Political Statement of the Brazilian Communist Party - PCB

In 2021, the class struggle tends to intensify in Brazil and worldwide, due to the deepening of the structural crisis of capitalism, aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic, with cruel consequences for the working class, which has been suffering attacks by the bourgeoisie on social and labor rights, on the dismantling of public services, on the brutal increase of unemployment rates, on the increase in the cost of living and on the constant threats from imperialism to the peoples of the planet.

In the United States, the episode of the invasion of Congress by far-right groups - white supremacists, Nazis and other segments - represented a desperate action by Trump to try to stay in power and avoid being tried for the countless crimes he’s committed. There is a deeper crisis in imperialism itself, as the United States is rapidly losing influence in the international political scenario and strength in the economic field, where China advances with high internal growth and with the establishment of a network of international alliances that includes, in addition to commercial exchanges, production sharing and the construction of productive infrastructure in many countries under mutually advantageous conditions. It’s expected that China overtakes  the USA in the economic field in the near future.

Trump's defeat was the result of pressures from anti-racist and feminist movements, from the revolt of the poorest people without prospects, the wear and tear of his government's supremacist and denialist stances, the resistance of many segments of the American society in the face of the threat of a fascist coup under his leadership.

Biden will govern under popular pressure to promote changes in civil rights policies and some social rights, such as employment and access to health, which may be accompanied by a greater questioning of the representative party political regime, which is clearly obsolete and excluding in relation to other bourgeois democratic systems. But we have no illusions that Biden represents the interests of the US military-industrial complex and, even if he adopts a more negotiating tone, with pressure, à la Obama, on Cuba and Iran, he will tend to intensify military actions in different regions of the planet, with an emphasis on Latin America and, in particular, in relation to Venezuela.

ENOUGH OF GENOCIDE POLICY AND DESTRUCTION OF RIGHTS!

In Brazil, the economic and political crisis is deepening. The crisis is amplified by the retraction of GDP - which may reach 5% - and by the criminal actions of the Bolsonaro-Mourão Government, which, due to their negativism regarding the seriousness of the pandemic and in reaction to Science, contributed greatly to the aggravation of the health crisis. The case of Manaus – a big city in the Amazon region – is emblematic: no more available beds in hospitals, no more available oxygen, pandemic spreads more and more quickly.

The expansion of class contradictions can be predicted, for the period 2021 - 2022, with a greater precariousness of the working and life conditions of the population, increasing the misfortune of formal and informal underemployed and unemployed workers and popular sectors. There is already a process of bankrupcy of small businesses and layoffs in a higer volume in the private and public sectors, as a result of the resumption of privatizations. The adoption of Banco do Brasil's – the main public Brazilian bank – “voluntary” dismissal program is a clear indication of this trend. Furthermore, unemployment is accelerating due to the process of deindustrialization, which has been underway in Brazil. Recent examples are the recent withdrawal of Ford car factories and a factory of Mercedes-Benz, among other companies. Brazil is subject to the decisions of large economic groups and today the country does not have an industrial development policy and has no technological leadership in most sectors.

There are already 14 million Brazilians without access to food, the cost of the basic food basket has been increasing significantly, the minimum wage is the lowest in ten years and the decision - genocidal - to end the emergency aid granted during the pandemic period are factors that reinforce popular dissatisfaction.

The ruling classes remain on the offensive to maintain their privileges and withdraw workers' rights, who are forced to tighten their belts. This offensive is made possible by the existing alliance between Bolsonarism and the traditional right. However, for a part of the Brazilian bourgeoisie, Bolsonaro became a hindrance, as it hinders his business due to the profound incompetence of his government, as demonstrated in the management of the pandemic, by the aggressive attitudes towards partner countries in the economy such as China and for the enormous wear and tear it brings to society on several issues such as the connection with armed criminal groups and homophobic and misogynist attitudes, as well as for the image of Brazil abroad, as its actions on the environmental issue and in combating the pandemic provoke negative reactions from public opinion in several countries.

An impeachment process can be triggered after the election of the House and Senate seats, as well as a Parlamentary Inquiry Comission  to investigate the actions of the federal government, but the possibility of a negotiated exit of Bolsonaro between the Bolsonaro-Mourão Government and the traditional right and center parties may happen. In turn, Bolsonaro seems to signal to his more radical bases with the possibility of a coup, to which Bolsonaro's influence with the Military Police in the states would greatly contribute.

The struggle for the impeachment is central to the current situation. Bolsonaro's withdrawal reinforces the notion that change is possible and can reduce the risk of the fascist coup, although, surely, the extreme right groups and part of the social segments that converged to support Bolsonaro will remain active.

Communists must join the broad initiatives being organized by the impeachment of Bolsonaro, guiding within these actions the need to organize the working class around political banners such as maintaining emergency aid, jobs and wages, creating emergency posts of work, revocation of the constitutional amendment that freeze public expenditures, revocation of social security and labor counter-reforms, guarantee of housing and basic sanitation for the population as a whole and the uncompromising defense of a free 100% public state Health System. It is urgent to mobilize the working people in defense of the immediate mass vaccination to eradicate Covid-19.

We believe that only a broad mass movement can defeat the Bolsonaro government and its genocidal policy. In this sense, we must expand the mass actions and mobilizations in the streets and in the popular neighborhoods, actively participating in the articulations and struggles to advance the process of reorganization of workers, in the construction of a necessary National Meeting of the Working Class. It is essential to reinforce the organization of the Forum of Unions, Popular and Youth Organizations for Democratic Rights and Freedoms in the states and municipalities.

The PCB proposes the construction of a social and political front based on political organizations and social, popular, unions’ and youth movements to defeat the anti-popular policy of the Bolsonaro-Mourão government. Workers cannot lose their political autonomy or their class independence in the necessary wide-ranging struggles that we must fight in the current situation. The PCB guides all its activists and collectives to participate in street acts for the impeachment, for the rights of the working class and against all the attacks promoted by capital, respecting social distancing and taking the necessary precautions due to the pandemic.

Out with Bolsonaro and Mourão!

Vaccines for everyone now!

For Popular Power towards Socialism!

PCB Central Committee

January 25, 2021