Socialist Democracy is the largest Latin American group associated with the Fourth International. The Socialist Democracy tendency is not confined to Rio Grande do Sul. Mark Johnson spoke to Joaquim Soriano, a tendency leader and member of the PT’s national secretariat.

“I can understand why, at times, some revolutionaries are frustrated with the moderate Workers Party (PT) leadership,” says Soriano. “But it would be an irresponsible error to march out of the party on the basis of some ultra-radical critique. The vanguard of the popular movements and trade unions is still firmly inside the PT, and the left is strong.”

“The left should stay inside the PT, and try to win majority support,” says Soriano. He points out that moderate and radical currents in the party recently united on key questions. “The party’s parliamentary fraction —most of which supports the moderate leadership tendency in the PT — has agreed to call for the impeachment of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.” For Soriano and other members of Socialist Democracy, this shows the importance of their work within the party.

The current is trying to reinforce its national profile, regularize its publication Em Tempo, and increase training activities. “I’d like us to have more national visibility,” says Soriano. “But we can’t negate the reality of our disparate level and focus of intervention.” In Rio Grande do Sul the current represents about 25 percent of party membership, and almost half the government. In Rio de Janeiro state, the current is one of the smaller left currents in a party dominated by the center-left. But Socialist Democracy members play an influential role in the trade unions of Rio de Janeiro state. “Branding everything we do with a big ‘Socialist Democracy’ sticker isn’t the answer,” says Soriano.

According to Soriano, foreigners often misinterpret the nature of the tendencies within the PT. “The party has a very strong identity. Not just because the leadership doesn’t like the challenge that tendencies represent, but because the base of the party expects loyalty and unity. So the Trotskyist origins of the current do not mean that we are an “entryist” group, trying to build a party within a party. We have taken what we think is useful from Trotsky and Lenin. But we don’t have much in common with many of the self-styled revolutionary groups that use the ‘classics’ to condemn us for our participation in the PT project, and, in places like Rio Grande do Sul, our role in local government.”