Brazil: Unification Conference

The Unification Conference of our two organizations has already been scheduled, Socialist Struggle and Socialist Alternative. It will be held in San Pablo in February 2023. It will begin with a public event on Friday 10 and will meet 11 Y 12. In the current context of Brazil, with a new Lula government and an increasingly pronounced crisis of the PSOL, by the decision of the majority to support the new government, The unification of our organizations is an opportunity to try to transform ourselves into a pole, small but dynamic, of all those dissatisfied with the turn that the PSOL is taking. Below we transcribe the statement that has just been issued by the Liaison Committee that is carrying out the unification process with the intention of widely disseminating the unification.

We unite to fight

For our rights, for an independent PSOL and for socialism

On January 1, Lula assumes the presidency of our country in his third government, the fifth of the PT. In Brazil then a new period opens, full of contradictions and challenges.

Of course, We celebrate the failure of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro. He is the main political person responsible for so many deaths in the pandemic, enemy of the Amazon and the environment, of labor rights, democratic, of women and LGBT, of indigenous people and black people. And we have contributed to his defeat by calling for mobilization against him and also with our critical vote for Lula in the second round..

But in addition to the fact that Bolsonarism maintains strength and continues to act, We consider that it is not appropriate to have illusions about the new government of national unity, that not only does not consistently confront Bolsonaro, but rather it sedates it and thus allows it to continue growing and strengthening. All in the name of 'social peace' and bourgeois 'democracy'. With his vice president, the tucano affiliated with the PSB, Geraldo Alckmin, his right-wing liberal allies such as Henrique Meirelles and Simone Tebet, among others, and his calls for moderation, Lula returns to the Planalto essentially to continue managing capitalism and thus ensure the profits of large national and foreign companies.

That is to say that, beyond some initial and limited populist measure to seek popular sympathy, The Lula-Alckmin government will not bring any fundamental solution to the economic crisis, to unemployment, to low salaries, to environmental problems and other structural needs of the poor people and youth of Brazil.

And this is because the PT has been meekly integrated into this globalized capitalism of permanent crisis and adjustment for many years., and does not have the slightest political will to fully confront the Bolsonaro extreme right or to question the interests of multinationals., banks and agribusiness. Therefore he does not deserve our trust., but you have to be alert to their measures.

As poor people of Brazil, We can only trust in our own strength, unity and organization. That is the only guarantee to defend our rights and be able to move forward., here and around the world. That is why before the new government it will be necessary to deepen the organization, the struggle and mobilization of the working class, women, youth, landless, homeless and other popular sectors.

The left has an immense challenge: challenge the project of class conciliation and build a true anti-capitalist and socialist political alternative. Within the ranks of the PSOL, the left is opposite the, very probably, be the last chance to save the original project of an anti-capitalist party, dispute the leadership to prevent the liquidation project of the current majority leadership from succeeding. It is essential to unite all our forces of militancy organized in currents or independently, to together recover the PSOL and put it at the service of that task.

In this context, Socialist Struggle and Socialist Alternative, both currents of the left of the PSOL, We are happy to announce that we have decided to unify our forces into the same national organization. In the service of achieving this important political-organizational advance, Next February we will hold a Conference open to militancy and all those who want to join this exciting challenge.

We believe that our unification has outstanding political value for three essential reasons:

• First, in itself, since in a panorama where the most common thing on the left are divisions and ruptures, This time we are starring in a contrary example, positive, of political and militant unity between organizations that come from different backgrounds.
• Second, because our unity reinforces the political fight that we have been waging within the PSOL to reverse the wrong course of the majority of its leadership., adaptation to the new capitalist government, and to recover an independent perspective, socialist and revolutionary.
• And third, because at the same time our unity strengthens the International Socialist League (LIS), that as a Brazilian section we integrate, together with sister parties and groups of almost 30 countries. In a world where capitalism only offers more and more hunger, wars, inequality and destruction, It is key to grow revolutionary and internationalist socialism.

For all this, We invite you to participate in the debates and preparatory activities of our Unification Conference and to join as a militant the new current that we are founding. With your participation and your support, We will be stronger to continue fighting for all our rights, to recover a PSOL independent of the bourgeoisie and to defeat this capitalist system of exploitation and oppression, and replace it with a workers' government and socialism.

Socialist Struggle-Socialist Alternative Liaison Committee

November 2021