Brazilian Labour Party Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro | |
|---|---|
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| Leader | Getúlio Vargas (1945–1954) João Goulart (1954–1965) |
| Founder | Getúlio Vargas |
| Founded | May 15, 1945 |
| Banned | October 27, 1965 |
| Merged into | Brazilian Democratic Movement |
| Succeeded by | Brazilian Labour Party (de jure) Democratic Labour Party (de facto) |
| Ideology | Populism Corporatism Labourism Developmentalism Getulism Brazilian nationalism Protectionism |
| Political position | Centre-left[1] toleft-wing |
| Colours | Black,White, &Red |
TheBrazilian Labour Party (Portuguese:Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro, PTB) was apopulist political party inBrazil founded in 1945 by supporters of PresidentGetúlio Vargas. From 1945 until 1965, PTB was one of the main parties of Brazil, along with its more centrist allyPSD and main rivalUDN. After Vargas suicide in 1954,João Goulart became the central figure in the party along with his brother-in-lawLeonel Brizola. Goulart was electedVice President of Brazil twice (1955 and 1960) and becamePresident of Brazil in 1961, but was removed after the1964 Brazilian coup d'état, and PTB was dismantled by theInstitutional Act Number Two in 1965 by themilitary dictatorship in Brazil. Most of the PTB's members went to join theBrazilian Democratic Movement or exiled from Brazil.
After the return of the multi-party system in 1979, Brizola attempted to refound PTB, but the name was given to a moremoderate group led byIvete Vargas, Getúlio's niece, in 1980, and Brizola and most members of the PTB founded theDemocratic Labour Party (PDT) instead.[2]
The party was founded by followers of President Getúlio Vargas on May 15, 1945, during the final days of hisEstado Novo. It grew rapidly under the leadership of Vargas, the most important Brazilianpolitician of the early to mid-20th century. Its main goal was to prevent a growth ofCommunist Party membership among urban workers.[3] According to Vargas himself, the party was created to "serve as a buffer between the unions and the communists."[4]
PTB's support came from thetrade unions controlled by the Ministry of Labour, and its trump card was the prestige of Getúlio Vargas, its honorary chairman, which introduced social and labor legislation in the country.[3] From 1945 to 1962, PTB was the third force in Brazilian politics, after theSocial Democratic Party (PSD) and theNational Democratic Union (UDN), but it became more popular than the UDN in the 1962 Congressional elections. In 1950, Vargas was elected to a second term through PTB. Vargas committed suicide in 1954, and his heirJoão Goulart became the central figure in the party along with thepopulistLeonel Brizola.
Since the party was a close ally of PSD, also founded by supporters of the late Vargas, it remained in power whenJuscelino Kubitschek was elected president in 1955. Goulart was elected vice president in 1955 and 1960, becoming president in 1961 with the resignation ofJânio Quadros. PTB was in power again, but Goulart was overthrown by a military-ledcoup d'état in 1964. Various PTB figures were removed from theNational Congress, and all political parties, including PTB, were dissolved on October 27, 1965.[3] Nearly all of the party merged with the bulk of the PSD to form theBrazilian Democratic Movement, the only opposition party permitted for the first decade of the military dictatorship.
Anew PTB, this time acentre-right party, was established byIvete Vargas, Getúlio's niece, in 1980, with the end of the artificial two-party system imposed by the military regime.[3] Brizola led the majority of the PTB's former followers into theDemocratic Labour Party.[2]