PTB, PCB, And PT: parties and class in Brazil. An analysis of brazilian political parties through Gramsci's political theory

Abstract

This article presents a discussion on the relationship between political party and class. The debate was conceived as part of doctoral research on the trajectory of the PT (Brazilian Workers' Party) in the Jequitinhonha Valley (State of Minas Gerais, Brazil). The purpose is to present an analysis of the political party theme within the Marxist perspective, focusing on Gramsci's approach. This author developed a refined political theory, from which concepts such as 'hegemony', 'historic bloc', and 'modern prince' are derived. Initially, these concepts will be explained. Taking into account the role of the class party, as well as its relationship with Gramscian concepts, three Brazilian parties will be analyzed – the PTB (Brazilian Labour Party), PCB (Brazilian Communist Party) and PT. The hypothesis is that these parties were formed either as parties of the class or in reaction to the class. The PTB will be called a 'party for the class', meaning a party created by the ruling class, whose genesis is explained as part of the context of the class struggle. The other two (PT and PCB) will be called 'parties of the class', given their strictly class-based genesis.