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4.2.2. What is good for the party is good for the state? PT’s influence onBrazil’s foreign policyTo which extent has PT been able to influence foreign policy, and by which means?Schneider noted in 1976 that, “The political parties are not significant factors inforeign policy-making. In terms of influence, the parties range between nonexistentand marginal”. 303 As an accompanying observation, scholar-diplomat Paulo RobertoAlmeida noted in 1992 that parties paid similarly marginal attention to foreignpolicy issues in their manifestos and political platforms. This resulted from anumber of factors: the primacy of domestic issues, the fluidity of the party system atthe time, and the professionalism and impermeability of MRE. The increasingvisibility of Congress in foreign policy issues has demanded greater involvement bypolitical parties on foreign policy, however. 304An important measure of PT’s influence on foreign policy is the extent to which‘class’ and redistributive issues have been raised to the level of foreign policy.Before this can be ascertained, it is important to examine the means of influence theparty exerts on the policy process.PT’s founding documents made scant reference to international relations. 305 ItsCharter of Principles, which served as a precursor to its Manifesto released in 1980,stated simply that the Party were “looking to use [their] moral authority and politicsto try to open a way for all workers”. Its manifesto stressed that workers desired‘national independence’, and that the only true condition for ‘nationalindependence’ would be the rule of the State by the working masses. The manifestoconcluded with an affirmation of PT’s “solidarity in the struggle of all oppressedmasses of the world”. It is telling that PT has only recently, close to the end of303 Schneider, Brazil, 137.304 Paulo Roberto Almeida, “Os Partidos Políticos nas Relações Internacionais do Brasil,1930-90”, Contexto Internacional, 14, no. 2 (1992): 198-199.305 See Partido dos Trabalhadores. Carta de Pricípios, 1 May, 1979 and Manifesto, 10February 1980. Accessed online at:http://www.pt.org.br/portalpt/dados/bancoimg/c091003192854cartadeprincipios.pdf andhttp://www.pt.org.br/portalpt/dados/bancoimg/c091003192752manifesto.pdf ,respectively, on 10 August, 2010.133