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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Le parti des travailleurs brésilien : de son émergence à la conquête du Planalto (1979 - 2002)

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The Brazilian Workers’ Party (PT) is an outstanding experience of a left-wing mass party. When it was born in 1980, many people wondered about its nature. In 2002, when Lula became the President of Brazil, this question did not deserve the same answer. The PT became bureaucratic, institutional and professional, experiencing a sort of accelerated Social-Democratization. As its starting point, this study takes the specificities of labour movement, trade unionism and the dictatorship (1964-1985) in Brazil. The PT originated in 1979-80 from mass social struggles around “authentic” trade unionists (such as Lula), left-wing Catholics, far-left activists, the left-wing intelligentsia and some “progressive” elected representatives. From the outset, the party established itself among the industrial working class, the tertiary sector (particularly the banking sector); in working-class neighbourhoods and some rural areas. The PT in the 1980s was militant, in the social and political opposition. After the 1989 presidential election narrowly missed by Lula, the PT changed: parliamentary opposition replaced the project of a clear social and political break; professional politicians left less room to the rank and file; opposing neo-liberalism took the place of anti-capitalism; its alliances increasingly broadened towards the centre. Until 2001, the PT opposed neoliberal policies. Yet the major turning point was to come with the 2002 presidential campaign. The party programme went through a gradual de-radicalization studied through 5 significant aspects of the Petista socialism. The study of contents and styles of 4 presidential campaigns from 1989 to 2002 completes these conclusions