BRIZOLA OFFERS A SELF-CRITICISM
“the counterrevolutionary coup d'état in Brazil april L;has led to much soul-searching among Latin-American radical circles over the errors that helped pave the way for the military take-over. The general conclusion being reached is that the single gravest mistake was to believe in the possibility that socialism could come to, power
in Brazil along a peaceful road, as promulgated by the Khrushchev=ists. How widespread this conclusion is can be judged from an interview granted by Leonel Brizola to Armando Rodriguez which was published in the November 4 issue of the. Mexico City journal Siempre} - <r - Brigola, the former governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, is now.in exile in Montevideo. Although of extremely povertystricken background (he left home as a boy after seeing his father beheaded by agents of the oligarchy in his region, and worked in menial ‘jobs iim Porto Alegre), he was considered to be a political representative of the sector of the bourgeoisie that clearly recognizes that Brazil faces an inevitable violent revolution unless peaceful reforms are granted. In Rio Grande do Sul, Brizola sought to begin the process of peaceful reform and thereby became one of the major targets in the propaganda of the oligarchy and its imperialist alltes in the United States,
First of all, Rodriguez asked, “What happened in- Brazil?"
Brizola responded, “What had to happen! We in charge in Brazil, above all our president Goulart, set up a government, care. ried out all our political activity, on a foundation of illusions. that had no connection with reality, so that we provided all the conditions for the military coup d'état of the gorillas lreactionary officer caste], Nothing. could result from our government but : the military coup dtétat and greater imperialist domination of our: country."
Brizola admitted that the high command of the armed forces epenly prepared the military coup d'état under guidance of the strate- ‘gists of the Pentagon and the Department of State. He said thaterc. Goulart had been warned many times of the "grave danger" but up to. the very last moment had "blindly. trusted. in the tying declarations of false loyalty to his. government. ..
Goulart paid ‘no attention to the warnings. "His policy of constant concessions to the oligarchical landholders, to the representatives of the imperialist interests, ended in disaster. His plan of basic reforms which required the application of elementary: measures related to agrarian reform, control over profits taken :outiof the country, improvement of the living standards of the popula!» tion, was destined to failure, among other reasons because of the . blind opposition of the National Congress, composed in its majority” of faithful servants of the oligarchy and imperialism."
“and why didn't the forces of the left take this into account?" he was asked,
“While this is no time for recriminations," Brizola replied, ", . . it is necessary to say that the forces of the left in Brazil, aside from being dispersed, divided and victim of great confusion, . were not capable of linking up with --.still less leading -=- the
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Brazilian people. in their struggle against reaction and imperialism, Among the political organizations: of the left, some were: sectarian | and dogmatic; others were ossified and insensitive to Brazilian realities; others, their leaders caught up with concepts remote from the real feelings of the Brazilians, were caught by surprise by the military coup d'état. We in the Front of Popular Mobilization recognized the danger of a coup d'état and because of this began’ to organize the ‘groups of eleven,! but we recognized it very late. We did not have time to build up. "these ‘Lighting groups in the necessary way, still tess: arm them to resist the aggression of the gorillas:.! - mana the. Peasant Leagues and the: Communist party? And the marines and the sergeants?" are .
"(Prancisco] Juliao played an important: role in indicating the enormous importance of the peasantry in Brazil's struggles for. liberation, but he was unable to organize the peasant masses to re-= sist the aggression. Very few of us were capable of appreciating the importance of the struggle initiated by Juliao, who for a long time was unjustly attacked by the Communists. Today he is in prison gravely ill and the Leagues must be reorganized in accordance with a new and. adequate concept “of the new olpounstances. a - “phe sergeants and: the marines, ‘at the: ‘decisive moments of | their struggles, lacked adequate leadership: and even support. Today many of them are suffering violent persecution; others have fallen, and still others are imprisoned. The sergeants and marines, never~ — theless, are struggling better and better.
"On the: Communist party what can I say? Forty years in existence, forty years in which the: frustrations, the errors, the obstinate quirks and narrow attitudes remote from Brazilian reality oute. weigh the successes. Its main leaders long ago completely lost the © capacity for self-criticism, As a result they never make mistakes and always find a justification for their errors, In this way they have become the high. priests of defeats,"
While sharply critical. of Goulart, who is his brother-in-law, Brizola: defended him against those ‘who, seek’ to convert him into a — scapegoat, accusing him of "treason.". Many of these people were his» closest :collaborators and shared his illusions. Before they blame ~ Goulart they should first recognize "their own errors and their own <: responsibility." Brizola«singled. out especially those who proclaimed the certainty of being able to reach socialism "along the peaceful road," those who "fostered legalistic and reformist illusions and condemned as 'tadventurism! every attempt to resist the coup diétat; who openly claimed to exercise 'a great influence! on Goulart's thinking and acts. oe " 7 Defining the current. situation in Brazil, its jails filled with thousands of :political prisoners who suffer torture at the hands of the dictatorship, Brizola declared:
"Since April 1, when Brazil‘fell under the domination of a military dictatorship, imposed and ‘supported by North American imperialism, I believe that the Brazilian revolutionists have been left with no alternative but insurrectional ‘strugg@ie. This in no way signifies that we reject other.forms of nonviolént struggle, forms that will have to be combined with it, but on condition that one or another form of struggle must be derived from a single tacti-~ cal and strategic conception.
"In Brazil, North American imperialism and its servants have ‘forced us into armed struggle. It would be a very serious error to even imagine that a savage, unthinking military dictatorship can be confronted with only speeches, demonstrations and strikes of unarried people, The legal and peaceful means which some are still advocating to re-establish democracy in Brazil have been closed by imperialism and its servants. To believe on the other hand that the dictatorship will fall by itself is to return to false illusions. And we are surrounded by not a few people suffering from illusions.
"We know very well that among the traitors. to: Brazil, con= cretely between Lacerda and Gastelo Branco, bloody battles are developing. The bandits are quarreling over. the booty...: Behind — Lacerda are many traitors who can replace him and behind Castelo are the gorillas who can replace him, But the problem is not to change the gorillas and the traitors. The problem is to free Brazil and the Brazilians from the military dictatorship and imperialist domination, not for a day, not for a year, but forever.
"Jo gain. this patriotic objective there is no other means than revolutionary struggle. Illusions, then, to the deluded 5 and to- the: revolutionists, this struggle." oa _Brizola sees no easy* “road to victory. "The struggle is going to be long, very painful. It is going to cost great sacrifices, ‘The struggle for liberty carries a high price as the Brazilian. people know very well, Every revolutionary fighter recognizes this reality."
“GRIM SOUTH