Uraguay to elect socialist? Analysis on Latin America Left?

[Alexandre Fenelon]

At 09:37 01/11/99 -0300, you wrote:
>Hi from Uruguay:
>
>These elections represent the definite consolidation of the left as the most
>important political organization in Uruguay. The Broad Front (Frente
Amplio) was
>created in 1971, then getting 17% of the votes. In 1984, got 20% of the votes,
>and later in 1989, 31%, and finally almost 40% on yesterday's elections.  What
>we really elected was the composition of our Congress  (see below). Next
>President will be elected on Nov. 28 between the two most voted candidates
>(Vazquez and Battlle). We are expecting a center-right coalition between the
>Blanco Party (the big loser) and the Colorado Party to defeat Vazquez.
>
>Vazquez is a Medical Doctor (Oncologist, sp?) who belongs to the Socialist
>Party. He is an "old" marxist. During his campaign he repeatedly said that he
>would use marxism as an "instrument to interpret reality". The Front is
taking a
>gradual approach: they propose a more participatoy society, creating the
>mechanisms to further increase civil participation to reduce poverty and
>inequality, and at the same time, trying to reach the "approval" of
>international organizations (i.e IMF). One thing is true: this is a victory of
>the left. The Broad Front is NOT a spurious coalition: except for a tiny
>minority, all its members are old time leftists. Whether this victory will be
>dismissed as a capitualtion to capitalism or not, I dont think so. It is really
>hard to see what is going to happen down the road. Note that, although we got
>40% of the votes, we are still the "largest minority".
>
>During the campaing, references (and more than that!!) to the failure of the
>Soviet Union, to the Soviet tanks invading Eastern Europe, the Berlin Wall,
>Fidel and all the opression and lack of liberty that the "left represents" in
>the world did not prevent us to vote for a change.
>
>The situation in Argentina is different, though the direction of the change
>looks like the same. There, the coalition included the left (elected Vice
>President, Chacho Alvarez) and the Center (Radicales, elected President De la
>Rúa). If someone wants to dissmiss this situation as a "capitualtion to
>capitalism", he/she is probably right.
>
>o,k, final results are:
>
>Broad Front: Socialists, Comunists, Former Guerrilla,
>Independents.............38.5%
>Colorado Party: Center Right Right: Republican/Reform Party sort
>of...........32.5%
>Blanco Party: Center Right: Democrats sort of
>thing......................................21.5%
>Nuevo Espacio: Socialdemocrats (The Rose,
>Blair?)......................................4.5%.
>
>The Broad Front will get 12 out of 30 seats in the Senate, and 40 out of 99
>Representatives.
>
>if someone wants more info about this, I will be glad to help/
>
>Juan
>
>Nathan Newman wrote:
>
>> The attached AP article notes the revival of the Uraguay left as an
>> electoral force.  In combo with Chavez's win in Venezuala and (to a more
>> minor extent) the soft-center left alliance win in Argentina, there is an
>> apparent revival of left involvement in winning coalitions.  Of course, this
>> can be (and I am sure will be) dismissed as mere capitulation to
>> neoliberalism - ie. Clinton-Blairism with a spanish accent - but I wonder if
>> there are broader analyses out there on what's been happening with the Latin
>> America left and its mass mobilization.  Is there changes at the grassroots
>> or is this all just insider-political coalition games?
>>
>> --Nathan
>> =============================
>>
>> October 31, 1999
>> Poll: Socialist Leads Uruguay Race
>>
>> By The Associated Press
>> MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) -- A socialist was headed for a win in the first
>> round of Uruguay's presidential ballot Sunday and will face a ruling party
>> opponent in a runoff, according to an exit poll.
>>
>> Tabare Vazquez, 59, of the leftist Broad Front coalition, captured about 39
>> percent of the ballot to 32 percent for Jorge Batlle, 73, of the ruling
>> Colorado Party, the independent projection said.
>>
>> The respected Factum polling group projected that Luis Lacalle, a former
>> president and nominee of the center-right National Party, would finish third
>> with 22 percent and be eliminated from the race.
>>
>> Two minor candidates lagged far behind in the Factum projection, which was
>> broadcast locally on television.
>>
>> ``This is a night of joy,'' said Vazquez, who went on television
>> anticipating that final returns would give him a first-round victory.
>>
>> But he said all projections pointed to another month of hard campaigning for
>> a Nov. 28 deciding round and said: ``We have to win two times over.''
>>
>> Authorities said first official returns would be released hours later.
>>
>> Raucous celebrations erupted in this small South American nation as both
>> Tabare's Broad Front coalition and the ruling party of President Julio Maria
>> Sanguinetti celebrated.
>>
>> Supporters of both parties waved flags, beat drums and noisily paraded in
>> caravans of cars through this capital.
>>
>> A medical doctor and former Montevideo mayor, Vazquez has harnessed voter
>> cynicism with Uruguay's two traditional parties, taking the government to
>> task for double-digit unemployment and not meeting health, housing and
>> educational needs.
>>
>> No candidate had been expected to garner the simple majority needed Sunday
>> for an outright victory. But the compulsory election by 2.4 million voters
>> confirmed the newfound strength of the left at the ballot box.
>>
>> Here as elsewhere in South America, voters are flirting with the left.
>> Argentina's center-left opposition Alliance won the Oct. 24 presidential
>> election. In Chile, Ricardo Lagos is favored by the polls to become the
>> country's first elected socialist in three decades, though a right-wing foe
>> has narrowed Lagos' lead as the Dec. 12 election approaches.
>>
>> In Uruguay, the campaign has been characterized by talk about whether the
>> left has truly moderated since the Cold War-era.
>>
>> Vazquez has proposed an ``emergency'' plan to spend more than $200 million
>> to create tens of thousands of jobs. He pledges to make the wealthier pay
>> more income tax while exempting those who earn less than $1,200 a month.
>>
>> He hopes to turn around a listless economy marked by a 10 percent
>> unemployment rate he blames on Sanguinetti's strict fiscal policies.
>>
>> Batlle, an economist, charges that the Broad Front, a diverse coalition
>> founded in 1971, includes fringe Marxist elements that could disrupt or even
>> derail the free-market financial policies already in place.
>>
>> Vazquez dismisses characterizations that he is an unreformed Marxist,
>> responding in an interview this past week: ``No, I am eclectic.''
>
>
>

        I would like to make a question to all lbo members. No left wing 
parties around the world seems to be thinking seriously in socialism.
This statement is true even for former marxist parties like the German
PDS and the Italian Refundazione Comunista (not to mention the PDS).
The former social democratic parties are pursuing politics very similar
to their conservative counterparts. Even the most right wing Mensheviks 
from 1917's Russia would be considered ultra-leftists today. So, what
could we expect from "socialist" parties good performance in elections?
How to define socialism nowadays and how to put in practice politics
that could be considered socialist?

                                        Alexandre