Blackwell Reference Online

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The Brazilian Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Party), or PT, and the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (Unique Workers Center), or CUT, are the two most significant organizations to have emerged from the new Brazilian left that appeared during the late 1970s. The PT was founded in São Paulo in 1980 by a group of union leaders, progressive sectors of the Catholic Church, and left-wing intellectuals. It has become Latin America's largest workers party. It has controlled the Brazilian presidency since 2002 when Luis Inácio Lula da Silva , one of the founders of the party and its first leader, was elected. The PT has close ties to the CUT, Latin America's largest association of unions, which was founded in 1983. Together, they have helped shape the history of left-wing policies and labor relations in Brazil. The creation of the PT marked a significant break with Brazil's two historical political traditions associated with the working class, the Trabalhismo and the Brazilian communist parties. Trabalhismo was associated with Getúlio Vargas and his party, the populist Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro. Vargas ruled Brazil twice, in 1930–45 as a dictator, and in 1950–4 as a democratically elected president. The PTB also held the presidency from 1961 to 1964 with João Goulart, who was deposed by a military coup. Trabalhismo left two important legacies for left-wing organizations in ... log in or subscribe to read full text