Left Unity - Statement of the Podemos Platform

[Die Neue Zeit]

Left Unity - Statement of the Podemos Platform (http://leftunity.org/statement-of-the-podemos-platform/)



The meteoric rise of Podemos into the mainstream of Spanish politics poses a number of questions for the British Left. We think that the methods used by Podemos can be effective in this country and that a shift of focus is needed in Britain. We are the Left and our focus is to empower the disenfranchised – this should be our explicit focus and message. In order to do this we need to connect with the ideas and perceptions that already exist widely in society that recognise and challenge inequality. We need to redefine politics from Left vs Right to Us vs Them, creating a new discourse that exposes the privilege of those who hold power in society.

Strategically we need to gather and focus existing anti-establishment feeling until we become its voice. Our task is to absorb as many as we can into the movement.

We need to find a new way of reaching a wider audience. We believe that we must be more populist and use the tactics and strategies of mass (and new) media in communicating a simpler message. We must harness the power of the media to get our message across by working smarter, not harder.

We propose

We create alternative media on the internet that provide a leftwing source of news and analysis to challenge the neoliberal mainstream media agenda.

We engage with television and radio outlets and pursue becoming a presence in populist media without being too precious.

We market our ideas in ways that reflect the sleek branding that people are used to seeing every day. This means creating a professional image, seeking PR assistance and taking our image seriously as a means to building a credible reputation for left ideas that constitutes a viable alternative to neoliberalism.

We believe in a new method of organising that is more radically participatory and therefore both engaging and demonstrative of a new approach. Our methods reflect our values and represent the kind of politics we want to create.

We propose

Experimental new formats of member assembly and action from the existing dry methods of meetings and protests. App and online voting, art workshops, skills shares, are some ideas.

Evaluate rigorously the success of each experiment and build a model of best practice.

Experiment with crowdfunding platforms and ask for donations to fund specific initiatives. Crowdfunding is a more democratic and engaging way of funding and making things happen.

Too much discourse in the existing left is alienating to the majority and instead we must address people on values they hold in language that is universally understood. It would do us well to shed the jargon and intellectual grandstanding.

We must be bolder, more passionate, creative, and more emotional than the British left has ever dared be before.

We must promote alternative narratives that interact on an emotional level, and in doing so we must articulate the public’s anger and frustration.

On the question of leadership and representation we must strike a balance between the hyper-democratic Occupy movement and the hierarchical politics that has existed in the left.

A physical presence is underestimated. The assemblies of the Indignados movement existed as hubs for radical thought that embedded alternative political discourse into communities. Creating a stable place to meet and assemble is an important step.

[Dodo]

ahaa, finally an awakening :D

[The Feral Underclass]

We believe that we must be more populist

So adopting anti-immigrant, anti-Europe, pro-austerity rhetoric?

[Per Levy]

Strategically we need to gather and focus existing anti-establishment feeling until we become its voice. Our task is to absorb as many as we can into the movement.

so how far will left unity go in order to "absorb" as many "anti-establishment" people as possible? other populist partys, as the 5 star movement in italy, have allready begun to use anti-immigration rethoric to gather more people around it. will left unity follow suit?


We need to find a new way of reaching a wider audience. We believe that we must be more populist and use the tactics and strategies of mass (and new) media in communicating a simpler message. We must harness the power of the media to get our message across by working smarter, not harder.

does simpler message mean that workers are just do dumb to get the message? and the message needs to be dumbed down so they finally get it?


We create alternative media on the internet that provide a leftwing source of news and analysis to challenge the neoliberal mainstream media agenda.

as there arnt literally hundreds of those internet medias trying to be just that. good luck with creating another one.


We market our ideas in ways that reflect the sleek branding that people are used to seeing every day. This means creating a professional image, seeking PR assistance and taking our image seriously as a means to building a credible reputation for left ideas that constitutes a viable alternative to neoliberalism.

exactly what the "people"(worker is just to alienating and oldfashiond) want, more politicians that are vague as hell, seem nothing like them and shout PR bs. also all this sounds like left unity wants to dupe people into becomeing "socialist" or "leftist".


Too much discourse in the existing left is alienating to the majority and instead we must address people on values they hold in language that is universally understood. It would do us well to shed the jargon and intellectual grandstanding.

as upper podemos people allready argue there arnt workers anymore. worker is therefore to oldfashiond and to intellectual, we just call them people now, that is vague enough and gives the petit bourgeoisie a nice invitation as well.

[RedWorker]

Podemos is a centre-left party which has given up nearly all demands, with a new programme not much different from the PSOE's. Podemos, slipping from the hands of the USFI section which created it, is now a dictatorship under the rule of Pablo Iglesias and his personal friends, who have dynamited the party model and betrayed all their own principles in a matter of weeks. As soon as the possibility of power opened up to them, they showed their true faces.

Pablo Iglesias opened up the party to a massive infiltration by centrist and liberal elements in order to assure his own power, allowing anyone to sign up from the Internet within 30 seconds, without any fee, and vote on whether he should be the leader and his party model should be followed. This was done because Podemos' real membership would not have blindly followed. This tactic was infamously used by Stalin in order to seize the CPSU, who started letting in a wave of members to support him.

Now, the party is united by a weak reformist platform with a programme hard to differentiate from the average social-democratic party. Podemos now makes nationalist and even militaristic appeals, and has openly adopted the language of the right-wing. The party and its key leaders, including Pablo Iglesias, have even openly declared: "We are neither left-wing nor right-wing". Note that this is a literal quote.

Among other things, Pablo Iglesias called for "a strong European army to face the United States", "being a patriot and putting the interests of the country beyond the individual", and has literally applauded to and praised the Pope, branding him as a progressive. He is an ego-maniac who puts his own interests beyond that of everyone else, puts his personal friends in key positions everywhere, makes use of pseudo-democratic structures to legitimatize his own power, and is always portraying himself as an "enlightened leader who will save the dumb masses". He has even openly declared that his personal friend Juan Carlos Monedero, who has not been elected or approved by anyone at all, and has no connection to Podemos at all other than being Pablo Iglesias' personal friend, and despite that has become one of the key leaders of the party, will be the next mayor of Madrid under Podemos.

Nearly everyone in key positions in Podemos are, in fact, Pablo Iglesias' personal friends, most of them from his workplace. Although the old Podemos programme was collaboratively elaborated, the new programme was merely written by a commitee appointed by Pablo Iglesias and approved by nobody, which felt that the old programme, about half a year old, was too "utopian". It has given up key demands such as unconditional basic income, nationalization of key sections of the economy, and has upped the calls for a retirement age from 60 to 65. Under the pseudo-democratic elections, 100% of the seats in Podemos' ruling council are held by Pablo Iglesias' faction. Pablo Iglesias has not only suppressed but in fact openly illegalized the only visible opposition, enacting new party rules which make it impossible for them to run for a position.

Pablo Iglesias is closer to Putin than anyone else, and his populist project is a fraud. He has contradicted everything he ever claimed to stand for and has become completely delusional. His political career has eaten up his personality, and he is completely devoted to his own personal power, and additionally a massive ego-maniac who wants everyone to worship him. Podemos has even started building a cult of personality around him.

[Marinaleda]

I really support podemos with this citizen assembly policy.But lake of economic policy is the biggest problem in podemos.Earlier they supported to nationalise strategic enterprises
I think They still support it too .They must changed their state capitalist logic.If they are really radical and communal democrats,then they must organise cooperatives and communes for communal economy not nationalising

[Dodo]

that sounds pretty bad redworker, where did you get all this info?

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

"A three-piece suit walks into a revolution."

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Podemos is a centre-left party which has given up nearly all demands, with a new programme not much different from the PSOE's. Podemos, slipping from the hands of the USFI section which created it, is now a dictatorship under the rule of Pablo Iglesias and his personal friends, who have dynamited the party model and betrayed all their own principles in a matter of weeks. As soon as the possibility of power opened up to them, they showed their true faces.

Pablo Iglesias opened up the party to a massive infiltration by centrist and liberal elements in order to assure his own power, allowing anyone to sign up from the Internet within 30 seconds, without any fee, and vote on whether he should be the leader and his party model should be followed. This was done because Podemos' real membership would not have blindly followed. This tactic was infamously used by Stalin in order to seize the CPSU, who started letting in a wave of members to support him.

Now, the party is united by a weak reformist platform with a programme hard to differentiate from the average social-democratic party. Podemos now makes nationalist and even militaristic appeals, and has openly adopted the language of the right-wing. The party and its key leaders, including Pablo Iglesias, have even openly declared: "We are neither left-wing nor right-wing". Note that this is a literal quote.

Among other things, Pablo Iglesias called for "a strong European army to face the United States", "being a patriot and putting the interests of the country beyond the individual", and has literally applauded to and praised the Pope, branding him as a progressive. He is an ego-maniac who puts his own interests beyond that of everyone else, puts his personal friends in key positions everywhere, makes use of pseudo-democratic structures to legitimatize his own power, and is always portraying himself as an "enlightened leader who will save the dumb masses". He has even openly declared that his personal friend Juan Carlos Monedero, who has not been elected or approved by anyone at all, and has no connection to Podemos at all other than being Pablo Iglesias' personal friend, and despite that has become one of the key leaders of the party, will be the next mayor of Madrid under Podemos.

Nearly everyone in key positions in Podemos are, in fact, Pablo Iglesias' personal friends, most of them from his workplace. Although the old Podemos programme was collaboratively elaborated, the new programme was merely written by a commitee appointed by Pablo Iglesias and approved by nobody, which felt that the old programme, about half a year old, was too "utopian". It has given up key demands such as unconditional basic income, nationalization of key sections of the economy, and has upped the calls for a retirement age from 60 to 65. Under the pseudo-democratic elections, 100% of the seats in Podemos' ruling council are held by Pablo Iglesias' faction. Pablo Iglesias has not only suppressed but in fact openly illegalized the only visible opposition, enacting new party rules which make it impossible for them to run for a position.

Pablo Iglesias is closer to Putin than anyone else, and his populist project is a fraud. He has contradicted everything he ever claimed to stand for and has become completely delusional. His political career has eaten up his personality, and he is completely devoted to his own personal power, and additionally a massive ego-maniac who wants everyone to worship him. Podemos has even started building a cult of personality around him.

Haha, yes, it's all the fault of that ego-maniac Iglesias. Except:

(1) Podemos hasn't changed. They've gone from slightly r-r-radical social-democratic rhetoric to slightly less r-r-radical social-democratic rhetoric. And more importantly;

(2) PORE brought Iglesias into the party and consciously built the party as a social-democratic, "the voters are scared of the word 'socialism'", milquetoast, "everybody-left-of-PSOE" coalition. They have no right to complain when the party turned out to be just that. The same thing happened with the IU, and the same thing will happen in a few years' time when PORE tries to form another social-democratic coalition.

[RedWorker]

Podemos hasn't changed.

It quite obviously has changed.


They've gone from slightly r-r-radical social-democratic rhetoric to slightly less r-r-radical social-democratic rhetoric

Isn't that exactly what I said? Have I ever said that Podemos was not social democratic?

[Per Levy]

allright, after all that has been said about podemos and how shit it is(being a nationalistic populist party, with some socialt tat tacked on it), id really like to know what the kauts, who supported left unity, think about this praise of pedemos and populism? also the same goes for every member and supporter of left unity, what are your opinions on the op in light of how shit podemos is?

[Die Neue Zeit]

so how far will left unity go in order to "absorb" as many "anti-establishment" people as possible? other populist partys, as the 5 star movement in italy, have allready begun to use anti-immigration rethoric to gather more people around it. will left unity follow suit?

The German worker-class movement didn't pander to socially conservative rhetoric, but did have socially conservative members in the ranks. In today's eastern German states, Die Linke's own supporters in Erfurt (as in the place of the Erfurt Program) and the rest of Thuringia tend to be socially moderate or socially conservative. When it comes to so-called "identity politics", the left should be a little more discretionary and focus on real political issues (like democratic deficits) as well as relevant socioeconomic issues (like pre-distribution).

It's a pity that some elements of the American "radical center" have, as Vladimir Innit Lenin said, adopted crap like anti-immigration rhetoric. However, one concrete example of the original "radical center" development is the absence of pandering to misogynist BS on the one hand, and persistently advocating for more female presence in corporate board rooms on the other. Where the f*** is the class politics in this s*** that was avoided?

In an organizational manner, I think the left should restrict "identity politics" issues to conduct unless there's some clearly socially reactionary law to be fought against (i.e., anti-gay BS in Russia), but then come down really hard on the conduct enforcement. This should be the opposite of combining progressive rhetoric with tolerance of socially reactionary expressions within (like the various phobias in the RCWP-RCP).


does simpler message mean that workers are just do dumb to get the message? and the message needs to be dumbed down so they finally get it?

That's classical agitation, something the left needs to step out of. Left agitation is hardly sleek or, should I say, "slick." Look at consumer ads to see where left agitation should go to be most effective.

And to hell with "reification" if anybody brings that poor attempt at a rebuttal up! When it comes to left agitation, there needs to be product identification, place distribution, and promotion strategy (but no price) from the realm of marketing.


as upper podemos people allready argue there arnt workers anymore. worker is therefore to oldfashiond and to intellectual, we just call them people now, that is vague enough and gives the petit bourgeoisie a nice invitation as well.

Oh, I'm sorta in agreement with you on the class independence question, hence my position on workers-only voting membership policy (which I bet even you don't support :p ). I don't recall putting in bold something that I fundamentally disagreed with.