It was a mistake for the PT to join Eduardo Paes's government.

This Saturday, January 14th, the PT Carioca (Rio de Janeiro branch of the Workers' Party) will hold an expanded meeting to decide on the terms of its entry into the Paes government. 

I consider it a programmatic and pragmatic error. And if the DM approves it, it will be a collective error, not just the error of the individuals who join after the party's decision.

There are flawed premises that underpin the mistake of joining the Paes government.

It's important to separate the necessary alliance with Paes and other political actors against the far right in Brazil from entering the municipal government. The two are not connected.

Another misconception is that joining the government helps with the parliamentary governability of Lula's government. Federal deputies vote with the government based on agreements with the federal government, not on municipal agreements.

The third mistaken premise is to consider that the social and electoral strengthening of the PT in Rio comes from positions in the Executive branch. In 2022 we elected 5 federal deputies and 7 state deputies. In 2020 we almost elected 4 city councilors in the capital. We were in opposition to the Executive branch at all three levels: national, state, and municipal.

Therefore, 2023 is a year for a lot of grassroots work, a lot of struggle with social movements, and a lot of ideological struggle. Programmatic clarity and street mobilization are fundamental for the PT to grow its social and electoral base.

Based on these premises, it makes no sense for the PT (Workers' Party) in Rio de Janeiro to mix with and join the Paes government. It's a poor administration in all areas, largely due to its neoliberal policies. And this is the great mistake of this entry: downplaying programmatic differences.

In pragmatic terms, this entry will cause the PT (Workers' Party) in Rio de Janeiro to become diluted within the bloc led by Paes, it will be mixed with neoliberal policies, and it will lose ground as an alternative left-wing force to the polarization between the far-right bloc and the neoliberal bloc, especially within social and labor movements. PSOL (Socialism and Liberty Party) will occupy this political, social, and electoral space alone.

* Olavo Brandão Carneiro/member of the PT-RJ State Executive Committee

** Fátima Lima/member of the Municipal Executive of the PT in Rio de Janeiro and coordinator of the Education sector of the PT-RJ