By DIEGO AGUIRRE*
It is necessary to move forward and not retroact in defense of a pact that no longer exists, forged in the period of Brazilian redemocratization
The debate on the construction of a Frente Ampla has intensified in the face of the threat of democratic rupture and the advance of neo-fascism. This is not a new debate. The frustrated German Revolution (1928) divided the labor movement during the Weimar Republic, deepening the differences between social democrats and communists, strengthening Hitler's arrival to power in Germany in 1933.
To face fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany, the proposal of a Workers' Unit against Fascism was born, presented at the 7th Congress of the COMINTERN. defense of this thesis, which became known as the Popular Front. Different from the deviant reading, the defense of the Popular Front was not a defense of the traditional right and its conservative bloc. It consisted of a tactical position of the communists together with the worst of the dictatorships, the fascist one, a composition of unity between communists, socialists and social democrats.
Brazil is experiencing an advanced threat of a coup by the Jair Bolsonaro government. His neo-fascist policy came to power through the ballot box, but it has not been fully implemented yet, due to the system of checks and balances, which has operated in a limp way since the beginning of the coup project that removed Dilma from power in 2016, but which so far it has been able to prevent threats of democratic rupture made by Bolsonaro and his government.
In the name of unity, against a common enemy, there is a proposal for a Broad Front composed of the broadest political-ideological spectrums. This proposal has support from sectors of the left, as well as the center and the traditional right. And many, with honest and genuine intentions to defeat Bolsonaro, let themselves be carried away by the “siren song”. Others, however, opportunistically take advantage of this movement to capitalize forces for their political projects.
The defense of the Frente Ampla presented so far comprises, substantially, an exit of an institutional and even electoral nature. This is expressed in the manifesto “We are Together”, when its second paragraph says:
“We are the majority of Brazilian men and women who support the independence of the powers of the Republic and we claim that party leaders, mayors, governors, councilors, deputies, senators, prosecutors and judges assume the responsibility of uniting the homeland and rescuing our identity as a nation.”
The manifesto says it calls for authorities from the instituted powers, but ignores the base of Brazilian society, the working class, social movements, trade unions and their other instruments of struggle. Makes a defense of an exit on top. The Front would be “in favor of a common project for the country”, as the text says. This means renouncing popular historical agendas and flags and embracing another project. Would sectors of the center and right be willing to renounce the reforms that penalized workers, for example? Would the ruling class renounce Paulo Guedes' ultraliberal plan in favor of unity? What inflection would “the other side” make? The manifesto does not present any turning point on the part of the conservative camp, on the contrary, it ignores any solution that includes the people and that annuls the anti-people reforms sponsored by Bolsonaro and the right.
That is to say, the left would renounce its protagonism, opening the way for the forces of the center and the right in the dispute with Bolsonaro. That is, to renounce the protagonism of the working force. This would mean capitulating on behalf of the Brazilian conservative bloc that represses popular demonstrations in São Paulo, the Doria government (PSDB), and, in Rio de Janeiro, the Witzel-PSC government.
There is no room for naivety in this debate. We are not 70% yet, it is necessary to accumulate strength together with the popular layers. Today Bolsonaro has 1/3 of support among Brazilians, the left has another 1/3, represented by the PT, and the remaining 1/3 are dispersed. There is a clear interest on the part of the conservative bloc to polarize the political dispute with Bolsonaro, to the detriment of the left. And there is not even a minimum program in defense of the people in the document that drives the Frente Ampla.
Unity of action is needed in opposition to the neo-fascist government. This means building tactical positions against the extreme right's offensive, that is, a punctual unit in the face of imminent danger. This does not mean building “a common project for the country”, as defended by the “we are together” manifesto.
It is possible and urgent to come out of unity, building a Popular Front. Seeking to attract sectors of the middle classes that have moved away from more progressive agendas in recent years, driven precisely by the conservative bloc that is father and mother of the context in which we live. That sponsored the national destabilization, that criminalized the left and subsidized in the media, in the judiciary and in the streets the overthrow of Dilma, the imprisonment of Lula, and, which opened seas for the arrival of Bolsonaro to power.
The construction of a Popular Front invariably passes through the PT. Due to their social insertion. This task means recovering and reorganizing majority within the forces of the working class. Attract progressive parties to the construction of this front that flirt with the construction of a Frente Ampla composed together with fractions of the ruling class.
It is necessary to move forward and not retroact in defense of a pact that no longer exists, forged in the period of Brazilian redemocratization. This pact was broken with the coup escalation. What is at stake is either resurrecting the “New Republic”, the expressed desire of the conservative bloc, or constructing Bolsonaro’s defeat together with a popular-democratic program that starts a new period.
Defending the deceitful tactics of the Frente Ampla against Bolsonaro is to give up in the future an exit to the left, a program built by the most advanced sectors of society, which presents a plan of structural reforms. But at this moment it is necessary to accumulate strength among the popular sectors to make Bolsonaro's downfall possible and to call new elections. Historical experiences prove that only a solution that includes the people is capable of defeating the extreme right.
*Diego Aguirre he is a member of the PT Municipal Board of Uberlândia.
