21 June 2015,
Dear LAB Supporter and Friend,
We are pleased to announce that today LAB is publishing the first in a new series of Special Reports, short books on current topics which will be published in both print and e-book format.
Written by two experienced Brazil hands, this book looks at the transformation of the Workers’ Party (PT) over the last decade. Back in October 2002, hundreds of thousands went on to the streets, waving red flags, to celebrate the election of Brazil’s first working class president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Because of the impasse faced by social democracy, many on the left in the west vested great hopes in the PT, with its history of mobilisation, ‘participatory budgets’ and new ethical politics.
But today the old elites are more entrenched than ever. The government is involved in a serious corruption scandal, there is talk of impeaching Lula’s successor, Dilma Rousseff, and all possibility of further reform is off the agenda. What has gone wrong with the PT? This is the question the book attempts to answer. The book is available here (£7.95 for the paperback and £6.99 for the e-book).
Here are some views on the book:
‘I recommend this book enthusiastically and strongly.’
Hilary Wainwright, founding editor, Red Pepper
‘Brazil under the Workers’ Party is hugely enlightening, a balanced but critical analysis of a tumultuous period.’
David H. Treece, Camoens Professor of Portuguese, King’s College London
Today the PT model is in crisis. Sue Branford and Jan Rocha explain better than anyone else why this is the case, and why it is important to reconstitute and relaunch the left in Brazil.’
Professor Alfredo Saad-Filho, SOAS, University of London
‘This book is lively, imaginative and provocative.’
Professor Anthony Pereira, Director, King’s Brazil Institute, King’s College London
‘Sue Branford and Jan Rocha, brilliant chroniclers of Brazil’s recent history, explain in this alarming and riveting book the popular disenchantment that now faces the Workers’ Party.
Richard Gott, author of Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution
‘Required reading for all those seeking to understand the crisis facing social democratic parties the world over.’
John Hilary, Executive Director, War on Want, author of The Poverty of Capitalism
The next publications in the Special Report series (exact titles may change) are: Nicaragua’s Grand Canal: Economic Miracle or Folie de Grandeur (by Russell White). Autumn 2015 Argentina under the Kirchners and the shadow of Peronism (by Nick Caistor). Early 2016 Mining and Communities in Latin America (by Mike Gatehouse). 2016. Best wishes The LAB team
Written by two experienced Brazil hands, this book looks at the transformation of the Workers’ Party (PT) over the last decade. Back in October 2002, hundreds of thousands went on to the streets, waving red flags, to celebrate the election of Brazil’s first working class president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Because of the impasse faced by social democracy, many on the left in the west vested great hopes in the PT, with its history of mobilisation, ‘participatory budgets’ and new ethical politics.
But today the old elites are more entrenched than ever. The government is involved in a serious corruption scandal, there is talk of impeaching Lula’s successor, Dilma Rousseff, and all possibility of further reform is off the agenda. What has gone wrong with the PT? This is the question the book attempts to answer. The book is available here (£7.95 for the paperback and £6.99 for the e-book).
Here are some views on the book:
‘I recommend this book enthusiastically and strongly.’
Hilary Wainwright, founding editor, Red Pepper
‘Brazil under the Workers’ Party is hugely enlightening, a balanced but critical analysis of a tumultuous period.’
David H. Treece, Camoens Professor of Portuguese, King’s College London
Today the PT model is in crisis. Sue Branford and Jan Rocha explain better than anyone else why this is the case, and why it is important to reconstitute and relaunch the left in Brazil.’
Professor Alfredo Saad-Filho, SOAS, University of London
‘This book is lively, imaginative and provocative.’
Professor Anthony Pereira, Director, King’s Brazil Institute, King’s College London
‘Sue Branford and Jan Rocha, brilliant chroniclers of Brazil’s recent history, explain in this alarming and riveting book the popular disenchantment that now faces the Workers’ Party.
Richard Gott, author of Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution
‘Required reading for all those seeking to understand the crisis facing social democratic parties the world over.’
John Hilary, Executive Director, War on Want, author of The Poverty of Capitalism
The next publications in the Special Report series (exact titles may change) are: Nicaragua’s Grand Canal: Economic Miracle or Folie de Grandeur (by Russell White). Autumn 2015 Argentina under the Kirchners and the shadow of Peronism (by Nick Caistor). Early 2016 Mining and Communities in Latin America (by Mike Gatehouse). 2016. Best wishes The LAB team