Was the PT Different?

The structure of the Worker’s Party (PT) in Brazil is one that makes it unique. The members of the party were made to put the interests of their party ahead of those of the individual politician. The PT required a large sum of cash in order to gain admission. This is not unheard of. I believe the PRI in Mexico had a similar tactic. It does, however, seem reminiscent to me to requirements to join the Mafia or a gang. All of these organizations, though, do maintain a level of commitment from their members. Hunter points out that the PT worked to mobilize the electorate.

Levitsky seems to think that the PT is not much of a special case. According to Levitsky, the left political parties in Latin America were not very well organized, both structurally and ideologically. Hunter says that while many other political groups, at least in Brazil, were more regionally organized that the PT had a very centralized hierarchy. Which may be a result of their political and economic leanings. Levitsky does acknowledge that there is a vast array and spectrum of parties other than their outward calls for public ownership of means of production. Many, he points out, actually adopted neolibreal policies. This use of neoliberal tactics is in contradiction to what many Latin American, left-leaning political groups espoused.

Later in his work, Hunter goes on to explain that some of the values of Socialism and its language began to disappear from the PT platform. The question in my mind is whether that move was a true evolution of policy or a need ot remain politically relevant or powerful.