2023-05-15 01:01:34
As the days go by, the Lula government is showing that it seems that nothing is going to change in this country. And, thus, a feeling is created among the workers that the government, in fact, will not attend to the needs of the people.
By: PSTU Brazil Newsroom
The R$ 18 increase in the minimum wage, announced by Lula on May 1, barely buys a maple of eggs. As for the labor reform, which the PT promised to review in the electoral campaign, it has already said that it will be maintained and does not touch the subject anymore. This happens because, to really increase the minimum wage, as the PSTU defends, double the wage already, and completely repeal the labor reform, the government would have to face big capital. And not only does it not confront, but it governs with and for big business, bankers and agribusiness.
The government, on the contrary, serves the interests of the big capitalists. The Ministry of Agriculture was handed over to a large soybean producer, the agrarian reform is stagnant and large agribusiness is swimming by. Not only that, but the land takeovers and the MST are criminalized by sectors of the government itself. This opens a gap for the CPMI of the MST, an offensive by Bolsonarism and the extreme right to attack the movements in the countryside.
We can’t have any confidence in the government
Lula’s government, instead of appealing to the mobilization of workers and the population in favor of certain measures, does not propose anything that confronts capital or the ultra-right. Thus, they can position themselves as “leftist” and blame the National Congress when, in reality, if they were in favor of the working class they would confront Congress and call the workers to the streets.
On the contrary, the government has been making agreements with sectors of the military high command that until yesterday were with Bolsonaro. Let’s see, the day the Federal Police knocked on the door of Bolsonaro and his advisers, Lula was having lunch with the command of the Armed Forces, and minutes later he announced a soldier from the GSI (Institutional Security Cabinet). The same GSI that remained silent, if not colluded, with the coup attempt on January 8, along with other sectors of the military leadership.
Artur Lira, for his part, is giving the cards in the National Congress and the government is delivering everything the centrão wants [partidos de centro]. Lula plays with the expectation and confidence that it will be the Federal Supreme Court (STF) that supposedly defeats the ultra-right.
For this reason, it is essential to build and strengthen a class camp that defends a workers’ program and does not leave the class hostage to the National Congress, the bosses or the STF. Only with class mobilization and independence will it be possible to conquer the demands of the class and even definitively defeat the ultra-right. Feeding confidence in a government and in a conciliation project with the bourgeoisie, with Lira, with the STF, and with the right is the fastest way to demoralize the class and strengthen the ultra-right itself, as we are seeing in Chile with Boric’s government. That is what the PT, the PSOL, or even the left that is not in the government but refuses to confront it, such as the PCB or the UP, defend.
The social, union and student movements must break with the government
The population and the working class are hostages of this government conciliation policy, with no way out for their problems and with their hands tied, even more so when the leadership of the parties of the parliamentary left and entities of the movement, such as the PSOL, or the CUT and UNE continue to be linked to this government and this policy.
In this sense, the independent May Day and struggle called by CSP-Conlutas, promoted by the PSTU and other organizations that advocate for class independence, was of great importance. It was a moment to defend the flags of the workers, such as the real increase in the minimum wage, the repeal of the labor and pension reforms, and the New Secondary School, as well as the end of privatizations and the re-nationalization of privatized companies.
But for that to happen, it is necessary to confront the bankers, big business and agribusiness, as well as the government project itself. It is necessary to end multimillion-dollar exemptions and subsidies to large companies, heavily taxing large fortunes and properties. It is even necessary to put an end to the “independence” of the Central Bank, but not only that, but also to prohibit remittances of profits. Repeal the spending ceiling and the Fiscal Responsibility Law that only divert money to bankers, and suspend debt to invest in public services such as health, education and job creation.
Unify the struggles and build a socialist alternative
Given this, it is necessary for the class to organize and mobilize for wages, rights, employment, for the repeal of the labor and pension reforms, and the reform of Secondary Education, against privatizations and the delivery of the country, and for the renationalization of privatized companies. The path is the struggle, supporting the unions that are mobilizing, such as the workers of the Rio Grande do Sul metro and the workers of the CSN [Compañía Siderúrgica Nacional].
We are on the eve of May 13. We do not commemorate the Lei Áurea, but we denounce abolition without reparation and demand justice and reparation for black people, as well as an end to mass incarceration. But this government has a project of alliances that prevents solving the underlying problems, or even the immediate ones, such as the fight against the coup plotters.
What we need is a socialist alternative, that defends class independence and that points to another social project, a socialist project, in which the workers govern supported by popular councils.
Immortal Rita Lee!
We closed this edition of Socialist Opinion under the impact of the death of Rita Lee, an expression of indignation against all kinds of conformism and an example of how we should not accept the same thing or the “lesser evil”. Long live Rita Lee! It’s time to be Pagu outraged in the palenque, black sheep against this system.
Article published in www.pstu.org.br10/5/2023.-
Translation: Natalia Estrada.
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