Brazilian Labour Party (1945)

Brazilian Labour Party
Ideology	Social democracy, Populism
Political position	Centre-left
Colours	Black, White, & Red
Politics of Brazil Political parties Elections

The Brazilian Labour Party (Portuguese: Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro - PTB) was a center-left populist political party in Brazil founded in 1945 by supporters of the late Getúlio Vargas. It was dismantled by the military after 1964 coup d'état.

History

The party was founded by followers of former President Getúlio Vargas in 1945, after the end of his Estado Novo dictatorship. It grew rapidly in the shadow of Vargas, the most important Brazilian politician of the early to mid-20th century.

PTB was marked by its heavy support among the working class and some leftist politics. From 1945 to 1962, PTB was the third force in Brazilian politics, after the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Democratic Union (UDN), but it became more popular than the UDN in the 1962 Congressional elections. In 1950, Vargas was elected to a second term through PTB. Vargas committed suicide in 1954, and his heir João Goulart became the central figure in the party along with the populist Leonel Brizola.

Since the party was a close ally of PSD, also founded by supporters of the late Vargas, it remained in power when Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira was elected President in 1955. Goulart was elected Vice President in 1955 and 1960, becoming President in 1961 with the resignation of Jânio Quadros. PTB was in power again, but Goulart was overthrown by a military-led coup d'état in 1964. Various PTB figures were removed from the National Congress, and all political parties, including PTB, were dissolved.