Lula and The Workers' Party in Brazil

by Sue Branford, Bernardo Kucinski, Hilary Wainwright (Contributor)

In October 2002, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made history when he became Latin America's first democratically elected socialist leader since Salvador Allende. Lula and his Workers Party won comfortably with nearly 62 percent of Brazil's popular vote. This book tells the story of the Workers Party's origins and electoral history, outlining the key politicians behind it and the riveting story of their four successive tries for power. It features an exclusive postelection interview with Lula that charts his extraordinary life story, rising from poverty, through decades of struggle in the country's union movement, to increasing political influence and eventual victory. With unparalled access to Lula over the first two years of his administration, the authors have updated the book to include an analysis of his early attempts at social reform, his growing leadership on the international stage, and his response to charges of abandoning the Left of his own party and the hopes of his staunchest supporters.

Genres: Brazil

142 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[David Rodish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lula 👍🏻 true democracy 👍🏻 socialism 👍🏻

[Maura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, it's a 2003 book with a very cursory 2005 update thrown in, so obviously it didn't discuss all the things Lula's done in the past couple years which have led most of his supporters on the left feeling betrayed and disappointed. Having knowledge of recent events, it's hard to read the book because it has such an optimistic tone.

I appreciated its outline of the history of the PT, and its description of how Lula grew from an apathetic, apolitical young man into the leader of the autoworkers union, and how his union experience drew him to politics. In fact, this was the only part of the book where I actually felt like I learned something.

The book would have been much stronger if it had discussed Lula's rise to power in the context of what else has been happening in Latin America. Brazil is only one of many countries which has been going through remarkable changes, and it's hard to discuss Lula without mentioning all the other leftist leaders that have been elected recently--Morales in Bolivia, Bachelet in Chile, Chavez in Venezuela, etc. Of course some of those things happened after the book was published, but events leading up to them were contemporaneous with Lula's election, and the book should have discussed them in depth. Instead, this book discussed Lula, the PT, and recent Brazilian history as if they exist in a vaccuum.

[May Ling · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting introduction to current politics of Brazil. I have to admit, I was coming at this book from the economics side and may not have quite gotten enough to satisfy what I am trying to understand. I will say that it was an interesting history of how Lula came into power and how he differs from Cardosa. I am not convinced that the argument is quite strong enough for me to wholesale agree. Would need to read more.



That said, this book is short and can get someone up to speed on the basics pretty quickly.