By Luiz Inacio da Silva (Lula), President of the Brazilian Workers' Party. The Workers Party in Brazil (PT) emerged in the early 1980s from the huge strikes of metalworkers in the industrial centre of Sao Paulo. With 600,000 members, and probably 100,000 activists, the PT is the biggest workers party in the world, which has succumbed neither to social democracy nor to Stalinism. But important conflicts, and rightist pressures, exist within the party. They come especially from the party's MPs and some of its municipal councillors. Important political battles lie ahead. Here we publish an excerpt from Our Socialism, by the party's best known figure, Lula. It was originally. published in the French magazine Politis THE BRAZILIAN Workers' Party is not the remnant of a worn-out political project which has received a death-blow from the ship-wreck in Eastern Europe.
On the contrary, we have always queried "actually existing socialism'. We condemned the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, we defended Solidarnosc. We always knew that the very term 'actually existing socialism' was a mystification, in practice incompatible with the project of "socialism as liberator to which it paid lip-service.
We do not agree with the absence of political, economic and social democracy; with the identification of party and state or the monopoly power by a single party; with the domination of the bureaucracy, which has become a privileged layer or caste; with repression, open or veiled, of ideological and cultural pluralism; with management of production through vertical, authoritarian and inefficient planning.
Social democracy
All these disagreements touch on the very. heart of actually existing We have equally distanced ourselves trom social democracy. Past experience has shown it is not sufficient to accede to sovernment and the tions: without mass mobilisations from the base it is impossible to achieve The social democrats thought the state was neutral and could be an effective instrument for a peaceful transition Without mass mobilisations from the base, it is impossible to achieve socialism to a different economic and social logic. When it became obvious they were mistaken they abandoned any perspective or a transition to socialism, without abandoning the spheres of the state and its institutions.
Critical dialogue with the social democrats is useful for the international workers' struggle, but there is nothing in common between our ideological proketand theirs The we want must transcend both the perverse logic of the market and the command economies where the state decideseverything from on high. Economic choices must flow from the social will, not the supposed "strategie interests' of the state.
This requires what we call 'strategic planning', under social control. And we will create tools to allow the choices made to be implemented effectively. economic democracy must, unererore, be based on the development of the socialised ownership of the means of production.
Social ownership is not the same as state property: nationalisation is one form but there are others, like cooperatives.
On a general level the state cannot be the guardian of society. Nor can a political party which, at best, contributes to the organisation of society. The state is responsible for organising the system of production and distribution.
examp es of what the state should do. To give one: today, in Brazil, 30 per cent of grain "The socialism we want must transcend both the perverse logic of the market and the command economies where the state decides everything from on high. Economic choices must flow from the social will, not the supposed 'strategic interests' of the state." production is lost somewhere between production and consumption. The state does nothing while people die of hunger.
We think it should take responsibility for production, guarantee distribution That would clash with powerful interests and the present day state could not do it. We have to Clearly the state must distribute wealth in a just way. This is not a ques tion of abstract egalitarianism. An egantarian society is not one in witch d professional engineer carns the same as an engineering worker, a university professor the same as a secretary cople must be respected for what they for their productive capacity, inluding their intellectual productivi apacity. Someone who produces more wno nas a greater intenectual capaciby should earn more. Only thus can we develop and stimulate human creative abilities.
We have to reconcile two objectives. On the one hand we must satisfy the material demands of society and increase productivity in the factories. On new footing which is less oppressive for the workers.
On the political level, socialism must berties. To do this we will create instruments of direct democracy allowing mass participation at all levels of politicar leaderstip ana econonue manage ment. The 'popular councils' we have tried to create in the municipalities are a good example. In the units of production, we want "factory councis' to be created.
These instruments direct democracy should coexist with instruments of representative democracy and flexible mechanisms for consultation with the people, which can express collective interests without interference from capitalism.
Generally we want to establish the structures and ways of functioning of a pluralist society, which do not deny the rights of opponents and which respect minorities. Ve want a type of functioning which respects the forms of organisation of civil society, beginning with the right to organise trade unions and strike. We want a society which does not limit human creativity.
We have thought a lot about this question of democracy. very difficult to pose the relationship There were currents in our party who thowcht democracy was some sort of tactical instrument. Now, we believe democracy muss be seen as a conquest in the in America, but also in Early true of the workers. This is Chartist movement Democracy has never been an advance consciously given by the bourgeoisie but a conquest of the workers Universal suffrage was the first demand of the Chartist movement in Britain. There are many other examples.
So we cannot leave the flag of democracy to the bourgeoisie, have limited democratic gains and used them for their own ends. The working class must carry out the fight for democracy.
Translation by Geoff Ryan No. 38 Feb 27, 1993
IF I HAD my way, packets of untipped Senior Service full strength would be distributed completely free of charge in all Conservative clubs and Labour Co-ordinating Committee meetings.
Marxist smokers, on the other hand, should be asking themselves some sericus questions; comrades, we can't afford to lose you.
Tobacco is the only legally-available conentrety as intended, Cigarette smoke includes arsenic, cyanide, formaldehyde and known car. cinogens.
As with everything else under capitalism, our class is disproportionately poisoned Every year, over 110,000 smokers in the UK die as a result of their habit. That's a Gulf War every two years. A further 300 - people like me - die from passive smoking - the of fects of breathing in other people's cigarette smoke.
Smoking kills five times more peopie than road and other accidents, murder, manslaughter, suicide, ilegal drugs and AIDS put together.
Working class women and men are respec. Sively three and four times more likely to die from lung cancer as their upper-class counterparts.
Yet such mass slaughter is immensely profitable to British capitalism. Three of the wistern world's six largest tobaco companies are based in the UK.
These are Rothmans, BAT Industries and Hanson subsidiary Imperial Tobacco. All give money to either the Conservative Party of far right causes.
Rothmans is utimately owned by South Atrican corporation Rembrandt. Il produces Mariboro and Rattles in Britain through a joint venture with America's Philip Morris, and now has a 14 per cont UK market share.
According to its 1992 annual report, it gave €100,000 to the Conservative Party that your Margaret Thatcher is on a substantial rotainor from Philip Morris to promote its The Living End. products. not uk she s siudo enough to smoke herself.
BAT does not sell tobacco in the UK, but exports billions of cigarettes every year from is Southampton fac dory. It owns or has stakes in tobacoo companies in 42 countries all over the world.
The fifth largest compar in the UK by turnover, in 1991 BAT made C1000m profit from tobacco alone. While not donating directly to the Tories, it gives regularly to Industry and the Cente for Polic Studies. It has also contributed Elm do a City Technology College on Teeside.
Imperial has a 35 per cent market share, producing old-established brands such as Capstan, Regal and Wooobines as well as John Player Superkings and Lambert and Buder.
Its parent company gave €100,000 to the Conservative Party and £15,000 to the Centre for Policy Studies, according to the 1992 report.
It also handed over 2000 prime bilboard sites over to the Tories at the start of last year's general elec. ton campaign.
The largest market share, at 40 per cent, belongs to Gallagher, a sub sidary of US-owned American Brands, which produces the two best seling brands of cigarettes, Benson and Hedges and Silk Cut The goverment directy earned about S7800m in tobacco duty and VAT in 1991-92. Approximately 75 por cent of the Smoking costs the National Health Service (437m a year for hospital admissions alone. This Sure excludes the cost of treating out. patients and care in the community.
But as good tree marketeers, the government has undoublodly weighed up the dil. love and death. But its world is that of HIV and AIDS in Culture Aims of Light up and help fund the Tories as you kill yourself carnage continue. through sponsorship. Terence betwen these two figures - and the hefty backhanders - and decided to let the As a minimum, socialists, smokers included, should support policies to reduce smoking, including a ban on lighting up in public places and an end to lobacco advorising, including Moreover, as the labour movement begins another round of compulsory ballots on the political lery, wo should be raising the issue of ousiness finance for the Conservative Party, and pointing out that for the Tories, death is just another nice litte earner.
the imperialist world look on