Brazilian Communist Party

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Brazilian Communist Party

Partido Comunista Brasileiro
AbbreviationPCB
General SecretaryEdmilson Costa
FoundedMarch 25, 1922
NewspaperPeople's power
Think tankDinarco Reis Foundation
Youth wingCommunist Youth Union
Women's wingClassist Feminist Collective Ana Montenegro
Political orientationMarxism–Leninism
Website
https://pcb.org.br

The Brazilian Communist Party [Portuguese: Partido Comunista Brasileiro (PCB)] is a Brazilian communist party that defines itself as a party of militants and revolutionary cadres that are formed in the class struggle, in the organization of the proletariat, and in the study of the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Its theoretical basis for praxis is Marxism–Leninism, which is based on the principles developed by Vladimir Lenin.

History

Background

Until the 1920s, the labor movement in Brazil was mostly led by anarchists. Striking movements, sporadic in the early years of the Republic, became more frequent in the beginning of the 20th century, sometimes having state or national reach. The main demands of the movements were to improve wages, reduce the working day to eight hours, regulate the work of women and children, and stipulate weekly rest.[1]

The October Revolution of 1917 awakened the interest of anarchists in the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and in 1918, the Communist League of Livramento was founded by former anarchist militants sympathetic to communism. The following year, the Brazillian-Lebanese barber Abilio de Nequete founded the Maximalist Union in Porto Alegre, making it the first communist organization in Brazil.[2] The term "maximalist" was used to refer to Bolsheviks at that time.[1]

Disagreements between anarchists and communists soon began to sharpen. In Brazil, part of the anarcho-syndicalist movement launched violent attacks on the III International after Bolshevik crackdown on anarchist terrorists. A few anarchist newspapers denounced in 1920 "Bolshevik terror" in Soviet Russia. With the beginning of the shootings of anarchists in the Soviet Union, the rupture between anarchists and communists was also consummated in Brazil.[1]

A small group led by Astrojildo Pereira, on the November 4, 1921 founded the Communist Group of Rio de Janeiro, the first of a series of communist nuclei to be established in other states. The Rio de Janeiro communist group had a goal of fulfilling the 21 conditions necessary for admission to the Communist International. To be accepted, the parties had to fundamentally adopt the name of communists, dissociate themselves from all reformist positions, fight for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.[1]

Early years (1922–1945)

[3][4][5][6]

PCB, then named Communist Party of Brazil [Partido Comunista do Brasil] was founded in March 25th, 1922 in Rio de Janeiro during its first congress, after initiative from the communist groups of Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro to establish a national communist party and carry out the resulting party's admission to the Communist International. The congress had 9 delegates representing 73 members from the several communist groups active in Brazil at the time.[7]

Dissolution of the old party and reconstruction period. (1992–2001)

After the fall of the Brazilian military dictatorship and the dissolution of the USSR, a group led by Roberto Freire (a Brazilian analogue of Gorbachev) wanted to extinguish PCB, but encountered resistance from within the party. Then, the group called for an "extraordinary congress" with the intention of creating a "new political formation". They invited non-members of the party as delegates, granted them voting rights to declare the extinction of the party, and the creation, in its place, of the Popular Socialist Party (PPS).[8]

The congress, considered controversial, ended up being recognized by the Superior Electoral Court of Brazil and the bourgeois media. Older members classified the action of the group linked to its then president, Roberto Freire, as a coup, and decided to launch a national campaign for the preservation of the party and its symbols.[8]

The PCB today (2002–)

Congresses

I Congress — 1922

II Congress — 1925

III Congress — 1929

IV Congress — 1954

V Congress — 1960

VI Congress — 1967

VII Congress — 1982

VIII Congress — 1987

IX Congress — 1991

X Congress — 1993

XI Congress — 1996

XII Congress — 2000

XIII Congress — 2005

XIV Congress — 2009

XV Congress — 2014

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 CPDOC da Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Partido Comunista Brasileiro. Accessed on 2021-06-16
  2. Edgar Carone (1982). 'From the 1st to the 3rd Congress (1922–1929)' in The PCB – 1922 to 1943 [Portuguese: 'Do I ao III Congresso (1922–1929)' in O PCB – 1922 a 1943]. [LG]
  3. Pedro Chadarevian (2012). Race, class and revolution in the Brazilian Communist Party (1922-1964) [Portuguese: Raça, classe e revolução no Partido Comunista Brasileiro (1922-1964)]. [PDF] doi:10.5007/2175-7984.2012v11n20p255 [HUB]
  4. Marcelo A. Camurça (1998). Rebellious intelligentsia and political militancy: adherence of intellectuals to the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) – 1922–1960 [Portuguese: Intelectualidade rebelde e militância política: adesão dos intelectuais ao Partido Comunista Brasileiro (PCB) – 1922–1960]. [PDF]
  5. Marco Aurélio Santana (2020). A party in two stages: the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) before and after coup d’etat of 1964 [Portuguese: Um partido em dois tempos: o Partido Comunista Brasileiro (PCB) nas conjunturas pré e pós golpe de 1964]. [PDF]
  6. Astrojildo Pereira (1960). First days of the party [Portuguese: Primeiros dias do partido]. Dinarco Reis Foundation.
  7. Apoena Canuto Cosenza (2012). 'The emergence of PCB (1922 to 1935)' in A party, two tactics: an organizational and political history of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), from 1922 to 1935 [Portuguese: 'O advento do PCB (1922 a 1935)' in Um partido, duas táticas: uma história organizativa e política do Partido Comunista Brasileiro (PCB), de 1922 a 1935]. [PDF] São Paulo. doi:10.11606/D.8.2013.tde-21082013-111540 [HUB]
  8. 8.0 8.1 Partido Comunista Brasileiro (2013). The new that is born old [Portuguese: O novo que nasce velho].

External sources

http://www.fgv.br/cpdoc/acervo/dicionarios/verbete-tematico/partido-comunista-brasileiro-pcb