[Marxism] Re: runoff may be needed in Brazil

[Louis Proyect]

>Lula-phobia has also been a driving force in the international left
>campaign for Helena, which struck me as a not very healthy intervention.
>
>I'm afraid the importance of this election has not been a mere artifact
>of the twisted mind of Walter Lippmann.
>Fred Feldman

If Lula loses, the fault will be and his party's alone. Although the 
Workers Party has an entirely different class basis than the DP in 
the USA, the electoral dynamic is exactly the same. When parties 
neglect their social basis for as long as the WP has, voters will 
look elsewhere. The main impetus to a Lula victory would have been a 
radical land reform which would invigorated his base. Lula was never 
more popular than in his early days in office, before he had a chance 
to implement neoliberal economic policies. He might not be as bad as 
his openly procapitalist opponent, but you can say the same thing 
about John Kerry, the Labour Party candidate in Great Britain and so 
on. If the revolutionary left can't articulate its own program, 
there's no reason for it to exist. I can understand a tactical vote 
for Lula, as Carlos Rebello indicated, but the idea that people "hate 
Lula" is utter bullshit. You might as well call Patrick Bond's books 
an exercise in Mbekiphobia. This is not about individuals but about 
class politics.