International News

Expulsion of Socialists from PT Brazil

Declaration of the Socialist Democracy Tendency of the Workers Party

The 14th of December of 2003 was a very sad day in the history of the PT. The expulsion of parliamentarians who defend historical positions of the PT, including positions approved in the last National Meeting of the party, held in December 2001, for not accepting changes in political orientation that had not been widely debated by the party collectively, does not have democratic legitimacy. This violence sullies the history of the party.

The expulsion of comrade Heloísa Helena, member of the National Directory of the PT and its Executive Commission, is the most absurd. Comrade Heloísa Helena was leader of the PT group in the Senate of the Republic, where she had a brilliant and militant performance. The positions that she defended then on behalf of the party are the same ones that she defends today. Heloísa Helena is deservedly one of the most recognized militants of the party, enjoying the greatest prestige, in Brazil and all other countries.

Our comrade Heloísa Helena never moved away from her basic commitments to the working class, to all the Brazilian people, to socialism and humanity. In the name of these commitments she confronted the northeastern oligarchy and committed herself uncompromisingly to building the PT.

The vote for this expulsion is a hard blow against what the PT represents as a socialist and democratic party. It leads to an enormous weakening and corrosion of the relations of the PT with left militants throughout the world. From the politico-moral point of view Heloísa Helena continues to be a militant of the socialist and democratic PT that we have participated in building since its foundation. The DS, in line with the resolutions of its last conference, reaffirms the centrality of the fight within the PT to win it back to a socialist and democratic orientation. Therefore we appeal against the decision of the National Directory, immediately after her expulsion, to the next National Meeting of the PT, proposing it be brought forward by the convocation of an Extraordinary Meeting.

Comrade Heloisa Helena continues to be a militant of the DS. Her presence in the PT and the DS is matter of pride for all of us, and we will not part company with her.

S�o Paulo, 15th of December 2003
Socialist Democracy Tendency of the Workers Party