Workers' Cause Party ( pt, Partido da Causa Operária, PCO) is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in Brazil. Its origins can be traced back to 1978. On that year, several

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

activists who were not satisfied with the

socialist international The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...

united under the name ''Tendência Trotskista do Brasil'' (''Brazilian Trotskyist Tendency, TTB''). However, the registered party was only established in 1995. Its electoral number is 29.

History

In 1980, this organization united itself with the newly formed Workers' Party (PT), becoming very involved in that decade's municipal and state

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

s, with several

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

s and state representatives elected. In 1990 and 1991, however, several TTB members were expelled from the PT due to their non-commitment to the Party's

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

s. After that, the PCO was officially organized and founded in 1995. In 2006, the candidacy of Rui Costa Pimenta to presidency was abrogated by the

Superior Electoral Court The Superior Electoral Court ( pt-BR, Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, TSE) is the highest body of the Brazilian Electoral Justice, which also comprises one Regional Electoral Court ( pt-BR, Tribunal Regional Eleitoral, TRE) in each of the 26 states ...

. In 2018, PCO supported the bid of

Luís Inácio Lula da Silva Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

( PT),

Fernando Haddad Fernando Haddad (born 25 January 1963) is a Brazilian academic and politician who has served as the Brazilian Minister of Finance since 1 January 2023. He was previously the Mayor of São Paulo from 2013 to 2016. He was the Workers' Party candid ...

( PT) and Manuela D'Ávilla (

PCdoB The Communist Party of Brazil ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista do Brasil, PCdoB) is a List of political parties in Brazil, political party in Brazil. The PCdoB officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist theory. It has national reach and deep penetrat ...

) informally and critically, refusing the invitation to compose the coalition ( PT,

and PROS) officially. In 2020, PCO suffered a

cyber attack A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a person or process that attempts to access data, functions, or other restricted ...

resulting in the loss of more than four thousand articles in its website. In August 2021, PCO expressed support to the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

about their "victory over American imperialism", considering it "a victory for all oppressed people". The party has also praised

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

, the leader of

Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

, describing him as "an example of selflessness, conviction, disposition" in the struggle for "the freedom of his people". In 2022, the PCO supported the pre-candidacy of

in the upcoming

2022 Brazilian general election General elections were held on 2 October 2022 in Brazil to elect the president, vice president, the National Congress, the governors, vice governors, and legislative assemblies of all federative units, and the district council of Fernando de ...

in the coalition Let's go together for Brazil.

Youth wing

The youth wing of the party is the

Revolutionary Youth Alliance Revolutionary Youth Alliance ( pt, Aliança da Juventude Revolucionária - AJR) is a far-left political youth movement in Brazil, being a faction of the Workers' Cause Party Workers' Cause Party ( pt, Partido da Causa Operária, PCO) is a polit ...

(AJR), which publishes the magazine '' Revista Juventude Revolucionária.''

Ideology

PCO is favourable to the

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

, due to the capitalist exploitation of the workers, and to a land reform without indemnity. The party is opposed to

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...

policies, saying that ''"The

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

is armed. It has the army, the police and all other organs of repression, public or private. The people have nothing. It is defenseless in the face of the war machine of his enemies who control the

State State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

"''. The party interpret the

Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff The impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, the 36th president of Brazil, began on 2 December 2015 with a petition for her impeachment being accepted by Eduardo Cunha, then president of the Chamber of Deputies, and continued into late 2016. Dilma Rousse ...

( PT) as a coup'd etát. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, PCO supported vaccination efforts while opposing to the

mandatory vaccination A vaccination policy is a health policy adopted in order to prevent the spread of infectious disease. These policies are generally put into place by State or local governments, but may also be set by private facilities, such as workplaces or s ...

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Legislative elections

Newspapers and magazines

* ''Jornal da Causa Operária (JCO)'' - Physical newspaper * ''Diário da Causa Operária (DCO)'' - Current virtual newspaper * ''Causa Operária TV'' - Official YouTube channel * ''Rádio Causa Operária'' - Official radio station * ''Revista Juventude Revolucionária'' -

magazine

References

{{Brazilian political parties 1995 establishments in Brazil Socialist parties in Brazil Political parties established in 1995 Far-left politics in Brazil Trotskyist organisations in Brazil Far-left political parties