November 4, 2026
Celebrating the election, high school and university students continue the struggle by demonstrating Nov. 1 in 11 of Brazil’s states and the Federal District to raise their issues and to demand the defense of Indigenous peoples. Photo: UBES Official
Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the convicted coup plotter and former President Jair Bolsonaro, came in first in Brazil’s first round for president on Oct. 4, getting 2.2 million votes more than incumbent President Luis Ignácio “Lula” da Silva. Bolsonaro’s party got the most seats in the National Congress, and he was expected to win in the second round.
Many people in the region south of the U.S. worried on Oct. 25, the day of the second round vote, that they would wake up the next morning and find that the largest country in the region had put the pro-fascist servant of U.S. imperialism, Bolsonaro, in the presidency.
Instead, the vote result happily surprised hundreds of millions of people in the Western Hemisphere when Lula won the election by about 4.5 million votes. Following a string of defeats for any leftist or social democratic candidate in recent elections throughout the Western Hemisphere, this was a welcome victory. One sign of the victory was Flávio Bolsonaro’s decision to flee Brazil for Miami.
To be clear, simply stopping a Bolsonaro victory is in itself no guarantee of a period of gains for Brazilian workers and farmers. The Workers Party (PT) leader, Lula, will confront a hostile National Congress. Brazilian big capital and world imperialism own the industry, banks and the major media and give orders to Brazil’s state apparatus — the police, the courts and the army.
Still, despite its limitations, Bolsonaro’s defeat at the polls and how it was accomplished leaves Brazil’s workers, farmers and youth in a better position to continue their struggle going forward. Remember that for the second round, the Bolsonaro group had the overwhelming support of Brazilian capitalists, the MAGA White House and the billionaires from the U.S. tech sector. How was this overcome?
Massive mobilizations make the difference
The first mass reaction to the Oct. 4 setback was an Oct. 5 mass demonstration of students at the Federal University at Fluminense (UFF) near Rio de Janeiro and of the organization of high school students (UBES).
According to reports and analyses by Brazilian and other Latin American Marxists, this outburst of youth struggle sparked an intense 20-day mobilization of all popular and working-class parties and progressive organizations, each with their own demands, to defeat what the students called the pro-fascist forces. Among these important lessons from these 20 days of mobilization was that a struggle of the masses of workers, farmers and urban poor is possible and can be won.
In his first two consecutive terms in office (2003-11), Lula’s government brought material benefits to the poorest sectors of Brazilian society, including many of the over 112 million Brazilians of African descent, more than half the population. These benefits account for much of Lula’s tremendous popularity among the poorest Brazilians. But only by reaching all his potential supporters could Lula win.
Not only most leftist political parties but groups like the Landless Movement (MST), those fighting racism, misogyny and/or homophobia and transphobia, those fighting for the environment, the students and youth fighting for a decent life, those who demand protection for Indigenous peoples and all those who defend democratic rights mobilized massive demonstrations that overwhelmed the pro-Bolsonaro rallies.
Along with holding street demonstrations that had the framework of an anti-fascist united front, the anti-Bolsonaro movement had a mass strategy for making use of social media to build the campaign. Most notably, they set up a WhatsApp channel called “Lula’s Army,” which was made up of thousands of young people who posted their own anti-Bolsonaro messages to social media and used the existing algorithms to maximize attention to their posts and counter the corporate print and broadcast media.
The channel grew from 50,000 to 10 million in three weeks. It was used to build the mass demonstrations, which then reinforced the channel that built the demonstrations, etc. The 20 days of election organizing showed the potential for mass struggle beyond the elections.
The most important lesson is that only by continuing to mobilize massive forces to fight issue by issue will it be possible to defend what the masses have, let alone to win what they deserve.
It should be clear that the PT is a social democratic party and does not organize to overturn capitalist property relations. Lula himself, while relieving some of the abject poverty, has taken actions that disappointed many anti-imperialists. His first administration, for example, sent units of the Brazilian military to take part in the occupation of Haiti.
Regarding the need to maintain a state of mobilization, the latest news out of Brazil is encouraging. High-school and university students held demonstrations in 11 states and the Federal District on Nov. 1 to celebrate the anti-fascist election victory and demand protection for Indigenous peoples. The wave of struggle is far from exhausted.
It’s a struggle that has just begun. And not only in Brazil.
