ABSTRACT
The peculiarities of Brazilian history count even more decisively in understanding the current crisis as it evolved since the 1964 coup. At that time, Brazil’s social structure was still more backward than that of Argentina, for example, and its Left and popular movements were weaker and far less experienced than those of Argentina, Chile, or Uruguay. The military coup had facilitated a process of capital concentration and centralization that was indispensable to the new cycle of economic expansion. The imposition of a military dictatorship in Brazil certainly represented a political defeat for left and popular forces, as it did in Argentina and Chile. The cruel paradox is that Brazil does not export surplus production; it exports what is not available to more than half its population. The importance of the state sector in capital reproduction was much greater during the Brazilian military period, which generally was much more state-centered than the liberalizing regimes in Argentina and Chile.
