BRAZIL-Closet "capitalists" among the "Communists"

Seen from years of observation

In the 1980s I once heard from a Russian, who I supposed was a KGB operative, the following comment: “You Americans are so naïve! Do you really believe that anyone under 30 in the Soviet Union actually believes in Communism?!”

His comment merely reinforced my belief that Marxism/Leninisn had long ago run its course. My observations and personal experience with real die-hard Communists, taught me that the dictatorship of the proletariat, forecast by Marx as inevitable was a chimera. The proletariat has repeatedly shown that it was not the least bit interested in dictatorship. It wanted to be the owners of its own decisions, disliked authoritarianism, and sought material prosperity. (Just as Adam Smith and the 18^thCentury moral philosophers had argued)

The history of modern communism is fraught with both amusing and tragic anecdotes of its failures. (Such as the innovative Russian shoe producer that I once reported on this blog. Or the tragic deaths of millions, that exceeded those of Hitler, brought about by the policies of Stalin and Mao Tse Tung)

One of the most famous quotes about the attractions of leftist thinking is the one most difficult to attribute to anyone. The earliest reference is to American John Adams (but I am sure there are earlier ones). The quote has been paraphrased over the years but essentially it is that: “If you are not a Socialist at the age of 20, you have no heart. If you are still a Socialist at the age of 30, you have no brain!” (Amen to that!)

When I first came to Brazil I worked and lived in one of Rio’s largest squatter settlements (favelas) with the US Peace Corps. I found decidedly few communists there. However, I would often take a bus to the elite beach in Ipanema for some R&R and in the hope of meeting some female companionship.

There, among the elite groups of university students I found the “communists” the military were talking about. They were what I eventually called “champagne socialists”. They would sit around the pool or the beach and discuss the economic inequities of Brazil, sipping a drink or cold champagne (at the pool) while wondering what the “poor were doing”.

Since my great-uncle (to whom I once referred to in this blog) was a die-hard Communist who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War, was a child laborer in the US anthracite coal mines, dedicated his entire life to the US Communist Party, and in fact, did die hard, I learned disillusion with Communism early. But I had a certain respect and admiration for those who heroically embrace a cause, no matter how Quixotic the quest. (Like many others who have read Don Quixote)

I relate an amusing, ironic and illustrative incident in Brazil: A friend of mine, a general in the Brazilian Army, who following the 1964 military takeover, was instructed to arrest a list of reported communists in his area. Most were “champagne socialists". However, one individual’s address was a cottage on a deserted stretch of beach. When he arrived to the cottage he found a poverty-stricken fisherman with only a couple of books on Communism in his ramshackle residence. He turned to the man and said: “You are a true believer in a lost cause. I came to arrest you but you are clearly not a danger to the system. I am far more interested in the powerful hypocrites who delude you!” He left without arresting what was probably the only real communist on his list! And he went off to arrest the "closet capitalists" in the Communist camp!

Such is the legacy of the 13-year reign of the PT in Brazil. In my view, Dilma Rousseff is the quintessential “true believer” in the “Cause” (in spite of her bourgeois upbringing) . (She might be the only one!) She continues to run around speaking to whoever will still listen about the “coup d’état”she claims was sponsored by the country’s oligarchies and “obscure foreign interests” (read CIA).

Today’s press contained an editorial about the PT’s project to impose a left wing authoritarian government in Brazil. I have written about this for the past couple of years and warned a select group of foreign executives about it over 6 years ago. I was considered a rabid anti-communist when in fact, I have no objections to those who wish to dream (or smoke that stuff!). I do, in fact, object to authoritarianism in any form (I come from possibly degenerate Irish stock) but that is my problem. 

An analysis of Dilma’s actions over the past 5 years shows an amazing similarity to the catechism of Lenin in 1917: debilitate the private sector and make it dependent on the actions of government (e.g. tax incentives that could easily be removed if the “capitalists” did not behave according to design); create and impose populist programs designed to get support from the economically disenfranchised segments of society and that rely almost solely on government largesse (and that can readily be removed if support is not forthcoming); draw on the support of the “champagne socialists” who have political clout - look at the mansions built by those public sector employees involved in the financial scandals (hardly dwellings of the poor or of "true believers”); compromise the private sector kleptocracts with promises of a “free lunch” and to discredit the country’s institutions if they are caught (I needn’t provide any examples here!); populate the bureaucracy with cronies (and smother them with privilege); discredit the military and populate it with cronies as possible (remember the Commission of Truth?); re-write the country’s history to support the notion of class warfare and exploitation. All of that and more was done. And done rather competently I should add.

Some recent declarations of Dilma and the PT offer ample proof of the PT project (that continues in the Fantasyland of the Brazilian left). Dilma was quoted in today's press when a crying member of a press entourage asked her for a hug: “Don’t cry, girl. It’s not over. We are going to fight. When I was released from prison (when she was arrested and tortured during her guerrilla days) I had stopped fighting. But now look around you…” In other words, the “fight” she now refers to is the continuation of a plan to create a left-wing authoritarian government like the one she fought to install in the 70s (when she was still under 30 I must add).

A recent declaration of the PT was a kind of catalog of what the party considered some of its tactical errors, one of which was not changing the curriculum of the military academies and not promoting officers who were believed to embrace the “Cause”. The declaration contained the observation that the military was not “democratic” (do you know any “democratic” military organizations anywhere? I once wrote in this blog that a training sergeant told me that when the US Army wanted me to have an opinion, it would issue one to me! The military is not meant to be a democracy, it’s meant do defend it.) The declaration also alleged that the military is not nationalistic. That is an egregious historical inaccuracy. Graduates of the military academy, in the 60s (at least) spent the first few years of their career serving in the Brazilian hinterland where they encountered Brazil’s poverty firsthand. The Army often adjudicated disputes because there was no other institution to do so in those regions, it conducted literacy programs for recruits and locals, it took on public works projects to improve local conditions, provided medical treatment when none was available, etc. Those were hardly the actions of an oppressive military.

Because of my many years in Brazil, I could go on at length about the hypocrisy of the Brazilian “left” and its private and public sector kleptocrats. I will not burden you further with such “war stories”. (Maybe some day over a drink or two!)

Suffice it to observe that those in what Dilma refers to as the “provisional government” of Michel Temer (another term from the Lenin catechism that referred to the Kerensky administration that was brought down by Lenin in somewhat brutal fashion) are over 30. Some of them were part-and-parcel of the Rio de Janeiro “champagne socialists” that I met in their university years but apparently (andI hope) have acquired brains after reaching 30!

Dilma is quite correct in her assertions that some of those who supported her impeachment are of “flawed moral principles” and some are flagrantly guilty of criminal fraud and theft.

The question is what did she expect from a war between two models of kleptocracy?

As I wrote at the outset when the PT’s transgressions became public, the eventual victors would still be kleptocrats. Temer’s challenge is to limit their influence, let Lava-Jato work its “mojo” and try to fix the damage done to the economy.

Temer has plenty to worry about from enemies both within and without his administration. His audit of the country’s accounts are likely to turn up transgressions of some of his “friends” and colleagues from the past as well as of the “neo-kleptocrats” of the PT regime. He appears to be sufficiently nationalistic to want to “fix” his country and hopefully will be sufficiently Machiavellian to make it happen. He can be a hero if he does. (Numerous heroes have emerged from even more nefarious backgrounds).

Temer’s government has only a few days in office and already numerous challenges have presented themselves. He has taken on a Herculean task and will certainly make some mistakes during his quest. 

I strongly suggest you continue your scenario-building exercises and monitor events closely. If Dilma beats “the impeachment rap” in the Senate, she will return with a vengeance and continue her “fight”. If she does not "walk" (which appears likely) Temer has a looong two years ahead of him. 

And, as Yogi Berra once observed, “It ain’t over until its over”, or alternatively “Until the fat lady sings!” So, listen for the game-ending whistle or the final aria while protecting your ass-ets and the enterprise.

Right now, Temer is experiencing the relief that comes from drilling the hole in an infected tooth (as I have written previously). The “root canal” work is just beginning! It won’t be fun, but it could be lucrative.