Partido Dos Trabalhadores


	Party Name	Partido dos Trabalhadores
	Party Logo
	President	Ricardo Berzoini
	Foundation	February 10 , 1980
	Headquarters	Rua Silveira Martins, 132 - Centro<br> São Paulo
	Ideology	Socialism (official), a wide range of center-to-left ideologies
	International	none, but the Socialist Democracy current is affiliated to the United Secretariat Of The Fourth International
	Colours	Red and White
	Tse Number	13

The ''Partido dos Trabalhadores'' ( Portuguese for '''Workers' Party''') is a Left-wing Political Party in Brazil . It was officially founded by a group of intellectuals and workers in February, 10, 1980 at Colégio Sion (Sion High School) in São Paulo . Brazil's current president, Mr. Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva , was one of its founders, and the most famous member of the party at the present time. Among others present at its founding were Jacó Bittar , Henrique Santillo , Henos Amorina , Wagner Benevides , José Cicote , Paulo Skromov , Olívio Dutra , Édson Khair , Manuel Da Conceição , Arnóbio Vieira Da Silva , Lourin Martinho Dos Santos , Mário Pedrosa , Moacir Gadoti and Apolônio De Carvalho .

The PT was legally recognized as a political party by Brazilian Electoral Superior Court on February 11, 1982.

The color of the party is red and its symbol is a red star with the label "PT" inside it. The flag is red with a white star with the label "PT" in red.

There are about thirty Tendencies within the PT, ranging from the center-left group that Lula is a part of to Marxists and Christian Socialists . Its members are known as ''petistas'', from the Portuguese Acronym "PT". The party is recognized by some people as one of the most important left parties of Latin America.

Some well known members of the Worker's Party are: Tarso Genro , José Genoino (former Party President), Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil's President), Luiz Gushiken , Antônio Palocci Filho , Marta Suplicy , Eduardo Suplicy , Olívio Dutra , Aloízio Mercadante , Frei Betto , etc.

RECENT HISTORY

After 1990 the Worker's Party has grown in popularity, winning elections in many important cities, like São Paulo and Porto Alegre , and states like Rio Grande Do Sul . This winning streak culminated with the victory of its presidential candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva in 2002, who succeeded President Fernando Henrique Cardoso of PSDB .

The Radical Wing

The relative changes in the political orientation of his party (PT), the Government and Lula himself were well received by the majority of the population, but as a historically more radical party, PT has been suffering from internal struggles with members that followed the old standards. These struggles are often demonstrated publicly and had their climax in December 2003 , when several members of the party were expelled for not following political decisions. Among these members were congressman João Batista Oliveira de Araujo, known as Babá and senator Heloísa Helena, who formed the Partido Socialismo E Liberdade (P-SOL) in June 2004.

In a recent move by the radical wing of the Party, sometimes called the ''rebels'' by the media, 112 members announced they are abandoning PT in the entitled ''Manifest of the Rupture'' that states that PT ''is no longer an instrument of social transformation, but only an instrument of the status quo'', continuing with references to the IMF and other economic and social issues.

2005 crisis

In July of 2005 , the party suffered from a Sequence Of Corruption Accusations , started by a Deputy of PTB , Roberto Jefferson . Serious evidence for slush funding and bribes-for-votes has been presented, dragging PT to the most serious crisis in its history - known as the '' Mensalão Scandal ''. A formal investigation was started by the Congress and the Federal Police. Accusations involve among other people, secretary-general ( Silvio Pereira ) and the Treasurer of the party ( Delúbio Soares ).

José Dirceu , Lula da Silva's chief of staff, was forced to resign and return to the Chamber Of Deputies . After around 2 weeks, José Genoino also resigned as president of the party and was replaced by Tarso Genro , former mayor of Porto Alegre.

The party lost popularity among supporters and the general public. It is not yet clear if the president is personally involved. The Impeachment of President Lula started to be understood as a possibility, but this discussion lost strength.

Many party members defected as a result of the crisis. Most of them went to P-SOL .

BOOKS ABOUT THE WORKERS' PARTY - PT