The recent establishment in Brazil of a new socialist party - the Party of Socialism and Liberty (PSoL) - by dissidents from the Workers Party (PT) and the Socialist Party of United Workers (PSTU), has led to a lively debate on the Brazilian left on the wisdom of the decision to build a new party and the possibility of doing so.

We publish here a range of viewpoints, starting with an interview with our comrade Heloísa Helena, senator from the state of Alagoas and a supporter of the Socialist Democracy tendency, who was expelled from the PT last December (see IV 357, March 2004). Heloísa Helena is now president of the PSoL.

The three other articles criticize the initiative from different angles. The first was written by a leader of the Left Articulation current in the PT, the second is the editorial from a Catholic left weekly with close links with Brazil’s combative social movements, while the third was published by the Socialist Democracy tendency of the PT (in which Brazilian supporters of the Fourth International participate).

Dissidents form PSoL to defend socialist ideal - Interview with Heloísa Helena - Maurício Hashizume

Left faces choices - Valter Pomar

A new socialist party - Correio da Cidadania

A new party: the PSoL - Jornal Democracia Socialista