[Marxism] Brazil: Alckmin says "I am to the Left of Lula"

[Nestor Gorojovsky]

[Against all odds, and against any promises to myself, I will comment 
on the Brazilian elections personally, directly, but -serious- only 
this time.  This biscuit is too good and it deserves a bite.]

It may sound outrageous, but Geraldo Alckmin begun campaigning for 
the runoff on the "I am more Leftist than Lula" line!

In a sense, he is right.

He is "to the Left" because his political thought is more articulate, 
more "French Revolutionary", more "civilized" than that of Lula.  
And, certainly, his discourse is that of a civilized man appealing to 
civilized persons.  His ideas find better expession in his educated 
parlance than in Lula's elementary ways.  As everybody knows, 
Leftists _do_ speak well, they can quote pundits, they are civil and 
cultivated -like Alckmin, not like Lula.

He has an important stake in his favor, which is the virtual 
endorsement of his "Left" status by Heloísa Helena after the polls, 
and (not a minor issue here) his party is the _Social Democratic_ 
Party of Brazil.  Let us never forget that the Brazilian Menem was 
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, an archetypal Marxist up to the 80s who 
got to power through the ticket of _that_ party.  He was a Marxist, 
yes, but as it was demonstrated in practice he was an imperialist 
Marxist...

When you think in politics of a semicolonial country forgetting the 
essential divide, which is not "left/right" but "imperialism/national 
movement", it is easy to lose your bearings.  One of the problems of 
Brazilian politics is that -thanks, among others, to the strenuous 
efforts of the Brazilian "Left"- this divide has been blurred in the 
consciousness of the masses, and things are posed along the wrong 
axes.

In fact, in our countries there are always TWO Lefts, TWO Centers, 
and TWO Rights.  Substituting the imperialist [left] for the national 
[left] is the basic operation of imperialism and its local allies.  
If a country lacks a national left, the imperialists create the left 
of that country.

In (an ideological as opposed to material) sense, Alckmin is "left", 
yes, and Lula is "center".  But Alckmin is "the left of the 
imperialists", and Lula the "center of the nation".  Whoever wants to 
understand our politics in Latin America should begin by this basic 
set of simple distinctions.

The anti-national left is useless for revolutions.  Then, when the 
oppressed classes search for a revolutionary leadership they don't 
find it in the "Left", but in quite uncanny quarters, namely the 
center or even the right of the national bloc.  Thanks to the 
stupidity of the anti-national Left, or thanks to the small numbers 
of the national left, then, the "center and/or right" wings of the 
national movement take the lead, like it or not.  

In Brazil, Heloisa Helena has demonstrated that she is the Left -yes, 
the "Left of Alcmin".  We desperately need a National Left there.

Este correo lo ha enviado
Néstor Miguel Gorojovsky
nestorgoro at fibertel.com.ar
[No necesariamente es su autor]
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"La patria tiene que ser la dignidad arriba y el regocijo abajo".
Aparicio Saravia
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