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Brazilian communists call workers to ‘fight for popular power’ against the forces of reaction

THE Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) has urged workers to “fight for popular power” and called for the strengthening of mass organisations, popular committees and trade unions.

This, according to the party, is essential to steel the Brazilian working class — the second-largest in South America — for the struggle against the reactionary forces of the far right.

The PCB, which celebrates its centenary this year, said that the deepening economic crisis and the government’s disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic had “intensified and opened up the class struggle in Brazil.”

Elections are due in October, with former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva the favourite — some polls give the Workers Party candidate a 20-point lead.

The communists noted that the 2018 election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro had been “a profound defeat for the working class, the youth and the poor.”

Mr Bolsonaro’s victory showed “once again” that the ruling class is prepared to support the forces of fascism, so long as they act in its interests, the party said.

“The concrete result of this policy in three years of government was an increase in income concentration, unemployment, informal work, poverty and hunger.

“More than 50 per cent of the population lives in a condition of food insecurity, more than 20 million Brazilians are starving…”

The PCB warned, however, that “Bolsonaro and his allies cannot be underestimated,” despite the rapid deterioration of living standards.

“Bolsonaro also has the support of segments of the armed forces and, in particular, from sections of the military police and criminal groups,” the communists said.

For this reason, it argued against the view, held by some elements of the left, that Mr Bolsonaro’s defeat is inevitable.

“His government will only be defeated if we manage to unite a powerful mass movement, involving large street demonstrations allied to the stoppage of production and circulation,” the party said.

Trade unions and other organisations “lost their combativeness” and became bureaucratised after the election of the Workers Party government, the communists said, describing them today as “a brake on the class struggle” and the organisation of workers.

The PCB called for the advanced layers to come together in an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist front, unifying the struggles of workers in defence of wages and for education, health and housing.

“We prioritise participation in trade unions and popular movements and action in places of work, housing and study,” the party said.

“The Brazilian revolution, for the communists, must be a mass phenomenon, to be carried out by millions of exploited and oppressed people.

“As the Brazilian ruling classes have always used violence and repression to stop the struggle of the working class and communists, we do not discard any form of resistance to the violence of the bourgeoisie in the revolutionary struggle.”

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