Beyond Passive Voting: For A Socialist Program And A Strategy Of Struggle To Defeat The Far Right
Fight the Threat Of the Far Right
In the face of the current national and international situation, we have a central task: to defeat the far right and the system that both created it and allowed it to grow. As part of this struggle, it is vital that the far right not emerge victorious in the Brazilian elections. A government led by Bolsonaro Jr. would be even worse than the catastrophic government of Bolsonaro Sr.
We can see how Trump 2.0 has been far more aggressive and insidious than he was during his first term. This is also the case with other right-wing and far-right governments in Latin America. We must break the streak of electoral victories by Trump’s lackeys in Latin America, such as Bukele in El Salvador, Milei in Argentina, Kast in Chile, Fujimori in Peru, and De la Espriella in Colombia, as well as Rodrigo Paz in Bolivia.
These are governments that attack democratic rights, enact massive cuts to social services, roll back social and labor rights, and implement an aggressive privatization agenda in the service of big capital and imperialism. All of this goes hand in hand with a reactionary agenda of attacks on immigrants, LGBTQIA+ people, women, and Indigenous peoples.
The far right in Brazil is not a historical aberration. In addition to having its roots in the deeply unequal and violent society that has marked our history, it is part of a current international trend. The rise of the far right around the world reflects a capitalist system in deep crisis. There is growing competition for markets and resources, which is reflected in wars and an intensifying struggle for power around the world, centered on conflicting imperialist poles: the US and China. Every consensus of the previous period is being dismantled, and globalization is increasingly giving way to protectionism and tariffs.
The political representatives of the previous period, who represented the interests of capitalists through policies that leaned more toward the political “center”, have entered into crisis in the face of growing social polarization. To maintain their wealth, profits, and power, the elites have turned to a more extreme right-wing—one that blends populism with authoritarianism—with the aim of attacking and dividing society, and putting all the rights won during the previous period at risk.
This far right has been pushing the political debate to the right with a reactionary agenda of attacks and the reversal of historic gains. They attack the already limited right to abortion, seek to lower the age of criminal liability, to further reduce environmental protection, and threaten indigenous peoples with the “marco temporal” policy, which attacks their right to live on their lands. The PT’s response has been to back away from these struggles. The issue of abortion rights, for example, is constantly set aside in the name of alliances and votes, but this approach only strengthens the right’s agenda.
To defeat the far right, we need to go beyond passively voting. To begin with, we need to reflect on why the far right remains a threat even after Bolsonaro’s defeat in the last election, the failure of the 2023 coup attempt, and Bolsonaro’s imprisonment. Although the PT has won five of the last six elections, the threat from the far right has not been eliminated—in fact, it has grown. Why?
The explanation is not very different from what has happened in other Latin American countries in the recent period. In many countries, we have seen the victory of left-wing and progressive parties, often following waves of struggle against attacks by right-wing governments. But once they take office, the desire for radical change that drove these struggles is replaced by conciliation with the elites and their parties, leading to widespread disappointment.
Instead of attacking the structures of power and challenging the narrow limits imposed by the system, progressive governments have confined themselves to the rules of a rigged game. Amid this frustration, the right has regained strength and won elections.
Critical Assessment Of The Lula Government Needed
We need to make a critical assessment toward the Lula government. If we do not learn from mistakes, we will pave the way for new defeats and the return of the right.
Lula’s first governments maintained the entire framework of neoliberal policies established by previous administrations, limiting public spending and continuing privatizations. Governance was built on an illusory “class conciliation”. Supposedly, everyone—both rich and poor—could win.
Although limited and contradictory, it was possible to implement some positive measures while there was some economic growth, such as the Bolsa Família program, the expansion of universities, etc. But when the crisis hit—especially during the administration of Dilma Rousseff (PT)—the country shifted into reverse, and a policy of cuts and attacks on rights intensified. This led to a government crisis, culminating in Dilma’s removal through a parliamentary coup, which paved the way for Bolsonaro’s victory in 2018.
Upon returning to the presidency in 2023, Lula followed the same logic of governing in alliance with the right, demonstrating loyalty to the rules of the markets. While many expected a sweeping repeal of Temer and Bolsonaro’s austerity measures, none of that happened. The labor and social security counter-reforms remained intact, while Temer’s spending cap was replaced by the “new fiscal framework,” following the same logic.
The latter policy meant that the chances of achieving improvements were drastically reduced. It would be impossible to alleviate the public’s discontent in the face of rising food prices, growing debt, a lack of resources for health care and education, public safety issues, and so on.
While the government takes progressive stances on some issues—such as the income tax exemption for those earning up to 5,000 reais (about US$980) and its support for ending the 6×1 (six-day week) work schedule—it also ends up attacking the poor and working people on other fronts, such as the continued privatizations and the fiscal framework that leads to cuts and attacks on education, benefits, wage supplements, etc.
The right wing is undoubtedly strong in Congress. But part of that strength stems from the fact that they remain in power regardless of who wins the elections. Some of them are in Lula’s own government. This is also a consequence of an electoral system that was once marked by the abuse of economic power—with large corporations financing campaigns to the tune of millions—and has now come to rely on public financing, with an electoral fund of billions that favors already large parties and replaces political activists with paid campaign workers.
This formal dominance of the right in Congress can be challenged by the power of the streets and the struggle of workers and the people! We have seen many times how mobilization has pushed Congress back, as in the case of the “banditry” constitutional amendment (PEC). It was the power of the streets that forced Congress to put important issues on the agenda, such as ending the 6×1 work schedule. But this has been treated as an isolated incident. The general rule of the government and the leadership of the mainstream left is to seek conciliation and alliances.
Elections and the institutions of the political regime function like a rigged game serving the interests of the wealthy. That is why popular mobilization from below is necessary to challenge and break through the system’s limits.
For Candidates and Elected Representatives in Service of Struggle and a Socialist Program
We must run election campaigns and elect representatives that will serve the interests of struggle and the building of a working-class alternative to this rotten system. To do this, we must build campaigns rooted in the everyday struggles of social movements and unions, as well as put forward a socialist program.
In general, we call for a vote for left-wing candidates from PSOL—notably those who have taken a stand against the majority leadership’s capitulation to the Lula administration and the policy of class conciliation adopted by the PT. We call for a vote for these candidates while maintaining our defense of a socialist program and class independence.
For the presidency, we advocate voting for Hertz Dias of the PSTU, a professor, hip-hop activist, and socialist militant. At the same time, our priority is to build a broad socialist left bloc that allows for joint action between the left outside PSOL (including PSTU, PCB, Popular Unity, and others) and the socialist left sectors within PSOL itself.
We believe it is necessary to raise a discussion in society about what a socialist alternative would look like, with a common platform for candidates from the socialist and revolutionary left, both within and outside PSOL. This should seek to bring together—beyond parties alone—collectives and social movements that understand the importance of going beyond passive voting and the burning need to build an alternative to the PT’s project of class conciliation: a socialist alternative.
In states where PSOL refused to field its own candidates for governor or senator in order to support candidates from the PT and its center-right or right-wing allies, we will cast our votes for candidates from the working-class and socialist left who do not form alliances with the bourgeoisie.
In the second round, we will be out on the streets advocating a critical vote for Lula—without illusions and with the sole aim of defeating the far right at the polls, just as we did in the 2018 and 2022 elections.
After the elections, PSOL’s role should be to remain truly independent of the government, without joining the ruling coalition in Congress or accepting government positions. The party must independently lead workers’ struggle against any attack, regardless of which government launches it.
This in no way compromises our determination to resist anti-democratic attacks by the right against the government or any progressive measures that may be adopted. We will once again be on the front lines of the struggle against possible coup attempts, but we will do so as socialists and while maintaining our political independence from Lulism.
Our struggle is for a socialist society based on people’s needs, not profit. Only in this way can we defeat the far right and all those who prop up this system, putting an end to wars, oppression, poverty, and environmental destruction.
A Socialist Platform for the Elections
In Defense of Public Services
- Massive public investment in health care, education, employment, housing, and transportation to create jobs with rights and decent wages and improve the lives of working people.
- We demand public exams to expand the civil service workforce and reverse the trend toward outsourcing! Those who work for companies providing public services must have their rights and jobs guaranteed and be incorporated into the civil service. We must ensure decent working conditions and wages for all civil servants, including the incorporation of all bonuses and allowances. We oppose any form of persecution of civil servants who defend public services!
- Healthcare and education are rights, not commodities. That is why healthcare and education must be 100% public.
No to Privatization!
- End privatization in all its forms, whether through direct sales of public companies and assets, public-private partnerships (PPPs), public service organizations (OSs), or public tenders that transfer public funds to private companies.
- Renationalization of privatized companies. Democratic workers’ control over public services and companies.
Decent Wages and Working Conditions!
- In defense of jobs and rights. Repeal the anti-worker counter-reforms. No to outsourcing and precarization.
- End the 6X1 work schedule—for a 30-hour working week without wage cuts!
- Defend the right to strike and to unionize
Environment
- Zero deforestation; no exploitation of the lands of Indigenous peoples, Quilombola communities, and traditional populations; for immediate demarcation of their lands!
- Nationalization of mining companies and a 100% state-owned Petrobras. Mass investment in alternative energy sources and free, green public transport. Public ownership and control over rare earth elements and strategic minerals.
- Agrarian reform and nationalization of the agribusiness giants, under workers’ control and management.
Public Safety
- For the demilitarization of the police. Police forces at all levels must be under the democratic control of the working people.
- For an end to the so-called “war on drugs” and the genocide of Black youth and youth in the peripheries.
- End the model of mass incarceration and punitive measures, and move toward a focus on employment programs, housing, and health care for those with substance use disorders. No to the privatization of prisons.
- Combat organized crime by targeting its roots in Faria Lima [Brazil’s equivalent of Wall St.], the financial markets, and the upper echelons of the ruling class and political elites.
Combating Oppression
- Allocate the equivalent of 1% of GDP to combat violence against women and LGBTQIA+ people.
- For the right to legal, safe abortion through the public health system.
- Against the genocide of Black people: against the war on the poor disguised as the “war on drugs,” for the demilitarization and social oversight of the police.
- We cannot entrust the fight against oppression to the institutions of a society that oppresses us. That is why demands for public policies must be combined with the mass struggle of social movements and unions against oppression.
A Radical Change of Course—Toward a Socialist Society!
- Break with the politics of austerity! Repeal the social security and labor counter-reforms. Repeal the spending cap, the Fiscal Responsibility Law, and the Decoupling of Federal Revenues.
- Tax the super-rich and large fortunes! End tax exemptions for large corporations.
- Dismantle the public debt system that serves the ultra-rich—audit and suspend payments to major speculators.
- Control foreign exchange and the repatriation of profits by multinational corporations. Nationalize the financial sector and key sectors of the economy under the democratic control and management of workers.
- Fight imperialism! Against imperialist intervention in the elections, the tariff war, and the sale of natural resources and infrastructure to multinational corporations.
- Combat the power of Big Tech through regulation, the nationalization of its infrastructure in the country, and the creation of state-owned technology companies under the democratic control of workers.
- Oppose the Mercosur-EU agreement and others that subject Latin American countries to a neocolonial relationship.
- No to wars and militarism. Solidarity with the struggles of the Cuban, Venezuelan, Palestinian, Iranian, and other peoples fighting against imperialism. No illusions in Chinese imperialism and its allies. For a Socialist Latin America and a Socialist world!
- For an end to capitalism. For a world without war, exploitation and oppression. For a socialist society where the resources are used in the interests of the people and the planet, under democratic planning – not the profits of a tiny minority.
Rebuild the Left
- Restore the PSOL’s original project in defense of a party based on class independence, a left-wing opposition to the governments of the established order, and a socialist program.
- Build a Socialist Left Front with political forces both within and outside the PSOL, and militant social movements that remain committed to class independence and socialism.
- Candidacies in service of the struggles, with democratic control over parliamentary caucuses and resources. For workers’ representatives on a skilled worker’s wage.
- Vote for candidates from the left wing of the PSOL and the socialist left! Build an alliance involving parties and organizations of the socialist left and militant social movements that puts forward an anti-capitalist and socialist program!