Brazzil Ideology March 2003

Auguste Comte's positivist ideas have shown their greatest impact in economic policy. Economic policy in Brazil has been marked by an interventionist frenzy that affects all aspects of public life. The consequences of positivism in the country have been devastating.

Antony P. Mueller

"Ordem e Progresso"—Order and Progress—has been the motto on the Brazilian flag since the country became a republic in 1889. The words are taken directly from the writings of Auguste Comte. The ideas of Comte were adapted in the 19th century by the military and political elites in large parts of Latin America, and in Brazil in particular.1 Since then, the ghost of Auguste Comte has been haunting the subcontinent, and the practical consequences of this ideology have been disastrous.

Comte's positivism is best described as an ideology of social engineering. Auguste Comte (1798-1857) believed that after the theological and the metaphysical stage, mankind would enter the prime stage of "positivism," which to him meant that the society as a whole must be organized according to scientific knowledge.

Comte believed that all science must be modeled after the ideal of physics, and that a new science of social physics would emerge at the top of the intellectual hierarchy. This discipline would discover the social laws that then could be applied by an elite to reform society as a whole. Like medicine, which eradicates disease, social physics would have to be applied in order to remove the social evils.

Comte's ideal was a new "religion of humanity." In his view, people need to be tricked into feeling as authentic what will be instigated by the rulers and their helpers, who thereby serve the higher ideals of humanity. Reviewing Auguste Comte's ideas, John Stuart Mill wrote that this political philosophy aims at establishing "...a despotism of society over the individual, surpassing anything contemplated in the political ideal of the most rigid disciplinarian among the ancient philosophers," 2 while Ludwig von Mises remarked: "Comte can be exculpated, as he was insane in the full sense which pathology attaches to this term. But what about his followers?" 3

The rationalist mysticism which befell Comte as a mentally ill person later in his life called for the creation of a "positivist church," in which, imitating the rituals of the Catholic Church, the "cult of humanity" could be practiced. Toward the end of the 19th century, "positivist societies" began to spread in Brazil, and a real church building was erected in Rio de Janeiro as the place where the adoration of the ideal of humanity could be practiced like a religion. 4

Up to the present days, Brazil's system of higher education still bears the marks of Comte's positivism, and stronger still is the influence of the positivist political philosophy within the higher ranks of the military and among the technocrats. Positivism says that scientism is the trademark of modernity and that in order to accomplish progress, a special technocratic or military class of people is needed who are cognizant of the laws of society and who establish order and promote this progress.

The prevalent ideology of a large part of the ruling elite stands in sharp contrast to the traditions held by the common people. As in most parts of Latin America, Brazil's popular culture is deeply marked by the Catholic-scholastic tradition, with its skepticism toward modernity and progress and its more spiritual-religious orientation, which rejects the linear concept of time as a progressive movement in favor of a circular eternal vision of life. 5

Comte's ideas have shown their greatest impact in economic policy. Given the facts that members of the military have played a central role in Brazil's political life and that positivism had become the leading philosophical paradigm at the military schools, economic policy in Brazil has been marked by an interventionist frenzy that affects all aspects of public life.

The spirit of planning for modernity has turned Brazil into a hotbed of economic interventionism, with each new government promising the great leap forward. Instead of doing away with the obstacles that confront emerging private enterprises and guarantee reliable property rights, governments presume that it is their task to develop the country by conceding privileges to a small group of established firms.

Since becoming a republic, there has been not one government in Brazil that did not come up with a new comprehensive plan or a conglomerate of plans aimed at desenvolvimento (development). Following the positivist agenda, conceiving plans of a seemingly scientific nature and applying them by the force of the state has become the trademark of Brazilian economic policy. Frequently first elaborated in one of the few university centers, these plans form the agenda of the new government, which usually brings in a team of young technocrats for its implementation.

Particularly grandiose when military governments were in charge—such as in the 1930s and 1940s and from 1964 to 1984—the invention and implementation of great plans has continued up to the present day. Irrespective of which party coalition or power group is at the helm, the spirit of positivism has been shared by all of them up to the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government, which apparently is practicing a so-called "neo-liberal" economic policy.

Even by counting only the more important plans, the series that has been going on and on for almost a century is quite amazing: After following the model of industrialization through import substitution under the semi-fascist Estado Novo of the 1930s and 1940s, Brazil in the 1950s saw the Plano de Metas and, later on, the Plano Trienal of economic and social development. In the 1970s came the series of National Development Plans. The 1980s brought the Plano Cruzado, the Plano Bresser, and the Plano Verão. In the early 1990s, the Plano Collor 1 was initiated, to be followed by the Plano Collor 2 and, later on, by the Plano de Ação Imediata and, in 1994, the Plano Real.

Measured by their declared goals, all of these plans failed. During the past six decades, Brazil has had eight different currencies, each time with a new name and an inflation rate which implies that the current currency would have a rate of exchange of one trillion in terms of the Cruzeiro currency of 1942. 6

Under the cover of apparent modernity and science, the established clientelistic network of the "lords of power"7 continues to rule the country. In due course, this class has achieved a level of privileges similar to those that were enjoyed by the nomenclature in the Soviet Union compared to the rest of the population, who have resorted to their peculiar ways—called jeitinho, a kind of chutzpah—as their own method of survival.

Within the positivist system, scientism and interventionism go hand in hand. The presumed rationality of interventionism rests on the premise of knowing the specific outcome of an economic policy measure in advance. Consequently, when things turn out other than expected—and they always do—more intervention and control is warranted. The result is governments that are overwhelmed by their pretense and humiliated by their failures.

Brazil, which is so blessed by nature and by an entrepreneurial population with one of the highest rates of self-employment in the world, has been kept down by a misleading ideology. Up to the present days, Brazil's governments have been absorbing the resources of the country in order to pursue chimaeras of modernity and progress as they have defined them and blocking the spontaneous creativity inherent to free markets.

The space for Brazil could be wide open if the ghost that has plagued this country were cast away in favor of an order in the true meaning of the word, i.e., a system of reliable rules based on the principles of property rights, accountability, and free markets.

1 Leopoldo Zea, Pensamiento positivista latinoamericano, Caracas, Venezuela 1980 (Biblioteca Ayacucho).

2 John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, London 1869, p. 14 (Longman, Roberts & Green).

3 Ludwig von Mises, Human Action, Auburn, Ala. 1998, pp. 72 (The Ludwig von Mises Institute, Scholar's Edition).

4 Ivan Lins, História do positivismo no Brasil, São Paulo 1964, pp. 399 (Companhia Editora Nacional)

5 The classic expression of this kind of thinking in Latin America is José Enrique Rodó: Ariel, Montevideo 1910 (Libreria Cervantes). In literature, this kind of thinking is prominent up to the present days in the writings of Brazil's most popular writer, Paulo Coelho.

6 Ruediger Zoller, Prädidenten - Diktatoren - Erlöser, Table V, p. 307, in: Eine kleine Geschichte Brasiliens, Frankfurt 2000 (edition suhrkamp).

7 The classic description of the "lords of power" is Raymundo Faoro's Os Donos do Poder, 2 vols. (Editora Globo: Grandes Nomes do Pensamento Brasileiro) São Paulo 2000

Antony P. Mueller is a professor (extra-ordinarius) of economics at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. From September 1999 until December 2002 he was a visiting professor at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Brazil. He welcomes your comments at antonypmueller@aol.com

www.theamericanenterprise.com 1/7/03 5:00 p.m. by Thor L. Halvorssen

On January 1 Venezuela entered into its second month of a national work stoppage. Close to 90 percent of the working population refuses to participate as producers in an economy that supports the regime of Lieutenant Col. Hugo Chavez. In a disorganized and chaotic fashion, without any single leader or political party, the people (known as “the opposition”) have taken a page out of Ayn Rand’s novel, Atlas Shrugged, and tried to answer an important question in that literary masterpiece: what would happen if the productive forces laboring under a despotic government went on strike and ceased subsidizing their own subjugation?

Chavez, a radical Marxist, was elected four years ago on a campaign promising to eradicate poverty and do away with government corruption. Since he was elected he has done away with the rule of law and private property while presiding over the greatest oil boom in Venezuela’s history. Corruption and poverty have grown to levels unseen in the country’s history. Chavez passed 49 decrees that expropriated private property in the name of his “revolution.” He terrorizes the opposition with his militia, the Circulos Bolivarianos—armed thugs financed by the government. But there is hope.

The country is united against Chavez. The labor unions and the chamber of commerce oppose him. They all speak of liberty, dignity, and the right to work for one’s prosperity. They see his rule as a threat and on December 1, 2002 they discontinued their complicity. The unions orchestrated the closing of industry for one day. Then they extended it another day. And another... New Year’s Day was the 30th day. But most surprising and encouraging: the government’s main source of revenue, the state-owned oil company, PDVSA, has also stopped.

The drama of the oil stoppage illustrates the magical realism that South America is famous for. Beyond the 40,000 laborers, engineers, and technicians that left the refineries and oil fields, the stoppage climaxed at sea. Dozens of oil tankers, part of the merchant marine, suddenly dropped their anchors and declared solidarity with the opposition. One ship, the Pilin Leon, was headed for Cuba (Chavez supplied free oil to Fidel Castro’s government). Some companies use names of kings and heroes, others use names of presidents or business leaders, in Venezuela, oil tankers are named after the country’s second greatest export: beauty queens. Pilin Leon was the Venezuelan beauty queen who became Miss World 1981. The drama surrounding the Pilin Leon became the focus of the struggle. Miss Leon herself, in London judging the Miss Universe contest that had recently been moved from Nigeria, sent the ship’s crew a message that she was proud of them and hoped they would stand firm. They did.

Days later, The tanker was taken over in a commando-style raid by Venezuela’s armed forces after Chavez decreed the lethal use of force in order to protect the “energy supply of the revolution.” Other tankers were also forced back to port but most remain anchored—Chavez does not have the manpower with the expertise to sail them at full capacity. Oil facilities use less than 10 percent of their capacity.

The governments of the hemisphere have abandoned the liberty-lovingproducers of Venezuela (Brazil’s government, now headed by Chavez sympathizer Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has shipped tankers with gasoline to break the work stoppage) and the U.S. Ambassador here has blithely mouthed platitudes about the importance of democracy while disregarding the crimes of the government. He even failed to condemn the televised murder of opposition members by Chavez thugs, instead engaging in moral equivalency and blaming “two sides.”

Perhaps the U.S. government’s policy on Chavez (nefariously influenced by President Clinton’s former Ambassador to Venezuela who is now Condoleezza Rice’s National Security Council advisor for Latin America) is betting on the chance that Chavez can weather the work stoppage and get the oil flowing soon (for an Iraq war timetable?). Venezuela supplies the U.S. with 15 percent of its oil imports.

As in Rand’s novel, things get progressively worse and government rhetoric cannot alter the reality. Chavez calls the country’s workers “Traitors who have stabbed their country in the back.” His ministers publicly suggested that lethal force be used to compel the workers to return to their posts.

There is no fear in Venezuela. There is resolve, indignation, and determination. The oil workers have daily meetings, massive gatherings taking place at amphitheaters, universities, and even ballrooms. Their will is unshakeable in the face of the tyrant. The wheels of production have stopped turning. For now Atlas has shrugged.

—Thor L. Halvorssen has served as a political strategist and campaign consultant in two Venezuelan presidential elections. He lives in Philadelphia.

E-mail: tae@aei.org

The American Enterprise Online: www.taemag.com

www.aynrand.org By Robert Tracinski           A recent news article described the nationwide strike in Venezuela, in protest against the nascent dictatorship of Hugo Chavez, as seeming "like something from fiction." Well, yes, it seems very similar to one work of fiction in particular: Ayn Rand's prophetic 1957 novel, Atlas Shrugged.         The parallels between fiction and fact are striking. In Ayn Rand's novel, America is sliding into an economic dictatorship, so inventors and businessmen lead a secret walk-out, withdrawing their support from the "looters" who want to plunder the wealth they create. They declare that they won't return until the looters relinquish power. Rand's working title for the novel was "The Strike." In an era of frequent, sometimes violent strikes by factory workers, it was shockingly original to suggest that the entrepreneurs, inventors and capitalists might go on strike.         Ayn Rand's imagined strike is no longer fiction. For four years, Venezuela has been gradually sliding into an economic and political dictatorship under Marxist populist Hugo Chavez, an open admirer of Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein. In response, the nation's largest federation of businessmen has led the nation for more than 40 days in a massive work stoppage. Venezuela's most productive citizens have gone on strike to protest their imminent liquidation under Chavez's communist revolution.         It is not just the main storyline that is the same; many details are similar. In Atlas Shrugged, the decisive step toward dictatorship is Directive 10-289, which gives bureaucrats the power to rule by decree, holding an iron grip on every productive enterprise in the country. In Venezuela, the crisis was touched off a year ago when a Chavez-controlled assembly gave him the power to rule by decree. Without even consulting parliament, Chavez issued 49 infamous decrees that gave him an iron grip on every productive enterprise in the country.         In Atlas Shrugged political demagogues denounce the "monopolistic power" of a self-made steel tycoon — while engaging in feverish horse-trading of government favors and black-market loot. In Venezuela Chavez was elected on a promise to clean up corruption in Venezuela's state-run industries; what followed was an even bigger wave of corruption to reward Chavez's cronies.         Late in the novel the political villains of Atlas Shrugged deliberately sacrifice the country's economic survival to maintain their control, decreeing that unprofitable rail lines be kept running — even though this dooms the industrial centers — so that they can ensure the transportation of government troops. Hugo Chavez just made a similar choice. Chavez has announced plans to split and decentralize Venezuela's oil monopoly in an attempt to break the strike by its workers. Analysts project the reorganized industry won't achieve more than a fraction of its pre-strike production. But, they note, Chavez has made a choice to sacrifice production — and his nation's prosperity — in order to maintain his dictatorial control.         In Atlas Shrugged, as the country approaches full dictatorship, government functionaries start to adopt military affectations. This was a detail Ayn Rand learned from her own youth in Russia during the early years of the Soviet tyranny; in her 1936 novel, We The Living, the young Russian Communists are described as wearing identical military-style leather jackets. Military trappings are the natural expression of a society increasingly subject to the rule of force. In Venezuela, therefore, we see Hugo Chavez — a former paratrooper — still wearing military-style garb, though he is ostensibly a civilian leader.         These parallel plot points are indications of a deeper connection. Chavez rose to power four years ago by spouting the accepted bromides of modern politics. Like the villains in Atlas Shrugged, he demonized the real producers as "exploiters" and promised to exploit them in return. And he promised that there was no problem that could not be fixed by the use of a government bludgeon. The left-leaning international press so firmly believes these platitudes that it has rushed into print, in publications ranging from the New York Times to Britain's Guardian, to denounce the courageous Venezuelan opposition and sing hosannas to Chavez.         Ayn Rand's novel was not just a warning against dictatorship. It was a warning against the moral code that regards business, self-interest and the profit motive as evil. It was her warning against the moral philosophy that preaches the sacrifice of the individual to the envious masses — and thus unleashes any demagogue who promises to loot the producers for the sake of the "little guy."         That lesson, presented in fictional form, is also the lesson to be drawn from the drama now being acted out in real life.

Comments in response to this post:

I knew that finally Ayn Rand would be invoked, it was just a matter of when. Now that the opposition is losing the war does this rhetorical weapon come into play. Won't stop Chavez from winning, but it will bring in Objectivists who Google search for her name. If Chavez was runing a real communist state, guys like Miguel here would be in psych wards and gulag cells. God knows they need the rubber room. joe blowe [josh@campusnonsense.com] • 2/10/03; 3:35:15 PM

Well, Joe its coming, its just that Chavez is incompetent on everything. In any case, all I did was say, here is an article about it, I did not endorse it, but there are some parallels. Read my blog, I dont believe Chavez is a Communist, just an egotistical, self-centered, militaristic fool. And if he needs to set up a psych ward or gulag, he will do it. Miguel Octavio [moctavio@bbo.com.ve] • 2/10/03; 4:28:04 PM

The Randian connection is interesting, but I think the general strike and related protests are comparable to other large-scale civil protests in South America in the past. However, because Chavez's regime is obstensibly left-wing, the media here in the states are less willing to play up the voluntaristic aspects of the anti-Chavez protests. If Chavez were a right-wing would-be dictator, Venezuela would be flooded with major foreign media outlets looking to cover the latest protest march against "the hated Chavez regime." Matthew [portablematthew@yahoo.com] • 2/11/03; 7:49:01 AM

www.sun-sentinel.com By Lois K. Solomon Education Writer Posted February 10 2003

Venezuelan families, fleeing problems in their country, are enrolling their children in Palm Beach and Broward County schools as they wait for strikes and violence to subside in their homeland.

One of the schools with the biggest Venezuelan surge is 669-student Calusa Elementary in Boca Raton, where 56 Venezuelans have enrolled since Jan. 7. Principal Ann Faraone said her staff has been stunned each day as Venezuelan parents appear in the office.

"It kind of came unexpectedly," Faraone said. "After a few days of it, we looked at each other and said, `Something is going on here.'"

Broward County schools also are seeing an increase in the number of Venezuelans: About 300 have enrolled in the past month, many in Weston and Davie, joining about 600 others who have registered since the school year began.

"It's a remarkable number," said Tania Mena, bilingual coordinator for Broward County schools. "If they bring their papers and fulfill all the requirements, we let them in."

Many Venezuelans fled to South Florida in December after a general strike, organized by opponents of President Hugo Chávez, paralyzed the nation's oil industry and closed most schools and businesses.

The strike, which began Dec. 2, was called by labor and business groups that oppose the Chávez government. They are demanding early elections and Chávez's resignation. Chávez has refused. He insists opponents must wait until August for a referendum, as permitted in the constitution.

Some Venezuelans began to return home last month after some banks, schools, malls and larger companies announced they would reopen. Others, however, have decided to risk uncertain immigration status and stay.

One mother of two, who asked that her name not be used because of immigration issues, decided to stay with her children in their Highland Beach condominium and enroll them in school because the strike closed the shops and schools in their neighborhood.

"We were here for vacation, so we decided to stay," said the woman, 37, a civil engineer whose employer could not pay her because of the strike. "The private clubs with pools and the malls were all closed. I had no work."

She said her children are enjoying Calusa, but the family plans to return to Venezuela next week because schools are scheduled to reopen. Backing for the strike and its leaders has withered, and it may be called off in coming weeks.

Still, experts say the Venezuelan exodus into South Florida likely will not end soon.

"As long as Chávez stays in office, I don't expect a lot to go back," said Jerry Haar, senior research associate at the North-South Center, a think tank on U.S.-Latin American relations at the University of Miami. "They have faith in their country, but they hedge and keep a vacation home because they want to play it safe."

Haar said wealthy Venezuelans gravitate to Palm Beach County, attracted by the many gated, golfcommunities. The Venezuelan students at Calusa live in several upscale condominiums and country club communities, including Broken Sound, Woodfield Country Club and Boca West.

The Venezuelan influx is not totally new to Calusa. The school experiences a small surge of about a dozen students each January, when many South American schools take a lengthy vacation and families with vacation homes enroll their children in school to learn English. As homeowners who pay taxes, their children are eligible for public school.

Even though four times the usual number have enrolled in the past few weeks, Faraone said the school has had few problems absorbing them, although some class sizes have grown considerably.

Although the increase in Venezuelan students is unusual, South Florida schools are accustomed to student influxes from other countries, said Steve Byrne, assistant director for multicultural education for Palm Beach County schools. In the past three years, more than 1,500 new students have come from Colombia, almost 2,000 from Mexico and more than 5,000 from Haiti, he said.

Many of the schools are in neighborhoods that already have a large number of families from a single country, such as Haiti or Brazil, he said. These schools have bilingual specialists to develop the new students with Englishskills and are accustomed to a nonstop influx of students.

Omni Middle School in Boca Raton also has received an unexpected surge, about 35 Venezuelan students since early January, guidance counselor Lowene Torner said.

"This is major for us," she said. "One day, we enrolled 12."

Lois Solomon can be reached at lsolomon@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6536.

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