Brazilian Communist Party

Creation

The Brazilian Communist Party arose on the basis of numerous communist groups, circles and leagues that originated in Brazil after the 1917 revolution in Russia . Influenced by the ideas of the Russian revolution, the Brazilian communists saw in them more tangible goals than those proposed by the anarchists ^[1] .

The first constituent congress of the BKP was held on March 25-27, 1922 in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Niterói on illegal conditions. The founders of the party were Abiliu Neketi, Manuel Sendon, Joaquin Barbosa, Ermogenis Silva, Astrozhildo Pereira and others. The party was built on Leninist principles and based its activities on Marxist-Leninist teachings .

In 1924, the BKP joined the Comintern . By the time of the second congress, the party had expanded its ranks and strengthened in organizational and ideological relations. The second congress of the BKP was held in May 1925 in Rio de Janeiro. The main issue of this congress was the further expansion of the party, the creation of a wide network of primary party organizations in order to strengthen work in the trade unions of workers and among peasants.

Party Ban

In the 1930s, the Brazilian Communist Party initiated a movement in defense of democratic freedoms. Her leadership founded the anti-fascist and anti-imperialist front of the National Liberation Alliance . The uprising organized by the alliance that broke out in November 1935 was brutally suppressed, and the BKP leadership was arrested. However, the party continued its activities in clandestine conditions. In August 1943, in the town of Mantiqueira near Rio de Janeiro, the National Conference of the BCP took place, at which a new party leadership was elected.

1940s period

In 1945, during the democratization of the Vargas regime, the activities of the Communist Party were allowed, and its leadership was granted amnesty. Among those released was Luis Carlos Prestes , who spent 9 years in prison. With the beginning of legal activity, the BKP turned into a large party, in the ranks of which there were more than 100 thousand members. In 1946, the Communists took an active part in the development of the new constitution of the country .

In the January 1947 elections to the Congress and state authorities of the states and municipalities, the BKP managed to gain more than 800 thousand votes. Two candidates from the BKP were elected to the Federal Senate, 14 to the Chamber of Deputies. Communists took a large number of seats in state legislatures and gained strong positions in many municipalities ^[2] .

After that, the party appeared before the Brazilian Supreme Election Court, which, after much debate, declared its activity illegal on the grounds that it was a "tool of a foreign government." With the help of the army and police, the government closed the country's main communist centers. The National Congress at first refused to expel the Communists from among its members, but in the end, in 1948, deputies from the BKP lost their mandates. So, the BKP again moved to an illegal position ^[2] .

1960s

The activities of the BKP were allowed with the development of the democratic process in Brazil. The Fifth Congress of the BKP was held on September 2-6, 1960 in Rio de Janeiro, which adopted a resolution that guided the party in strengthening the struggle against imperialism , for expanding democratic rights and freedoms and fulfilling the urgent demands of the working people. This congress paid great attention to work in trade unions, in the countryside, among women and youth, emphasized the importance of the struggle for peace, adopted a resolution in support of the Cuban revolution, and approved the new party charter. In 1962, its left wing separated from the BKP, speaking from Maoist positions, whose members formed the Communist Party of Brazil .

In April 1964, a military coup took place in the country, as a result of which the BKP, pursued by the DOPS political police, was forced to go underground again. In December 1967, under the illegal conditions, the Sixth Congress of the BKP was held.

1990s

In 1992 , after the collapse of the Soviet Union , another party crisis came. She markedly shifted to the right and renamed the Socialist People's Party of Brazil . Only a part of party members, led by Ivan Pinheiro and Oscar Niemeyer, decided to preserve the party and the ideology of Marxism - Leninism . After a series of clashes, the party gained the right to use the name of the Brazilian Communist Party. In 1996, the BKP was officially registered.

Now the BKP is participating in the elections, but it does not have much success. In the 2006 elections, she joined the Left Front coalition together with two more successful Trotskyist forces (the Party of Socialism and Freedom and the United Socialist Workers' Party ).

In 2010, the party’s general secretary, Ivan Pinheiro, participated in the presidential election, but gained only 0.04% of the vote. In the parliamentary elections that year, not one of the BCP candidates was able to take a seat in the National Congress.

• Amadou, Jorge (1912-2001) - leading Brazilian writer, member of the Communist Party in 1932-1956.
• Basbaum, Leonciu (1907-1969) - Brazilian historian and philosopher. He wrote the 4-volume essay, História Sincera da República.
• Golger, Isayas (1905-2000) - Marxist historian, participated in the revolutionary movement from the age of 12 in Bessarabia.
• Niemeyer, Oscar (1907-2012) - one of the most prominent Latin American architects of the XX century, a member of the BKP for almost seven decades, its chairman in 1992-1996.
• Saldanha, Joan (1917-1990) - Brazilian football player, coach and journalist, member of the Communist Party from the age of 20.
• Ferreira Gullar (1930-2016) - Brazilian writer, poet and translator, playwright, screenwriter.

• The Brazilian Communist Party - an article from the Soviet historical encyclopedia.
• The Brazilian Communist Party // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.