RUY FAUSTO AND THE IMPROBABLE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE LEFT

Abstract

Fausto, clearly linked to the left field, argued in the pages of the Piauí magazine with the liberal economist Samuel Pessoa about the directions of the Brazilian left, offering criticisms - the "anomalies of the left" - that aimed to contribute to its reconstruction at the same time in which he sought to refute his opponent's arguments. The arguments used by Ruy Fausto in that debate were later condensed in the book Ways of Left: Elements for one reconstruction, published shortly before his death, and the subject of analysis in this paper with a special focus on his proposals to reconnect the Brazilian left with the respective political tradition. It is important for Brazilian Political Thought, as a discipline, to scrutinize the content of Faust's proposals and, above all, the reasons why they were not able to mobilize the left. The main conclusion is that this fact does not invalidate them, but suggests that the time for their acceptance has perhaps not yet come.