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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
