Brazil general strike blasts austerity; Workers Party gains in elections

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SOCIALIST ACTION JANUARY 1987 13 SAO PAULO-The IMF-imposed austerity measures decreed by the "New Republic" government of President José Sarney are encountering stiff resistance among Brazil's workers and peasants.

On Nov. 27 food riots rocked the capital city of Brasilia. On Dec. 12, a 24-hour general strike-the first general strike in decades-shut down 80 percent of the factories in the industrial hub of Sao Paulo and halted approximately 30 percent of production nationwide.

The strike, which was called by the Central Unica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) and two other labor federations, demanded an end to the price and tax increases announced on Nov. 21.

The recent government measures include price hikes of 50 percent to 70 percent in gasoline, electricity, sugar, medicines, postal rates, alcohol, cigarettes, and automobiles. According to official statistics, the inflation rate for 1986 was approx -imately 200 percent, with wages falling far behind the increased cost of living.

The government was pressured by the International Monetary Fund to enact these new measures in order to maintain interest payments on the country's huge debt. Brazil owes $103 billion to foreign banks—-the largest debt of any country in the world.

The day before the strike, the daily Folha de Sao Paulo published a national public opinion poll that gives an indication of the growing popular anger over the deteriora -ting standard of living. Forty-seven percent of the respondents said they planned to strike the next day; 70 percent said they felt the strike was legitimate, and 68 percent said they thought the strike was necessary to force the government to back down from its austerity program.

Workers Party scores gains Just one week prior to the general strike, on Nov. 15, the first elections since the return of civilian rule nearly two years ago were held throughout Brazil.

Approximately 60 million voters turned out to pick 23 state governors, 49 senators, and 487 state and national deputies. The newly elected Congress is scheduled to begin drafting a new constitution next March. Luis Ignacio da Silva (Lula)

The undisputed winner of the elections was the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), the major capitalist party which for two decades was the only legal opposition to the military dictatorship. Candidates associated with the past military regime were overwhelmingly defeated.

The Workers Party (PT) led by metalworker leader Luis Ignacio da Silva, "Lula," scored some important gains in these elections, obtaining 6.2 percent of the vote—or approximately 3.5 million votes. This is nearly double the vote obtained by the PT in the 1982 national elections.

The PT elected 18 deputies to the national Congress and 28 deputies to state congresses. It will now have elected officials in 14 of 23 states.

Lula, the president of the PT, was elected deputy from the Sao Paulo region with a total of 450,000 votes. This was the second highest vote total received by any candidate.

"The prospects for the development of the PT are enormous," Lula told the press after the elections. "The PMDB is no longer an opposition party. It is now the ruling party. Very soon, its popular base will be eroded."

Lula continued, "Look at what just happened: Barely one week after the elections, price increases were decreed that set off powerful mass mobilizations."

The PT centered its campaign on the need for a genuine agrarian reform, the defense of land occupations by the landless peasants, a sliding scale of wages and hours to fight inflation and unemployment, and the repudiation of the foreign debt to the imperialist banks.