Re: AUT: The "National Strike" in Venezuela

[Scott Hamilton <s_h_hamilton@xxxxxxxxx>]

It sounds like the TP is in some sense a 'bourgeois
workers party', ie a party that claims to represent
workers and has organic links to organised labour but
has a pro-capitalist leadership. Perhaps there are
elements of a Popular Front, too, with Lula's vice
presidential candidate and now all of these
right-wingers being appointed. Shades of Mandela's
government in South Africa.

Workers Power Global, which has no section in Brazil
but does have links with the PTS in Argentina, argued
that Brazilian workers should vote for Lula, but not
for his vice presidental candidate. They have an index
of articles on Lula at
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/BrazilLula2.html
Here's an interesting reference to TP state
governments, which contradicts what Thiago said about
the Rio Grande do Sul government:

"Outside of the federal parliament the PT's position
is even weaker. Lula may have won a landslide victory
in the federal election, but the Workers' Party won
the post of governor in only three of Brazil's 27
states.

This poor result, compared to the vote for Lula. is
explained by the working class' experience of PT
administrations where they have governed for more than
12 years. Río Grande do Sul has been a PT stronghold
for the past ten years and they have held back on
social programmes while cutting public sector wages.

Tassio Genro - the PT governor candidate - was
defeated partly because Río Grande do Sul is the only
state which managed to push through a tax on
pensioners that not even the neo-liberals could
manage."

Workers Power I guess believes that Lula has aroused
expectations that cannot be met, and that his
supporters may take things into their own hands and
move left when disappointed, creating a revolutionary
crisis. The other possibility, which Argentinian
groups like the Workers Party and Workers Democracy
see, is that Lula could play a 'Mandela' role, using
the respect he enjoys to play down expectations and
push through nasty policies. The Workers arty has
actually compared Lula to de la Rua, the 'centre-left'
Argentinian leader who was ousted in the Argentinazo
of December 2001.

Cheers
Scott



=====
"Revolution is not like cricket, not even one day cricket"

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