Version imprimableThese protests have succeeded in shifting the public debate, against a backdrop of the rising influence – both internationally and nationally – of the far right and the radicalised right. The government believes this context is more favourable for securing a mandate at the polls, presenting these elections as a referendum pitting its progressive agenda against the reactionary tide.
However, we must take a broader view of the current situation.
The protests and encampments are the result of a problem which, for eight years, the coalition governments – first between the PSOE and Podemos, then between the PSOE and Sumar – have been unable to address and resolve. At a time when the progressive camp is attempting to present itself as the sole guarantor of solutions to the working class’s problems, we must strengthen the mobilisation, giving it a united yet independent character, and putting forward our own programme centred on the general strike. We must tackle the issue of ownership of the major vulture funds and banks, work towards the idea of a planned housing stock under social control, demand an immediate 50 per cent reduction in rents and cap rents at 20 per cent of wages, thereby limiting the profits of rentiers. It is also essential to maintain strong mobilisations, such as those in the education sector, in support of Palestine, or wage struggles within workplaces. We say this openly: all social gains have been achieved through the mobilisation and strength of workers; we must neither delegate nor place our trust in capitalist governments for this.
That is why we must keep the possibility of a general strike for housing on the table, and work towards making it a reality. A united strike, which will inevitably take on a hybrid character: certain sectors will want to use it to legitimise the failed policies of progressivism, but this is a tremendous opportunity for us, the anti-capitalist sectors, to work towards spreading our programme and our methods of struggle.
We know that many workers, concerned about the rise of the far right, will vote for the progressives as the lesser of two evils: we must work to establish structures of popular power that will enable us, regardless of who wins, to sustain and expand the cycle of struggles, so that we may glimpse other horizons. On the major issues, the right is preparing large-scale attacks; progressivism offers nothing but the continuation of a policy that has run its course, one that does not oppose capital and fails to move beyond a system that is increasingly dangerous for the social majority.
This is why it is more necessary than ever to maintain and expand the ongoing struggle and political independence and, where this is viable and possible within such a short timeframe, to actively support and build alternatives such as Adelante Andalucía, which act as a brake on the far right without compromising with capitalist management. Moving forward towards the widespread adoption of these initiatives, broadening the scope of what is possible towards an eco-socialist transformation and placing the class struggle at the heart of our concerns, is the best way to confront the rise of the far right that is sweeping across the world.
5 October 2026
Translated by International Viewpoint from Anticapitalistas.
