Americans generally think of Brazil as a country of beaches, jungles,
and Christ the Redeemer: a friendly tourist destination with fun and festivities. But
Brazil isn’t just a nice spot for a vacation. It is one of the most unequal countries in the
world. But it’s also a country with one of the most successful socialist movements of our time.
In 1888, Brazil abolished slavery – the last country in the Americas to do so.
But even after a republic was established in 1889, elites excluded most people from voting,
using their power to enrich themselves and their families.
For decades, Brazil was a textbook oligarchy, based on “coffee with
milk politics” – a reference to the agrarian economies of the two most influential states.
The government acted above all to protect elite interests while millions languished in poverty.
As Brazil urbanized, peasants flocking to cities could see prosperity around them
but couldn’t reach it. They built sprawling informal settlements called “favelas,”
Stark illustrations of the country’s disparity.
By the early 1960s, an alternative vision emerged, based on land redistribution and
expanded democracy. Communists, peasants, workers, and students supported this reformist push.
But then, fearing a communist takeover, the United States and local elites supported a military coup.
From 1964 to 1985, Brazil was ruled by a BRUTAL dictatorship
that killed and tortured thousands of people.
But by the late 1970s, something was changing.
Workers noticed their wages were not keeping pace with the rising cost of living.
It turned out they were getting paid significantly less than the regime let on.
So, led by a combative, charismatic union leader named Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – commonly
known as “Lula” – workers in the industrial heartland around São Paulo went on strike.
Lula understood well the indignities of the working class. His parents were illiterate
peasants who struggled to give their kids a better life. He didn’t learn to read until he
was 10. When he was 18, he crushed his pinky in a workplace accident. By the time he was
seen by a doctor, four hours later, there was no choice but to amputate the finger.
Driven by these experiences, Lula and those around him realized that workers needed
their own political party. So, in 1980, they created the “Partido dos Trabalhadores” – the
Workers’ Party. It was the first party in Brazil created for workers, by workers.
The Workers’ Party grew quickly. And in 2002,
after three failed attempts, Lula was elected president.
In office, Lula recognized that Brazil’s fundamental problem
was the grinding poverty and inequality that previous governments had mostly ignored.
So in 2003, Lula’s administration introduced “Bolsa Família” – “the family stipend.”
Basically, the government would guarantee an income to families in “extreme poverty,”
those earning less than 17 dollars per person per month. And when poor families over the official
poverty line were expecting a child or had a child below 18, they would get extra income too.
As long as families get vaccinations and keep their kids in school, they
can receive benefits indefinitely. There is no mandatory drug testing, and no work requirement.
With this guaranteed monthly income, poor families can meet their basic needs and afford safer living
conditions. The program doesn’t provide a lot by American standards. Most families receive about
38 dollars a month. But for the neediest Brazilians, it has been transformational.
Compared to what other countries were doing,
the scale of Bolsa Família was incredible. In the 1990s, U.S. President Bill Clinton
had implemented “welfare reform.” He made it more difficult to access government benefits.
Promising to “end welfare as we know it,” he instituted work requirements and drug tests.
It became so complicated and humiliating to secure government assistance that many
Americans who needed support received no help at all. Extreme poverty soared.
Brazil’s radical experiment, meanwhile,
had the exact opposite effect. Bolsa Familia quickly became an international success story.
For one thing, it dramatically reduced poverty. By 2015, the percentage of the population living
below the international poverty line had dropped from 13 percent to just three.
Bolsa Família helped lift over 40 million people out of extreme poverty. In one of
the most unequal countries in the world, it has cut wealth inequality by as much as 20 percent.
Bolsa Família has also significantly reduced child labor, and improved educational outcomes for the
poorest children. Studies suggest the program has helped lower rates of domestic violence,
postpartum depression, suicide, and even tooth decay in children.
Bolsa Família isn’t just a cash transfer program. It’s a successful attempt to wrestle with a legacy
of social neglect. For many Brazilians, Bolsa Família is the most tangible example of the
state acting on their behalf. It represents the very promise of citizenship. It directly
attacks poverty in the present, enabling families to invest in their children’s future.
Lula left office in 2010 as one of the most popular leaders on Earth,
and the most popular in Brazilian history. Bolsa Família was a major reason for that. In fact, when
a far-right extremist won the presidency in 2018, he sought ways to rebrand the program as his own.
So while the United States sought to push people out of poverty by forcing them off of welfare,
socialists in Brazil did the exact opposite: they opened government support to more people.
In the U.S., poverty went up. In Brazil, under Lula,
poverty shrunk, inequality fell, and the economy grew to five times its size in 2002.
Now, Brazil is still marked by serious inequality. But the Workers’ Party showed that governments can
act to dramatically reduce poverty. The first step is recognizing that poor people don’t become less
poor if their government calls them lazy, or makes them take a drug test just to afford groceries.
Enable families to meet their material needs, and they’ll lead better lives.
Lula remains popular in Brazil because he acknowledged that everyone deserves
a dignified life, regardless of their class or income. And as we confront the rot that
prosperous elites in this country have allowed to fester for too long,
we might learn something from the example of the Workers’ Party in Brazil.
I’m Andre Pagliarini, professor of history and Latin American studies at Dartmouth,
for the Gravel Institute.