Brazil, January 5—Following the kidnapping of the President of Venezuela by U.S. imperialists (see editorial, Jan. 28 issue), who were thirsty for natural resources including oil and rare earth minerals, there were large anti-U.S. mobilizations worldwide. Here in Brazil, people demonstrated in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Salvador de Bahia. Numerous student organizations, labor unions and left-wing political groups, including opportunist politicians and judges participated in these spirited marches against imperialism. The Progressive Labor Party (PLP) was also present, with some of our friends and our “Fight for Communism” flags, to speak out against U.S. imperialism’s naked aggression, to defend the unity of workers and students and to advocate for the ultimate solution: communist revolution.
Capitalism offers misery and death
During the march, many spoke out against this odious and arbitrary capitalist system, which confirms Lenin’s view of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism. Slogans included: “Trump, take your claws out of Venezuela!”, “Long live a free Latin America!”, “Down with U.S. imperialism!”, and “Long live socialism!” The slimy politicians led the chorus of the nationalists, comparing Trump to Bolsonaro, the former right-wing president of Brazil, and some even mentioned Hitler. There was even a caricature of Hitler resembling Trump. One of the march’s limitations was the focus on nationalism and individual protectionism, calling for socialism—a system that maintains most of the inequalities of racist capitalist exploitation—to liberate the working class. What these misleaders tried to hide was that our class has never been liberated through bourgeois elections or bourgeois parties that try to limit class struggle to merely reform capitalism. We don’t need to sweeten this rotten system of racism, sexism, exploitation and war—we need to destroy it by fighting for and winning a communist world that serves the interests of the vast majority of humanity.
Some people we spoke with still believe in 2-stage revolution: struggle is gradual, socialism now, communism sometime in the future. When we asked where that approach ever succeeded, they were hard-pressed to reply. There is still a lot of work to do in overcoming ideas of the old movement that have proven to be incorrect. We made some contacts though, including a local professor and an Argentinian filmmaker. The struggle continues.
It is here that the struggle of the PLP must breathe new life into the class struggle in Latin America and the battles to come. Our job is to win workers and students away from the dead-end politics of elections and socialism, to break with the traditional misleaders of every stripe who only serve the status quo, and forge a mass party, tested in battle, in every corner of the world. The PLP slogan of “one class, one flag, one party!” will become our marching orders.
