Deputy says that the party should “reject depolarization”, which, according to him, would lead the acronym to the center; petistas differ on the election
The Federal Deputy (PT-SP) released on Wednesday (12.mar.2025) one (Workers Party) and It signaled that it should run for the presidency of the subtitle in the July elections.
If confirmed, the congressman’s movement will increase the dispute, currently marked by internal divisions. Aliados, the president (PT) has supported the former mayor of Araraquara (SP).
To the Poder360Rui Falcão said he did not rule out the possibility of entering the election, but said he wanted to “Evaluate the picture and the debate” On the direction of the party, including Lula’s reelection. The deadline for application is in May.
In the letter to militancy, the deputy, who chaired the PT from 2011 to 2017, criticized the attempt to “Depolarization”which, according to him, can push the party for an accommodation to the center.
“Our party must reject appeals to depolarization, a word of fashion that means leading us to an effective transition to the center, with a strong ideological, programmatic and organizational relegation. The construction of coalitions to win the elections and govern cannot be seen as contradictory to the public dispute of hegemony by the popular field parties ”he declared.
Internal dispute
Edinho’s name has resistance in the party’s majority wing, CNB (building a new Brazil). One part says it will support the name Lula chooses-and everything indicates that it will be the former mayor. He faces resistance from Rio, São Paulo and Minas Gerais leaders.
Another group argues that the Chief Executive should not interfere with the PT’s internal process and ask for a 2nd copy. Names like that of Rui Falcãothe senator and interim president of the PT, (PE) and the government leader in the House, (CE) would be at the table.
Read the full open letter from Rui Falcão to the PT:
“Dear companions, dear companions,
“Our party recently completed 45 years of life and fight. We have all the reasons to be proud of this almost half a century trajectory. Our history is the synthesis of the great popular journeys of our time, their achievements and losses, their hits and errors.
“The Workers Party is the main instrument that gives voice to the wage earners of the city and the countryside, organizing them to direct the nation. As written in our foundation manifesto: “The country will only be effectively independent when the state is directed by the working masses.”
“Since 2023, we have returned to Brazil again. As we always claim, leading the executive branch is a fundamental step so that our party can be rooted in the lives of the people and gain their confidence. The victory against pockets in 2022, therefore, was a crucial chapter, after six years marked by coup, repression and setback.
“More than two years after President Lula’s inauguration, our biggest leadership, we were able to advance on many fronts, rebuilding a country that had been destroyed by the neoliberal policies of previous administrations, since President Dilma Rousseff was overthrown by a parliamentary blow. Economic and social indicators are a clear demonstration of our successes, despite the difficulties.
“But we would be blind to reality if we disregarded or underestimated the obstacles we have ahead. The country’s recovery has not yet been enough to isolate and defeat the far right. Nor did it allow us a sustainable offensive against liberal ideas and values, advancing in the construction of left -wing hegemony. We are far from a favorable correlation of forces in both institutions, such as parliament, and society. But the correlation cannot be seen as a geological element, such as seas and mountains, whose mutation is independent of human action, political struggle, and is processed in infinite time.
“Dear companions, dear companions,
“A decisive battle is approaching: that of the 2026 elections.
“In a few months, our party will elect new directions, and this is an essential process to prepare for President Lula’s reelection campaign, adjusting our political orientation and our organization for a clash of such importance.
“Companion Gleisi Hoffmann, as I succeeded in the PT presidency, from 2017, led the resistance to extreme right and the preparation of our party for the 2022 presidential succession. After victory, it has always been a reference in facing reactionary and strengthening the left within the government itself.
“Your legacy is unquestionable, even for those who disagree with it. We have a remarkable starting point for the work to be done, but new challenges knock on the door. The renewal process must be marked by the debate on how to face them. We cannot delve into a dispute that aims only at the conquest of positions and spaces of power.
“Turning with the most persistent crisis of capitalism and liberal democracy since World War II, our party must again represent a civilizing project that opposes the order established by billionaires. There can be no doubt that only the left and its largest party, the PT, express a structurally antisystem alternative, which proposes the radical transformation of the economy, society and the state.
“The world is now experiencing a global crisis – economic, social, political, cultural and environmental – all of them inseparable with capitalism, racial oppression and antagonisms and war conflicts associated with them.
“I return to our foundational text:” The PT will seek to achieve freedom so that the people can build an egalitarian society, where there are neither exploited nor explorers. ” We need this sense of destination to deepen our unity, recover our organization and expand the formation of our militants. To provoke enthusiasm and mobilization, especially in youth, it is necessary to defend a future that means the full emancipation of our people in all forms of exploitation and oppression.
“We must make clear, in communication and practice, that the government’s mission is to walk toward this destination, democratizing income, wealth and power. “Putting the poor in the budget and the rich in income tax” was the way President Lula found to synthesize our program. We cannot doubt that only the consolidation and deepening of measures with these objectives can reinforce the identity bonds of the government and the PT with the working classes and the people.
“In the time we lack the polls, we need to march with the two proposals defined as priority by our House bench in the House of Representatives for 2025: to approve the exemption of income tax for those who earn up to five thousand reais per month, with higher taxation for values above 50 thousand; and vote the PEC that eliminates the 6 x 1 scale and reduces the workday to 36 hours per week.
“But we also need to advance on other fundamental topics, such as public security, state democratization and the end of military protection, with the amendment of Article 142 of the Federal Constitution. We practically abandon the discussion of political reform, essential to create an environment of support for fundamental proposals such as the adoption of vote on a party list and the implementation of plebiscites convened by the Executive Power and popular initiative.
“Our role is to support the government in the resistance to the pressures of financial capital, which moves to snap the public budget in the name of austerity, trying to prevent the application of social justice and development policies. They want our government to give up the policies of union, reconstruction and transformation, and adopt the program of representatives of Grand Capital. The entrepreneurial sectors of the business community resort to all weapons to protect their interests and prevent the taxation of the richest, preserving, at all costs, the neoliberal heritage of Temer and Bolsonaro.
“We don’t have a majority in Parliament. We need alliances. It will only be possible to implement our program, however, if our field and the government itself are able to create a climate of social mobilization, which presses the institutions from the outside in, as occurred during the 1988 constituent. Even with a small progressive bench, advanced social rights were conquered because we had one foot in institutionality and another on the street.
“Our party must reject appeals to depolarization-a fashion word that means leading us to an effective transition to the center, with strong ideological, programmatic and organizational relegation. The construction of coalitions to win the elections and govern cannot be seen as contradictory to the public dispute of hegemony by the popular field parties. The party cannot be reduced to an institutional arm of the Government from Front.
“The fight against far right can only be successful if we are able to make a front, fierce and popular opposite. History teaches us that gelatinous formulas facilitate the rise of fascism.
“To fulfill its historical tasks, the PT needs to reconvert itself into a mass party, mixing electoral competition with the incorporation of wide fractions of the people into political struggle. We know the path of the stones. Much is said, rightly, to expand our performance on social networks. But this is not enough: digital means must be at service, among other objectives, of territorial reimplantation in places of housing, work and study.
“Let us learn from the evangelical churches: the PT will only be hegemonic when, alongside each temple, in each neighborhood, there is a party headquarters open to the most distinct political, cultural and recreational activities. It is not enough to host committees only in an election time, every two years. We have to be directly inserted into the lives of the people and their organizations.
“It’s not an easy process. The dynamics of liberal democracy push mass parties to become electoral parties and then mere subtitles controlled by governments and parliamentary mandates. We need, once again, to have the necessary strength to row against the tide.
“Our party also needs to democratize, to be up to its mission. The right to organization of trends can no longer be seen as an opportunity to organize parties within the party, emptying the instances and closing the doors for the participation of the common militant. Party funds must be divided and implemented more transparently, avoiding privileges and ensuring their full management by the management collective. In addition, it is necessary to resume the affiliates of autosusetation by affiliates so as not to be in the sole dependence of public or state resources.
“The PT Statute deserves to be strictly respected and can only be amended by congressional decision. New base deliberation mechanisms need to be developed, such as relentlessness for major political decisions. Prior to the emergence of the internet, with paper vote, they were appointments to the militancy that decided to boycott the Electoral College (1985) and the defense of presidentialism (1993), guiding the PT in primordial episodes. With new technologies, this type of participation could be frequent, massive and safe.
“Dear companions, dear companions,
“The internal electoral process that is being inaugurated these days is a chance to raise the PT to a new level, in an internal and external scenario of extreme disturbances.
“This challenge depends, to a large extent, the reelection of President Lula and the continuity of our historical project.
“Valor, generosity and integration of all militancy are essential, in this time of truth.
“Long live the Workers Party!
“Rui Falcão, former PT national president and federal deputy
“São Paulo, March 12, 2025.”
