The experience of the landless workers movement and the Lula government

Abstract

Based on fieldwork carried out in Southern Brazil, this article analyses the achievements, difficulties and contradictions of the MST’s alternative project. It identifies the organizational structure of the MST as a major factor explaining the success of the movement. It highlights that mobilization and pressure on the state have also been instrumental to land distribution and the development of its settlements. It thus looks at the strategy that the MST had adopted towards participation in institutional politics and its alliance with the Workers Party in Southern Brazil and argues that this strategy and alliance will most likely change because of President Lula’s cabinet composition and policy orientation.