This March 24, at almost 80 years of age, a historical militant of Brazil and of Trotskyism passed away. Beyond nuances and differences, here is our tribute and militant recognition to her.

By: César Latorre

From foquismo to Trotskyism

Maria José Lorenzo (known as Zezé) began her militancy in the student movement at the end of the 1960s, resisting the dictatorship that had been established in 1964. Zezé participated in the editorial staff of the guerrilla-oriented newspaper El SOL, aligned to the MNR.

With the strengthening of the dictatorship in the 70’s she had to go into exile along with many others. At that time Chile was a commonly chosen country given the rise of the class struggle there, plus the electoral triumph of Allende. In Chile María José Lorenzo got in touch with the Trotskyist current through people such as Mario Pedrosa (Brazilian intellectual and artist who had been a militant of the international left opposition led by Trotsky), Hugo Blanco (Peruvian militant of the Morenoist current) and Peter Camejo (militant of the Socialist Worker Party of the USA), the latter were members of the Trotskyist Leninist Fraction that were leading a debate within the Fourth International regarding the guerrilla deviation to which Zezé adhered.

The Brazilian exiles formed a group called Punto de partida, which in its founding document included a critique against Brazilian guerrilla warfare (until then, unquestioned by the left). The fall of Allende forced the group Punto de partida to go into exile. Zezé went to Argentina where she got in touch with the PST. From Argentina Zezé, together with other Brazilian exiles, founded the Liga Obrera and prepared to return to Brazil.

The return

In 1974 the political situation in Brazil gave way to greater discontent and a more favorable climate for the development of a political current. That is how Zezé and the members of the League began to return to Brazil. From clandestinity, being a handful of militants, Zezé forged in little more than three years a current with more than 200 militants, laying the foundations in Brazil of the most important Trotskyist current. She founded Convergencia Socialista from which many of the current Brazilian Trotskyist currents derived.

The development of the current that had begun in the student movement managed to structure itself in the workers’ movement, with special influence in São Paulo’s ABC. Even the impulse of the workers’ party that would end in the foundation of the PT had Zezé and her current as important promoters.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the explosion of the LIT in the 1990s distanced Zezé from organic militancy, without breaking with the socialist ideal. As she defined herself “…Mas sempre, y antes de tudo, militante socialista” (…but always, and above all, a socialist militant).

Beyond the paths taken, her imprint in the history of Trotskyism in Brazil is undeniable and she is an example of dedication and sacrifice to the cause of the revolution.