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By Rafael Prata at Flaskô
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Friday, 09 May 2008 |
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The Movement of the Occupied Factories in Brazil is a
glorious chapter in the struggle of the working class. Last year the courts and
the police intervened in an attempt to smash the movement. In spite of
everything it still survives at the Flaskô plastics factory in Sumaré, Sao Paulo. Here we
provide an account of the struggle of the Flaskô workers and background to the
movement as a whole.
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By Esquerda Marxista, Brazil
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Wednesday, 19 March 2008 |
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Adilson Mariano is a PT councillor in the town of Joinville, Brazil.
He has been sentenced to more than one year in prison for having led
demonstrations against the unjustified increase in bus fares. Here we publish
an appeal and model letter for you to send off to the authorities. Please
participate massively in this campaign.
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By Fred Weston
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Friday, 29 February 2008 |
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At the beginning of
February the Esquerda Marxista (Marxist Left) group in Brazil held its
congress, where they unanimously voted in favour of their affiliation to the
International Marxist Tendency. The addition of this important grouping, which
gathers within its ranks leaders of the occupied factories, of the Black
Socialist Movement, important trade unionists and many revolutionary youth,
marks a major milestone in the building of a genuine Marxist International in
Latin America and the world.
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By Esquerda Marxista
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Friday, 21 December 2007 |
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José Carlos Miranda of the Black Socialist Movement and
Roque José Ferreira of the FNITST-CUT (Railway workers), spoke in the Brazilian
parliament against the new race laws being proposed by the government on
November 26. Here we provide the videos.
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By Tirem as Maos da Cipla - www.tiremasmaosdacipla.blogspot.com
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Wednesday, 15 August 2007 |
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After 40 days of suffering and struggle, the workers of
Flasko (the worker-occupied factory in Sao Paulo, Brazil) managed to re-establish
electricity supply to the factory from the CPFL electricity company.
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Tuesday, 10 July 2007 |
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We have received the latest Bulletin of the
Occupied Factories in Brazil (in Portuguese and PDF format) dedicated to the struggle to regain control of
CIPLA and Interfibra after the judge imposed an administrator and sacked all the
delegates to the Factory Councils. Download the bulletin here.
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Friday, 06 July 2007 |
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The Occupied Factories movement in Brazil has
received a letter of support from state-owned Venezuelan company, Pequiven.
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Thursday, 05 July 2007 |
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On June 29, the workers of
Flasko received good news: the federal judge José Maria Barreto
Pedrazolli, from the Campinas/SP circuit, ruled that the electricity
company CPFL should reestablish electricity supply "in the face of clear
danger of damage" to the factory.
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By Jorge Martin
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Friday, 29 June 2007 |
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In this video interview (in Spanish),
Serge Goulart, the national coordinator of the Occupied Factories Movement
in Brazil gives an overview of the latest situation of the struggle
against the decision of the Lula government to organise a judicial-police
intervention against CIPLA and Interfibra and the attacks on the workers
at Flaskó.
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Wednesday, 27 June 2007 |
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The
court appointed administrator at Cipla has been at it again. After being
expelled from Flasko after an attempt to sack the Factory Committee there, he
has now threatened to “crush” the workers. Facing pressure from all side, the
workers at Flasko are standing firm in the defence of workers’ control, their
jobs, and their factories.
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Friday, 22 June 2007 |
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Flasko workers have successfully
defended their factory for a second time. You can see video footage of
yesterday’s event and read an appeal from the workers for solidarity in defending
the factory and their jobs.
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Thursday, 21 June 2007 |
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The newly appointed
administrator of Cipla/Interifbra recently visited Flasko, another occupied
factory, and attempted to sack the general coordinator of the Factory Council.
The intention is clear, the Brazilian ruling class wants to crush the occupied
factory movement. Urgent solidarity is needed to defend the workers, their
jobs, and the occupied factory movement.
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By Hands Off Cipla campaign
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Monday, 18 June 2007 |
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After the brutal police intervention in the Cipla factory at
the end of May the solidarity campaign has been gaining momentum. On June 13 a
rally was held outside the factory with many trade union delegations taking
part from Brazil as well as
representatives of occupied factories from Argentina,
Paraguay and Venezuela.
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
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As part of the
international campaign in support of CIPLA workers, Hands off Venezuela and
Young Socialist activists gathered yesterday in front of the Brazilian embassy
in Vienna. In Belgium and Germany also the struggle of the CIPLA/Interfibra workers
in Joinville was taken up with the Brazilian Embassy.
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Tuesday, 12 June 2007 |
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Today, June 12, pickets were organised outside various embassies in Europe to demand that the court order to seize the Cipla and Interfibra factories be
withdrawn, and that these be nationalised and returned to workers’ control and
management.
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By Serge Goulart
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Thursday, 07 June 2007 |
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Response
to Judge Oziel Francisco de Sousa, who decided upon the invasion of CIPLA by
150 armed police with the aim of closing the plant. As we received this article
we heard the news that the administrator has abolished the 30-hour week and
reintroduced 40 hours, a clear indication of the real intentions of the
bosses.
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By Alan Woods
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Wednesday, 06 June 2007 |
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Alan Woods who participated in the Pan-American Conference
of Occupied Factories held last December in the Cipla factory in Joinville,
Brazil, has issued this appeal to workers of all countries to come to the aid
of their Brazilian brothers. Keep up the protest campaign and also send letters
of solidarity to the workers in Joinville.
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By Rafael Prata
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Monday, 04 June 2007 |
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With court orders and arrest warrants against the
management of the Flasko factory, which operates under
workers’ control, the decision has been made to hand over the administration of
the company to an administrator under the control of the old bosses. The
administrator named by the judge has already dismissed 50 workers, starting
with all the members of the Factory Council elected by the workers’ assembly.
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By Óscar Ejido (El Militante)
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Friday, 01 June 2007 |
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Earlier this year a
Spanish comrade visited the occupied factories in Brazil and
wrote this report. This was before 150 armed police raided the factory on
orders of a judge. This report gives you a taste of what the CIPLA workers had
achieved. We must not allow all this to be destroyed. Please take part in the
international solidarity campaign and raise this issue wherever you can in the
labour movement.
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Thursday, 31 May 2007 |
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The workers of the occupied
factory CIPLA were surprised this morning by 150 men, heavily armed, from the
Federal Police, who invaded the factory in order to arrest the members of the factory committee.
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By José Carlos Miranda
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Monday, 30 April 2007 |
Few people know about the true history of the
abolition of slavery in Brazil.
The veteran revolutionary and leader of the Black Socialist movement in Brazil, José Carlos Miranda, puts the record straight. Also available in Portuguese.
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Friday, 16 March 2007 |
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By Claudio Bellotti and Roberto Sarti
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Friday, 02 February 2007 |
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Serge Goulart is the
leader of the movement of occupied factories in Brazil. He is also a member of the
national council of the PT. In this interview he outlines the situation facing
the workers in Brazil
and explains how he and his comrades in the PT are building a Marxist
Opposition within the party.
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Thursday, 01 February 2007 |
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The workers at the CIPLA plant in Brazil have successfully run the
factory under workers’ control since they occupied it. The government had tried to
crush them by attempting to seize assets through the courts. The state is now
once more on the offensive. The leaders risk imprisonment and the factory could
be closed. But the workers are fighting back. They need your help.
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By Pan-American Gathering in Defence of Jobs, Rights, Land Reform and Industry
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Wednesday, 13 December 2006 |
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As we have reported in earlier articles, some
691 delegates from 12 countries met in Joinville,
Brazil from
December 8-10 for the Pan-American Gathering in Defence of Jobs, Rights, Land
Reform and Industry. The delegates discussed their different struggles,
achievements, and how to organise assistance and solidarity for workers and
farmers in struggle across the continent. The following resolution was adopted
at the Gathering.
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By our Brazil correspondent
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Tuesday, 12 December 2006 |
 The second day of the Pan American Conference provided a
real taste of the most advanced workers’ struggles in Brazil and other countries in Latin
America. Peasant leaders, Bolivian miners’ leaders, factory
leaders, all spoke about the terrible conditions and expressed their
determination to struggle. The idea of factory occupations as an answer to the
bosses’ closing of factories dominated the discussion, as did a deep-seated
desire to struggle for international socialism.
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By our Brazil correspondent
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Monday, 11 December 2006 |
 On Friday one thousand workers gathered in the
Cipla plant in Brazil
and decided to reduce the working week in the factory to 30 hours. The factory
is run by the workers and they are doing it in a very efficient manner, an
example to workers in all countries. Workers can run factories and therefore
they could also run society. Alan Woods was among the comrades who addressed
the meeting, getting a rapturous applause from the workers present.
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By our Brazilian correspondent
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Friday, 08 December 2006 |
 On Wednesday Alan Woods spoke to 200 workers at the occupied
CIPLA plant in Joinville, Brazil. He was invited to speak on
Workers’ Control and the Struggle for Socialism.
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By our correspondent
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Friday, 08 December 2006 |
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Yesterday, Alan Woods
spoke at another meeting in the Camara de Vesadoria in Joinville, where around
200 workers had gathered to listen to him speaking on the general world
situation. The meeting was introduced by Serge Goulart, leader of the occupied
factories movement in Brazil,
and present in the audience was also Roberto Chavez, the general secretary of
the Bolivian Miners’ Federation.
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By Alan Woods
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Friday, 08 December 2006 |
 After his successful trip to Venezuela, the editor of Marxist.com, Alan
Woods, accepted an invitation to speak at an important conference of workers in
occupied factories from all over Latin America.
The conference is taking place this weekend in the industrial city of Joinville in the south of Brazil. It is being organized by
CIPLA, an occupied plastics factory in Joinville.
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Tuesday, 17 October 2006 |
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A Panamerican Gathering in Defence of
Rights, Land Reform and Industries has been called in Joinville, SC, Brazil,
for December 8-10. The meeting is being called mainly by
the movement of occupied factories and is the continuation of the First Latin
American Gathering of Occupied Factories which took place in Caracas in
November 2005.
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By Jordi Rosich
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Thursday, 05 October 2006 |
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The
first round in the Brazilian elections can only mean further instability for
the largest country in Latin America. The
Brazilian ruling class looks with fear at the developing revolutions in Venezuela, Bolivia,
and Mexico.
At any time, over any issue, the masses of Brazil could rise up
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Wednesday, 25 January 2006 |
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Trezentos representantes dos trabalhadores das fabricas ocupadas do Brasil, do MST, do Centro de Direitos Humanos (CDH), representantes de trabalhadores de fábricas ameaçadas de fechamento ou demitidos, representantes de sindicatos, da CUT, do movimento popular, da juventude trabalhadora, com a participação fraterna de representantes de fábricas recuperadas na Venezuela, na Argentina, no Uruguai, na Bolívia, nos reunimos no auditório da Cipla, e discutimos democrática e livremente como organizar e mobilizar nossas forças para que nenhum posto mais de trabalho seja perdido e como conquistar a estatização das fábricas ocupadas. Joinville, 18 de dezembro de 2005. |
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Tuesday, 29 November 2005 |
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We have received this appeal from workers in Brazil in an occupied factory that are being threatened by a court decision to remove machinery from the factory. Please take part in the protest and solidarity action. |
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By Serge Goulart
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Wednesday, 31 August 2005 |
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Back in April the judicial authorities issued threats to imprison the
workers and militants occupying the Cipla and Interfibra factories in
Joinville, Brazil. Now at last the campaign we played a big role in
promoting
has at least achieved a partial victory. Serge Goulart wrote to us
explaining the present state of play. |
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By Der Funke
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Wednesday, 20 July 2005 |
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On Thursday, July 14, a group of Young Socialists and representatives of the Editorial Board of Der Funke
organised a picket in front of the Brazilian embassy to protest against
the threatened repression of the Cipla and Interfibra workers who have
occupied their factories to defend their jobs. |
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Tuesday, 28 June 2005 |
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In 2002 the workers of Cipla and Interfibra occupied their factories to defend 1,000 jobs. In the last few days the possibility of imprisonment
of the coordinator of the Factory Council, Serge Goulart, and the
occupation by the police of these factories is increasing. We appeal to
all trade unionists and left politicians, to all the progressive
organisations internationally, to workers and youth in general, to send
resolutions demanding an immediate cessation to the threats against the
workers of the occupied factories in Brazil. |
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Monday, 25 April 2005 |
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Judicial authorities have issued threats to imprison the workers and
militants occupying the Cipla and Interfibra factories in the city
Joinville (state of Santa Catarina, in the south of Brazil). We publish
below the press release that was issued by the Factory Council of
Cipla/Interfibra, for the information of all labour organisations, as
well as workers and labour activists. |
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By Dario Castro
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Monday, 16 February 2004 |
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The victory of Lula well over a year ago in Brazil represented a dramatic shift
to the left in Brazilian society. However, the Lula government once elected
quickly moved to applying the programme of the bosses. This is preparing new
contradictions within the Brazilian labour movement. |
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By Alan Woods
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Monday, 28 October 2002 |
To scenes of wild rejoicing on the streets, the people of Brazil celebrated the landslide
victory of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the president of the Workers’ Party (PT). This
was undoubtedly a heavy blow struck by the masses against the corrupt and degenerate
oligarchy that has ruled Brazil for decades. It has caused shock waves that will
reverberate throughout the whole of Latin America and beyond. Now however a period opens
up in which the PT government will come under enormous pressure from two sides, the
bourgeoisie and the workers and poor. Alan Woods outlines the tasks facing the Brazilian
working class.
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By Dario Castro
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Thursday, 10 October 2002 |
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In a week's time the second round of the Brazilian elections are to be held. In the first
round Lula, the candidate of the PT came first by a large margin and looks set to win the
second round. In this article Dario Castro analyses the results of the first round and
looks at the situation a PT government will be facing, with the mounting debt and the huge
pressure it would face both from the bourgeois on the one side and the workers on the
other. |
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Thursday, 14 February 2002 |
The recent gathering of the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre showed clearly how the
anti-globalisation movement is becoming more and more dominated by career politicians, and
groups and organisations that do not really represent the millions of youth who look to
this movement for an alternative to the capitalist system. The capitalist class
internationally is using a dual tactic. On the one hand, where they feel it to be
necessary (as in Genoa) they use the most repressive and brutal methods to try to crush
the movement. On the other hand they try to corrupt the movement and direct it away from
radical anti-capitalist ideas.
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By Cristiane Leyendecker
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Thursday, 10 January 2002 |
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The labour standards which the Brazilian workers have won over the years are once again
being threatened by the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The unions organised in
the CUT (Central Workers' Union Confederation) are organising a nationwide general strike
for the beginning of March. |
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Latin America 
