Altman: Florestan Fernandes is a classic that should be read by every man or woman of the left.
In the week that Florestan Fernandes, one of Brazil's greatest sociologists, would have turned 100, journalist Breno Altman highlighted that the scholar defended in his legacy "a revolution led by the working class." Watch it on TV 247.
247 - In the week that sociologist Florestan Fernandes, one of the greatest Brazilian thinkers, would have turned 100, journalist Breno Altman highlighted during his participation in the Bom Dia 247 program this Monday (27) that “Florestan is one of the main Marxist and revolutionary intellectuals in Brazil” and that he defended in his legacy “a revolution led by the Brazilian working class”.
The journalist recalled in his speech that "Florestan warned about fundamental issues in the Brazilian political process, from the perspective of the left."
"There is a classic by Florestan that should be read by every man or woman of the left, called 'The Bourgeois Revolution in Brazil,' in which Florestan clearly states that the Brazilian bourgeoisie would be incapable of carrying out the democratic tasks that previous bourgeois revolutions accomplished, most notably the French Revolution, such as agrarian reform, the creation of a mass domestic market, and the construction of a democratic state," he emphasized.
According to Altman, Florestan stated in his work that "the Brazilian bourgeoisie structurally depends on autocracy, the super-exploitation of labor and large landholdings, and external dependence. Therefore, only a revolution led by the working class could accomplish these democratic tasks."
In Altman's view, "Florestan's formulation clashes with one of the pillars of developmentalism," defended by the economist and intellectual Celso Furtado, who also celebrates his centenary this week. Altman said that, unlike Florestan, "Furtado advocated an alliance with the bourgeoisie to implement structural reforms in Brazil."