Changing the world through the state was the paradigm that prevailed in the left-wing political parties of the eighteenth century until the 1990s of the twentieth century when the Soviet Union and the socialist countries of Eastern Europe were dismantled. The thesis of the leftist political parties that founded these conceptions is simple: the state that until then was an instrument of the bourgeoisie was transformed into an instrument of the working class through the Reformation or the Social Revolution. The thesis of considering the state as the center of radiance of change was a resounding failure in all parts of the world, both in the countries that tried to build socialism and in the peripheral countries that adopted a nationalist stance in promoting their development.

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SELF-CRITICISM THAT LEFTIST POLITICAL PARTIES NEED TO MAKE
Fernando Alcoforado *
Left and Right are a common way of classifying political, ideological, or political
parties. These terms arose with the advent of the French Revolution in 1789. During the
reign of Louis XVI, members of the Third Estate, who indicated that they were not part
of the clergy (First State) or the nobility (Second State), sat to the left of the king while
the clergy and the nobility sat on the right. The most radical ones that were usually
against the king's decisions became known as the left while the favorable the king's
decisions were those of the right. Bobbio states that a fundamental difference between
left and right is that the former is an uncompromising advocate of equality and the right
is not. The left believes that most of the inequalities are social and, as such, eliminable
and the right thinks that most of them are natural and therefore ineliminable [BOBBIO,
Norberto. Direita e esquerda (Right and Left). São Paulo: Editora UNESP, 1995].
The confrontation between the right and the left reached the culminations around the
world with the advent of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the constitution of the bloc of
socialist countries in Eastern Europe, and the national liberation struggle that led to
decolonization in several peripheral Capitalist countries after World War II, the Chinese
Revolution in 1949, the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and the Vietnam War. The victories
achieved by leftist movements around the world in the 20th century created the sense
that a new, socialist world, even with different shades in each country, would be in
gestation.
Changing the world through the state was the paradigm that prevailed in the left-wing
political parties of the eighteenth century until the 1990s of the twentieth century when
the Soviet Union and the socialist countries of Eastern Europe were dismantled. The
thesis of the leftist political parties that founded these conceptions is simple: the state
that until then was an instrument of the bourgeoisie was transformed into an instrument
of the working class through the Reformation or the Social Revolution. The thesis of
considering the state as the center of radiance of change was a resounding failure in all
parts of the world, both in the countries that tried to build socialism and in the
peripheral countries that adopted a nationalist stance in promoting their development.
Both approaches, the reformist and the revolutionary failed in its project to change
society peacefully or revolutionarily. With the end of real socialism in the 1990s, the
left who was born in 1848 and gained power in several countries lost the way. This loss
of the way of the left happened mainly due to the lack of an alternative project to what
was implanted in the Soviet Union and in other countries. In Brazil and in the world, the
political action of the old left was reduced fundamentally to its participation in the
parliamentary elections, abdicating of the nationalistic theses and of the social
revolution that always were the main target of its political action in the past. In several
countries of the world, leftist parties that have conquered power, adopt liberal or
neoliberal theses by granting broad benefits to the ruling classes, especially those of the
financial sector, and of "alms" to members of the lower social strata of society as it
occurred In Brazil with the "Bolsa Familia" program of income transfer during the Lula
and Dilma Rousseff governments.
It should be noted that the old socialist project as it was built in the Soviet Union and in
other countries became state capitalism, with political power exercised despotically and
corruptly by a new bourgeoisie (state bourgeoisie or Nomenclature). Even China,

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considered an example of an authentic socialist country, adhered entirely to the
capitalist mode of production with the establishment of state capitalism and its
integration into the world capitalist system. The current global crisis has evidenced a
theoretical vacuum of the left. Faced with the crisis of socialism, the old left presented
nothing as an alternative. The position taken by the old left basically rested on the
reproduction of Keynesian ideas which is a typically capitalist solution adopted after
World War II.
Some parties of the old left in Brazil completely abandoned the social revolution as a
path to social change, and the PT, which emerged in opposition to the parties of the old
left, with the purpose, in theory, of fighting for democratic socialism, abandoned this
objective by substituting by a project of power to enjoy its advantages as evidenced in
the “mensalão” and “petrolão” corruption processes in government, which demonstrated
that there were systemic corruption in the Lula and Dilma Rousseff governments. The
parties of the old left and the PT in power collaborated with the ruling classes not only
in their enrichment but also to demobilize the social movements in the fight for their
interests thanks to their influence in the trade union movements. The Lula and Dilma
Rousseff governments maintained the same neoliberal economic and financial policy of
the FHC government of subordination of the country to the interests of the national and
international financial system, in addition to having made alliances with the scum of
Brazilian politics represented by Michel Temer, José Sarney, Fernando Collor and
Renan Calheiros, among others.
The balance of the Lula and Dilma Roussef governments indicates the disengagement of
both rulers, the PT and its leftist left allies parties with the great struggles of the
Brazilian people carried out over the last 50 years, in a historical traitorous incoherence.
This incoherence is placed on the economic, social, political and moral levels. The
inconsistency in the economy is manifested in the fact that both governments have
continued the neoliberal and antinational policies of the Fernando Collor, Itamar Franco
and Fernando Henrique Cardoso governments following the Washington Consensus in
the 1990s. One of the great expectations that was created with the victory of the
governments of the PT is that the process of national emancipation would begin with
the overcoming of Brazil's dependence on foreign capital and the strengthening of
productive sectors belonging to Brazilians. On the contrary, what happened was the
increase in Brazil's financial and technological dependence on the outside world and the
denationalization of the Brazilian economy.
The Lula and Dilma Roussef governments were not able to promote sustainable
economic growth in Brazil at rates above 5% per annum, which are necessary to
generate employment and income in Brazil. The average growth rate from 2002 to 2016
was 3.45% per year. The failure of the Lula and Dilma Roussef governments in the
social plan is reflected in the fact that they have not promoted the true social inclusion
of the poor population with their insertion into the labor market as a consequence of
GDP growth, that is, the increase of the national wealth. There was false social
inclusion because it took place with the granting of "alms" to 50 million poor Brazilians
through the Bolsa Família program with resources from the Treasury. The failure of PT
governments in the social plan is also materialized in the fact that it has contributed to
the generation in Brazil of 13 million unemployed. The most serious of all lies in the
fact that the PT governments contributed to the return of the right parties to power with
Michel Temer's inauguration in the presidency of the Republic after the disastrous
Dilma Rousseff government.

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Devoid behavior of ethics and morals of former presidents Lula and Dilma Roussef also
put in check all the PT's serious militants, allied parties and supportive personalities
who should react by doing their self-criticism. The respectability of the PT and the left
allied parties was destroyed by the governments of former presidents Lula and Dilma
Roussef. This should be, therefore, the self-criticism that left-wing parties should do in
Brazil.
*Fernando Alcoforado , member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor of Territorial
Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, a university professor and
consultant in strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is
the author of Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova
(Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São
Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado.
Universidade de Barcelona, http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e
Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento 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. Muller
Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe
Planetária (P&A Gráfica e Editora, Salvador, 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)
and Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012),
among others.