Analysis of the Rise of Spain’s“We Can” Party

YU HAiQiNGAssociate Researcher，Research Institute of Maxism，Chinese Academy of Social Science



Analysis of the Rise of Spain’s“We Can” Party

YU HAiQiNG
Associate Researcher，
Research Institute of Maxism，
Chinese Academy of Social Science

on December 20th， 2015，“We Can” Party gained 20% of the votes and 69 seats， ranked 3rd among all parties. The picture shows Pablo Iglesias，the leader of "We Can" Party， was celebrating with companions for achieving the success of the campaign.

Since the outbreak of the 2008 international financial crisis， huge changes have taken place for the European left-wing politics. The traditional left-wing parties face difficulties to develop further， while the populist radical left-wing parties rise up， indicating a new era of division and transformation for the European left-wing forces. Spain’s “We Can”Party is one of those that rose up. This article analyzes where it’s from， what features it holds and what its prospect is like.

ORiGiN AND DEvElopMENT oF “WE CAN” PARTY

Few political parties in Europe outpace “We Can”Party in development speed. This small party has created many records within a short span of time since its establishment. It was built in March 2014， and got 50，000 on-line supporters the first day of its existence； took part in the European Parliament election 2 months later， won 1.2 million votes， 5 seats， and a national support rate of 8%； 8 months later came on top in poll ranking nationally， leading the ruling People’s Party. In the national parliament election on December 20th， 2015， “We Can” Party gained 20% of the votes and 69 seats， ranked 3rd among all parties， directlychallenging the political landscape of Spain for the past almost 40 years，during which the right wing People’s Party and central left Socialist party took turns to run the government.

Currently there are 3 major opinions on the origin of “We Can” Party. Opinion one: In 2008 when the international financial crisis broke out， IA became a formal party after breaking away from the Communist Party， and was integrated as “We Can” Party on January 19th， 2015. Opinion two: “We Can” Party is a compromised result of the Spanish Communist Party and“Pink” Latin American government. It is a most successful response to the Latin-Americanization of Southern Europe and broader globalization. Opinion Three is the most popular: “We Can” Party is the result of the Spanish Indignados Movement. The Indignados Movement started in September 2010， referring to a series of protests in Spain against the austerity measures by the Socialist Party government.

Indignados movement is like many mass movements that have taken place in the west since the 1950s. It is informal， spontaneous， and scattered in formality. The movement has yielded obvious results in creating social consensus in anti-corruption and the post-1978 Spanish anti-establishment movement. But the limit of anti-establishment manifested itself in the Indignados Movement: tens of thousands of Indignados were mobilized to take to the street in protest of elite politics， causing huge social and media shock waves， but incapable of turning government policies around，nor making any substantial influence to policy making. Some radical Indignados began to rethink the necessity of party politics and political marketing strategy that used to be taboo. In Mid January， 2014， more than 100 leftwing intellectuals and radicals signed a declaration titled “Take Action: Transform Anger to Political Revolution”， suggesting opposing EU policy from the left-wing stance by organizing a formal political organization for taking part in the EU Parliamentarian election to be held soon. Later， Professor Pablo Iglesias with Complutense University of Madrid was elected to lead the movement. On March 11th，“We Can” Party was formally registered.

MAjoR FEATUREs oF THE RisE oF“WE CAN” PARTY

As a political party representing the European radical left-wing， “We Can”Party’s “new” left-wing features are salient， manifested as follows:

First， a discourse system and theoretical strategy based on hegemony and populism. “We Can” Party’s leaders are mostly intellectuals. Some of the most important leaders have conducted in-depth academic research into contemporary Latin American politics. They emphasize their political theory’s close connection to some thinkers of the region， and that one of the political theoretical hypothesis of “We Can”Party is Laclau and Mouffe’s “Gramsci Hegemony” and the former’s populist theory. Based on the realistic demand of “We Can” Party， they theoretically reconstruct these concepts， and build a bi-sectional discourse system with “de-mocracy” and “oligarchy”， “citizen” and“bureaucratic hierarchic system”， and other terms that transcend political boundaries. Based on such a discourse，“We Can” Party has come up with a series of populist strategies. According to Iglesias， “at current stage， ‘We Can’ Party aims to realize sovereignty，restricting financial power， promoting transformation in production， ensuring wealth redistribution to a larger extend， and promoting democratic restructuring of EU institutions”.

Second， an organizational format similar to the new social movement. “We Can” Party obviously copies some organizational features of contemporary western social movement in party operation and governance. For instance， different to traditional parties’ top-down operational mode， “We Can” Party adopts a parallel democratic organizational mode. Its most basic grass-root organization “circulo” is an organizational unit similar to Indignados’ “community meeting”. Circulo works in a bottom-up manner，with every individual participating in the discussion and revision of “We Can” Party’s action plans and voting for relevant topics on line.

Third， a young and radicalized support group. According to research，“We Can” Party’s supporters are voters leaned politically to the in-between area of socialist party and communist party. Most of them are highly educated， at the age of 25-50. Those who grew up in the Cold War， and lack of the traditional left-wing cultural consensus， were radicalized by the crisis，and became the mainstay of “We Can”Party.

Forth， benefit from development and innovation of the modern internet and digital technology. “We Can” Party use Facebook， twitter， news website Reddit and popular social network Plaza Podemos spaceas platform to communicate with the public； it also uses Loomio as a decision making platform to conduct intra-party discussion and communication. Besides， it uses other digital tools with open sound code， like the real-time poll app， and holds fund raising activities on the civic advocacy platforms to provide financial support for the party. Through effective data strategy， “We Can” Party has absorbed 370，000 party members.

Fifth， use television as publicity platform and tool. “We Can” Party’s main strategy is to make use of people’s dissatisfaction， and shape itself as a new political symbol—Iglesias， which transcends the left and right. The famous Spanish talk show La Tuerka has spread the image of Iglesias as a“college professor with a pony tail and short beard”. As social influence of Iglesias grows， “We Can” Party rapidly expands its political participation nationwide.

HoW FAR cAN“WE CAN” PARTY Go？

After the general election in December 2015， Spain’s political condition gets complicated. As none of the four major parties （People’s Party， Socialist Party， “We Can” Party， and Citizen Party） that made it into the parliament got an absolute majority， a hung parliament was born. As all parties failed in their endeavor to form a cabinet，Spain has entered the preparation stage for a new round of election on June 26th. Although “We Can” Party has many anti-tradition supporters， it is difficult to copy the political “miracle”of the Greek radical left-wing alliance. It also faces quite a handful of barriers to make it into the ruling alliance.

Under the current political party framework， “We Can” Party does not have advantage in terms of voter base. After the December election， the landscape of People’s Party and Socialist Party taking turns to rule has been broken， with both parties weaken but still possess broad influence， especially their advantageous status in the middle class. In the mean time， the Citizen Party， which won 14% of the vote and 40 parliament seats， is on the rise. “We Can” Party faces competition from the“new” and the “old” forces.

“We Can” Party’s relationship with Socialist Party is hard to mend in the short term. The attitude towards the“independence process of Catalonia”becomes the main barrier for the two parties to forge alliance. Although “We Can” Party is not for Catalonian independence， it supports a Scottish-style referendum，while the Socialist Party does not. Besides， ever since the negotiation to form a cabinet started， the Socialist Party has been dubious about “We Can” Party’s momentum to replace it. Thus it is inclined to forge alliance with Citizen Party to establish a minority government. Currently “We Can” Party aims to negotiate an alliance with the “United Leftwing” led by the Communist Party， in order to be the “game changer” in the following election.

Internally， its organizational mode and strategies may continue to be barrier to its future development. Organizationally， the party’s daily decision making and operation， election and mobilization are completed through effective operational system. Nontraditional tools like the internet cannot replace the function of traditional political parties. In terms of strategy，the anti-austerity radicalism is the major driving force for the rise of radical left-wing political parties in Southern Europe. But viewing from the practice of Greek radical left-wing ruling alliance， one can see how difficult it is to push for a process against neo-liberalism. Radical left can fan mass anger by populist slogans， but is incapable of coming up with effective alternative to cope with EU pressure and national economic difficulty. For “We Can” Party and the European radical left-wing politics in a broad sense， whether they are flash in the pan or a force to last， is still hard to tell.