This collective work, edited by Professors Maria Malta, Jaime León, Carla Curty and Bruno Borja, offers a precise and innovative contribution to the History of Brazilian Economic Thought (hbet). Furthermore, by creating a foundation for a critical and committed history of ideas about development in Brazil, this book also indicates a way to renew left-wing political activity in the country. When a book can transform our understanding of the past and simultaneously contribute to the political construction of the future, it becomes a classic.
The examination of hbet presented in this work demonstrates the unequalled fertility of Brazilian social thought, flourishing throughout the 20th century amid a whirlwind of radical economic and social transformations. The work of Nelson Werneck Sodré, Caio Prado Jr, Celso Furtado, Florestan Fernandes, and other first-rate intellectuals reviewed in this volume, reveals their potency and practical relevance as opposed to purely academic achievements disconnected from people`s lives. On the contrary, this book shows how the ideas of our key intellectuals stem from their deep political commitment, often at grave personal risk due to the repeated waves of political repression in the country. For decades, our authors have faced serious problems and emerging tensions in Brazil, with their political consequences and the construction of alternatives, both inside and outside the government. Their intellectual integrity stands out, and the recognition of their contribution demands a corresponding gravity in the reading of their works. Unfortunately, for a long time, until the release of this book, their work went unnoticed and did not receive the attention it deserved.
The authors read and (re) interpreted in the following chapters launched intellectual projects, converging but never identical, seeking to elucidate the dynamics of Brazilian development, its contradictions, and limitations and – most importantly to them – its points of tension, where the intervention of mobilized people could transform reality in a progressive direction. Few peripheral countries can count on two generations of brilliant, critical, original thinkers, committed to the realization of the nation`s potential with its impoverished majority, continually dominated, humiliated, repressed and exploited.
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The dizzying transformative waves that have marked the Brazilian economy in the last century, including, prominently, import substitution industrialization and the transition to neoliberalism, were accompanied by profound
Through critical analysis of the ideas, dreams, challenges, and commitments of Brazil`s greatest interpreters, this book offers an innovative materialistic methodology for understanding hbet. The approach developed here examines the respective roles of dominant theory, history and ideology, including the issues of population, social and productive structure (especially the relationship between agriculture and industry), organization and distribution of labor, the role of imperialism and the composition and historical role of elites and workers, peasants and middle classes. These topics, which can be summarized in the concept of production mode applied to the historical moment, that is, the accumulation system and its transformations, illuminate the discussion of socialist movements` tactics and strategies and the scope for alliances between the left`s forces. Any form of progressive engagement with Brazil`s history and, ultimately, overcoming capitalism in the country must face these challenges, both in theory and in practice; that is, the character and possibilities of the Brazilian revolution.
The investigation in this work aims, then, to illuminate the unique nature of Brazilian capitalism and ways to overcome it. To this end, the essays in this book focus on relevant controversies, rather than a neoclassical emphasis on building models from arbitrary and disconnected elements. Neither does this book assume a linear evolution of thought towards a transcendent ‘truth’: not identifying and treating ideas in an abstract and (supposedly) ‘pure’ way, but in their economic and social context, and through the intellectual polemics and political confrontations from which they emerged. This approach renders theory and history inseparable, which is certainly the correct method of exposure within materialism.
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These fundamental lessons were captured by our authors. Despite their fine intellects, they never postulated the superiority of writing over practical action; on the contrary, their intellectual work served the urgent and practical purposes of political struggle. They engaged, worked together with many others, debated, disagreed, and learned from the humblest. Their most important lesson is that their works are subordinate to the struggle for the state and society`s democratization and the improvement of the people’s living conditions. These are the ideals that also move this ongoing work. Enjoy it!
Alfredo Saad-Filho
Department of International Development, King’s College London
London, November 2021