Repression in Brazil

General Jaruzelslci’s martial-law regime has swiftly and mercilessly trampled on independent trade unionism in Poland for the present moment. We are all aware of this bitter turn of events. But few know of another crackdown on workers that has been occurring in a nation that the Reagan administration considers a friend—Brazil.

The two regimes, of course, are very different. Poland has been a Communist autocracy with a state-run economy for 36 years. Brazil, on the other hand, h...