In the elections in Brazil on Sunday [October 3, 2010] the PT, the Workers’ Party, won more seats in the Senate, and also increased its Members of Parliament. However, Dilma Rousseff, (the candidate of the PT for President) narrowly failed to win in the first round. How do we explain this?

Last Thursday, July 1, Judge André Gonçalves Fernandes, of the 2nd Civil Court of Sumaré, declared Flaskô bankrupt. This is a serious attack on the workers of Flaskô, which effectively may result in the plant's closure. We call on our contacts and supporters, activists from various social struggles and political currents, to be on the alert for any emergency.

A summary of the speech by the National Coordinator of the Black Socialist Movement and leader of the Marxist Left [Esquerda Marxist] of the PT, José Carlos Miranda, during the Public Hearing of the Brazilian Supreme Court about racial quotas held on 5 March 2010, and videos of original speech in Portuguese.

Flaskô is the last surviving factory of the Occupied Factories Movement of Brazil, after the heavy police intervention put an end to the almost five-year occupation at Cipla and Interfibra. The workforce has been demanding that the Lula government nationalises the plant, but with no serious reply. But recently Lula took up the question in the press. Here is the reply of the Flaskô workers.

The Marxist Left (Esquerda Marxista) stood in the internal elections of the PT winning a sizeable vote and a position on the national leadership. This represent the willingness of thousands and thousands of workers in the ranks of the party to break with the bourgeoisie and fight for the ideas of genuine socialism.

The Marxist Left of the PT (Esquerda Marxista) stood in the PT’s internal elections, winning a sizeable vote, much increased on previous elections, winning a position on the national leadership and taking the ideas of revolutionary socialism to every corner of the party.