed circuit board, a board used in electronics * P ...

and the

Communist Party of Bolivia The Communist Party of Bolivia () is a communist party in Bolivia. It was founded in 1950 by Raúl Ruiz González and other former members of the Revolutionary Left Party (PIR). It remained small and did not hold its first national party congr ...

. On October 3, 2011, judges of the Supreme Electoral Court unanimously granted the request for PPL's creation, making it the 29th legal

political party in Brazil Brazil has a multi-party system since 1979, when the country's military dictatorship disbanded an enforced two-party system and allowed the creation of multiple parties. Above the broad range of political parties in Brazilian Congress, the Wor ...

. In the 2014 general election, PPL endorsed Marina Silva, who arrived 3rd with 21,32% of the votes. In the 2018 general election, PPL endorsed João Vicente Goulart (son of former president

João Goulart João Belchior Marques Goulart (; 1 March 1919 – 6 December 1976), commonly known as Jango, was a Brazilian politician who served as the president of Brazil from 1961 until a military coup d'état deposed him in 1964. He was considered the ...

), who got 0,03% of votes, arriving 13th. In 2018, after falling to get enough votes to keep receiving funds from the

Superior Electoral Court The Superior Electoral Court (, TSE) is the highest body of the Brazilian Election Justice, Brazilian Electoral Justice, which also comprises one Regional Electoral Court (Brazil), Regional Electoral Court (, TRE) in each of the 26 states and th ...

, the party announced that it would merge with the

Communist Party of Brazil The Communist Party of Brazil (, PCdoB) is a List of political parties in Brazil, political party in Brazil. The PCdoB officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist theory. It has national reach and deep penetration in the trade union and Student ...

(PCdoB) and in December of that year the party signed a compromise making the merge official and the organization ceased to exist.

Ideology

The political aim of the PPL was to radicalise the course followed by the

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...

administration. To this end, it listed five basic objectives: the strengthening of the internal market, in order to generate more jobs; the reduction of the basic interest rate; the technological development of the country; the accomplishment of full economy; and the ensuring of good public health and education for all.

Electoral results

Presidential elections

References

{{Brazilian political parties 2009 establishments in Brazil 2018 disestablishments in Brazil Communist parties in Brazil Defunct political parties in Brazil Far-left politics in Brazil Political parties disestablished in 2018 Political parties established in 2009 Left-wing politics in Brazil Left-wing parties Far-left political parties