By Liaison Committee: Luta Socialista/Alternativa Socialista/International Socialist League
The National Directorate of the PSOL decided not to hold office in the government of the Frente Amplisimo Lula/Alckmin. This has been the position of the Liaison Committee of Luta Socialista/Alternativa Socialista/ISL all along, and represents the victory of the independence of the party. But this was accompanied by a wrong assertion that it will be the support base of the next federal government. Thus, the resolution voted in the last National Directorate (DN) is a political declaration that surrendered to the project of class conciliation, highlighting an absurd call to trust and support a bourgeois government of national unity.
The PSOL Popular camp, led by the Revolutionary Solidarity and Socialist Spring currents, represented by Guilherme Boulos and Juliano Medeiros respectively, was forced to vote in favor of a resolution which explicitly states: “the PSOL will not hold office in the next government”. This happened because its allies, the “PSOL Semente” camp, composed of the Resistencia, Insurgencia and Subverta currents (all three linked to the SU – Fourth International), refused to form a government with the bourgeoisie, showing, fortunately, that something of the Marxist tradition is preserved. Thus, the majority leadership, without achieving the majority of the votes, was forced to make this definition, no less important, in the last DN. And with it they sealed again the agreement with the Semente camp, obtaining the majority of votes in the leadership to vote a common resolution. This resolution, mistaken and dangerous, which declares the unconditional support to this same bourgeois government, which again endangers the future of the anti-capitalist and independent party that we built.
Faced with this new scenario, with the last minute turn of the Semente camp, the Oposición de Izquierda, a sector that we were building with the greatest unitary effort, even though there were important differences, fractured. Fortalecer informed that it was withdrawing from the resolution drafted and presented by the opposition, and was followed by MES, adopting the same definition. Thus we arrived at the day of the DN, with 3 resolutions presented: one from the majority leadership, one from the opposition and one from the CST. The majority resolution was voted by Primavera, Rev. Solidaridad, Resistencia, Insurgencia, Subverta, MES and Fortalecer, while that of the Oposición de Izquierda was voted by Comuna, APS and Nosotros, the Comité de Enlace Lucha Socialista and Alternativa Socialista. That of the CST did not get any vote. It was a mistake because the content of the resolution that was voted is the affirmation of a political project of adaptation and co-optation of the bourgeois state and its institutions, which calls for trusting the bourgeois institutions that constantly act against the interests of the working class and the poor people, affirming a compromise with those who exploit and oppress. On the other hand, although the Left Opposition had already lost the possibility of obtaining the majority in the vote, maintaining a resolution that showed a firmer position in favor of the political independence of the party means a signal to the rank and file of the PSOL that the Left Opposition is willing to maintain the dispute and fight for the foundational project in the face of the liquidation of the majority leadership. We have this fraternal debate with the comrades of Left Opposition, hoping we can draw conclusions and avoid continuing committing these mistakes that weaken the battle for the independence of the party.
The crossroads in the PSOL continues and the next few months will be fundamental for the future of the party. This is where a firm position is so necessary, with no room for ambiguity or the petty calculations of one or another current. We need the firmest and most determined unity of the class and anti-capitalist sectors if what we want is to avoid total submission to the project of class conciliation. Unfortunately, this is not what happened in the last DN and it is an error that should be debated so that it is not repeated in the next struggles.
In defense of the independence of the PSOL
The PSOL has an important influence in the current political debate, vocalizing and mobilizing the most important opinions and banners of the socialists of Brazil, precisely because it has never been silent in the face of injustices. We cannot abdicate the right to criticize. Nothing can divert us from the party’s founding commitments to defend the interests of the working class in the face of threats and attacks from all governments.
We are active in the fight against Bolsonarism, and the independence of the party is also essential for victory in this field. The important PSOL bloc in the national congress must represent this position. Our parliamentarians, tribunes of the working class, must confront with equal courage bolsonarismo and the attacks imposed by the Lula/Alckmin/Centrão government against the people. We cannot be afraid to strengthen a left alternative, a firm opposition to any attack against the working class and the poor people.
In the PSOL, a distrust was installed to affirm itself as “left opposition” to the next government. A childish fear on the part of some and opportunistic on the part of others. Naturally, the PSOL has already positioned itself in opposition to the reelection of Arthur Lira to the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies. Lula-Alckmin decided to rebuild the bourgeois regime in crisis, a natural decision on their part, but will it be on ours? Was the PSOL born to dispute a political alternative or to be the last wagon of the Frente Amplísima? The discourse that the battle against Bolsonarism goes through the Government is an illusion (childish for some, opportunistic for others). It is not possible to defeat Bolsonarism with the institutions that support it. Bolsonaro will leave the government, but the regime of the rich will be able to use him as a card up its sleeve when necessary, as it did in 2018.
If the PSOL locks itself in the indecision and political opportunism of being part of the reconstruction of the bourgeois regime, it will be condemned to disappear. Part of the approved resolution which allows, eventually, the “distancing” for whoever assumes positions in the government, giving freedom to return, feeds the policy of submission of the party to the Frente Amplio. The Semente camp, MES and Fortalecer voted in favor of a policy that says one thing in the text, but in practice could be another.
The battle in defense of independence continues. The National Directorate resolved things in an ambiguous way, signaling an undue subordination to the government against which we will continue to fight.
Sao Paulo, December 21, 2022
Liaison Committee
Luta Socialista/Alternativa Socialista
International Socialist League