If the struggle for political, economic and social reforms is unsuccessful and the country's economic situation deteriorates to the point where government at all levels is bankrupt and the social situation of the people worsens vertiginously with rising unemployment and crime, the social revolution will be at the order of the day when people no longer believe in existing political and economic systems will have nothing to lose fighting to change the reality in which they live. The revolutionary struggle will only happen in Brazil, however, when its rulers are not able to govern as before and those who are governed by them acquire the necessary conscience not to accept being governed as before. This moment has not yet arisen in Brazil, but will soon happen if the antisocial policies of the Michel Temer government continue.

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FAILURE IN THE FIGHT FOR REFORMS CAN EVOLVE FOR A
REVOLUTION IN BRAZIL?
Fernando Alcoforado *
To reform is to introduce changes in a particular economic, political and social order,
without replacing it. Reforming capitalism in a country consists in producing changes in
its functioning, in its economic and social policies, in its constitution and laws, in its
institutions and in its political system. The struggle for reforms means the struggle for
greater democratic spaces, more freedoms, more economic demands, more social gains,
better distribution of wealth in the context of capitalist domination. Changes in
economic models and in the political and legal superstructure are also part of the
struggle for reform within the capitalist system.
Proponents of reforms are those who defend the interests, values, rights and freedoms of
workers and peoples who have been repelled by the dominant neo-liberal capitalism
around the world since 1990 to the point of increasingly confronting them. Proponents
of reforms do not go beyond the limits of the system, they are restricted to struggles for
democratization and social, economic, and cultural improvements within the capitalist
system. They are reduced to reforming capitalism, to improving it, which is practically
impossible after the introduction of the neoliberal model in the world after 1990. The
ideologues of capitalism, when they set in motion the neoliberal totalitarianism, adopted
a process that led to the dismantling in the whole world the post-World War II
economic reform as the so-called "welfare state" of the Keynesian era to favor large
local and transnational private capital.
Unlike reformers who seek to make political, economic and social changes within the
framework of capitalism, revolutionaries seek the end of capitalism not limited to
fighting for more or less advanced demands and reforms more or less advanced,
conquering democratic spaces, fighting for better living conditions for peoples, taking
these struggles when circumstances favor them, but without limiting themselves to
them, trying to create in these struggles the consciousness and organization of the
population that make possible a revolution, produce the necessary ruptures and make
way for the revolutionary transitions to popular revolutions of socialist or nationalist
orientations.
For the revolution to happen there must be a confluence of multiple factors. Reform and
revolution go hand in hand. They form part of the dialectics of accumulation of force
and confrontation for political, economic and social change. Reform and revolution
separate when it is imperative to change the dominant order. It is necessary to decide
one way or another, defining itself thus categorically if it acts on the system reforming it
or if it tries to abolish it to replace it with another system. The revolutionary struggle
will only happen in Brazil, however, when its rulers are not able to govern as before and
those who are governed by them acquire the necessary conscience not to accept being
governed as before.
Meanwhile, it is necessary to accumulate strength by persevering in the struggle for
political, economic and social reforms within the framework of capitalism, promoting
the awareness of the people, the formation of authentic political leaders, and a broad
front against neoliberal capitalism. The main flags that could mobilize the population at
the moment to fight for the political, economic and social reforms in Brazil are the
following: 1) the constitution of a government of national salvation; 2) the recovery of

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the Brazilian economy in the short term; 3) the convening of an exclusive Constituent
National Assembly; 4) the holding of general elections; And, 5) the construction of a
new model of society alternative to dominant neoliberal capitalism.
The constitution of a government of national salvation would contemplate: 1) the
removal of Michel Temer from the Presidency of the Republic for impeachment or for
the crime of corruption; 2) the indirect election of personality of proven respectability
who make the commitment to break with neoliberalism and convene a new Exclusive
Constituent Assembly or, support in the election in 2018 candidate who make the
commitment to break with neoliberalism and convene new Exclusive Constituent
Assembly; 3) the constitution of a ministry made up of competent people and moral
integrity by the ruler who replaces Michel Temer; And, 4) the preparation of the
economic plan for the recovery of the Brazilian economy in the short term and the
development of Brazil in the medium and long term.
Brazil's short-term economic recovery would include: 1) a drastic reduction in public
spending; 2) the audit and renegotiation of the payment of the internal public debt; 3)
sharp reduction of interest rates to encourage investments in productive activities; 4) the
adoption of a tax policy capable of guaranteeing the resources that the State would need
to invest in education, health, social security and infrastructure sectors, among others,
and to burden the population and productive sectors as little as possible; 5) the market
reserve in areas considered strategic for national development; 6) the selective
importation of raw materials and essential products from abroad to reduce the country's
foreign exchange expenditures; 7) the reestablishment of privatized state enterprises
considered strategic for national development; 8) the adoption of the fixed exchange
rate policy in place of the floating exchange rate in force to protect domestic industry
and control inflation; And, 9) controlling the inflow and outflow of capital to avoid
currency evasion and restrict the access of speculative capital in Brazil.
The new National Constituent Assembly to be convened would contemplate: 1) the
reform of the country's political system with the institutionalization of the district vote
and the reduction of the number of parliamentarians and their stewardship in the federal,
state and municipal parliaments and social control of the elected, among other
measures; 2) the promotion of State and Public Administration reform on a rational
basis; 3) the institution of parliamentarism and the decision about the end of the Federal
Senate with the implementation of the unicameral system; 4) the banning of corrupt
political parties and parliamentarians; 5) the formation of new political parties; And, 9)
the convening of new general elections.
The construction of a new model of society alternative to the dominant neoliberal
capitalism requires the fulfillment of two stages: 1) Adoption in the medium term of the
national development model according to the model of development adopted by the
countries of Asia (Japan, South Korea and China) where the greatest economic growth
occurred since the second half of the 20th century; And, 2) Adoption in the long-term of
the Social Democrat model in the same way as in the Scandinavian countries where the
highest levels of social progress occur with the necessary improvements and adaptation
in Brazil.
The national economic development model along the lines of the Asian countries would
include: 1) increasing public and private savings in order to raise the investment rates of
the Brazilian economy; 2) foreign investments, preferably in the export-oriented areas,

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and in those in which domestic companies are not in a position to supply the domestic
market; 3) the maximization of Brazilian exports to expand the country's foreign
exchange earnings and boost the growth of the national economy; 4) the granting of tax
incentives to attract private investment in less developed regions of Brazil; 5) the
encouragement and reinforcement of research and development activities and of the
country's educational system; And 6) the reduction of social inequalities contemplating
the adoption of measures that contribute to meeting the needs of the population.
The Scandinavian model of social democracy to be implemented in Brazil would result
from the refinement of the current Scandinavian model that would operate with a tripod
based on a neutral State, active Organized Civil Society and efficient and effective
Productive Sector (state and private). The neutral State would seek to reconcile the
interests of the Productive Sector (state and private) with those of Civil Society
mediating its conflicts in several instances of the executive and legislative branches that,
when the consensus is not obtained, the final decision would be in charge of the
population that would decide democratically through a plebiscite and / or a referendum.
The state must take care of the people from the cradle to the grave. Private companies
would only operate in economic sectors where there was competition. State or mixed-
economy enterprises would occupy the economic sectors where competition was not
possible.
If the struggle for political, economic and social reforms is unsuccessful and the
country's economic situation deteriorates to the point where government at all levels is
bankrupt and the social situation of the people worsens vertiginously with rising
unemployment and crime, the social revolution will be at the order of the day when
people no longer believe in existing political and economic systems will have nothing to
lose fighting to change the reality in which they live. The revolutionary struggle will
only happen in Brazil, however, when its rulers are not able to govern as before and
those who are governed by them acquire the necessary conscience not to accept being
governed as before. This moment has not yet arisen in Brazil, but will soon happen if
the antisocial policies of the Michel Temer government continue.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 77, member of the Bahian Academy of Education and the Brazilian Academy of
Letters - Bahia Section, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development by the
University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business
planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is the author of the books Globalização
(Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para
o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os Condicionantes de Desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia
(PhD Thesis, University of Barcelona, http: //www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003),
Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento da Bahia do
Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The
Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM
Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e
Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia
Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica,
Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico
e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática
Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas,
Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016) e A Invenção de um novo
Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017). Possui blog na Internet (http://fernando.alcoforado.zip.net). E-
mail: falcoforado@uol.com.br.