Podemos Splits between the Errejón Camp and Iglesias’ as ‘Left Populism’ Fractures.
Podemos in Major Split.
Left wing populism’ in Europe is fracturing.
The strategy of unity the ‘people’ against the ‘elite’ the ‘caste’ is has not succeeded in unifying the left in the European countries where it has had the greatest impact.
In France we have this:
Now in Spain Podemos, which unlike La France insoumise has a real democratic internal life and national political leaders of some independent statue, has split.
(From Mike P)
Íñigo Errejón, best known to English language readers as the subject of an interview-book with Chantal Mouffe (In the Name of the People. 2016) stopped belonging to the Unidos Podemos parliamentary group on Monday afternoon. (El País. 22.1.19)
The division was announced a few days ago,
Íñigo Errejón, a top official at the group that he helped transform from an anti-austerity movement into a national force with parliamentary and institutional presence, on Thursday announced his decision to run for the Madrid regional premiership at the May election in alliance with Más Madrid, the party created by the mayor of the Spanish capital, Manuela Carmena.
El País, which few would suspect of sympathy for Podemos, also publishes a column which announces that
La ventana de oportunidad que alumbró el nacimiento de Podemos se ha cerrado definitivamente
The window of Opportunity opened at the birth of Podemos has closed definitely.
The above article, which refers to game theory and the Prisoner’s dilemma, point out that in these conditions the lack of co-operation may mean that neither will win.
Here are some extracts from an overview of this dispute: (El País, 18.1.19)
Podemos founders go their separate ways ahead of Madrid elections
Pablo Iglesias confirms party split and says he is saddened by the surprise news that his colleague Iñigo Errejón will run with the Madrid mayor in May
On January 17, the fifth anniversary of the creation of Podemos, two of its leading founders publicly confirmed the fracture of the left-wing party.
Íñigo Errejón, a top official at the group that he helped transform from an anti-austerity movement into a national force with parliamentary and institutional presence, on Thursday announced his decision to run for the Madrid regional premiership at the May election in alliance with Más Madrid, the party created by the mayor of the Spanish capital, Manuela Carmena.
Podemos Secretary General Pablo Iglesias said he was “saddened” by the surprise news, and wished Errejón “good luck building his new party.” He also confirmed that Podemos will be running with a candidate of its own at the May election, in direct competition with his former colleague.
A Marcos notes that their disagreements go back some time.
The differences between Iglesias and Errejón go back to 2016, when the former decided to join forces with the United Left (IU) in the general election. A few months later, in February 2017, Podemos held a congress to renew the party leadership and Errejón headed a current defending different political goals from those championed by Iglesias, whose views ultimately won out.
Then, in May of last year, Errejón ran in party primaries to find a candidate to the Madrid regional premiership. He won the nomination, but new problems arose when his first choice as a running mate was overlooked and a different person named without his prior knowledge or approval.
With four months to go before Spain holds local and regional elections, Madrid is not the only place where Podemos is running into trouble. In the northwestern region of Galicia, its En Marea coalition is breaking up. In Cantabria, the party is currently headed by an interim management committee. And in Barcelona, primaries will determine whether Podemos runs in the municipal elections with Mayor Ada Colau once again.
In May of last year, Iglesias survived a confidence vote when he put his leadership to the test after being heavily criticized for purchasing a €600,000 country house in Galapagar, a town northwest of Madrid, with his partner Irene Montero.
English version by Susana Urra.
There is more on this here:
From best pals to rivals: Merciless duel rages over the future of Podemos
(2017)
And here:
In the meantime today Podemos has seen fit to cause trouble for the Socialist led government by refusing to vote for legislation on housing and rents.
Podemos complica la vida al Gobierno en el Congreso
This development casts doubt on the ideas put forward by the best known theorist of Left Populism, Chantal Mouffe,
..this is the political strategy that I call “left populism”. Its purpose is the construction of a collective will, a “people” whose adversary is the “oligarchy”, the force that sustains the neoliberal order.
It cannot be formulated through the left/right cleavage, as traditionally configured. Unlike the struggles characteristic of the era of Fordist capitalism, when there was a working class that defended its specific interests, resistances have developed beyond the industrial sector. Their demands no longer correspond to defined social groups. Many touch on questions related to quality of life and intersect with issues such as sexism, racism and other forms of domination. With such diversity, the traditional left/right frontier can no longer articulate a collective will.
To bring these diverse struggles together requires establishing a bond between social movements and a new type of party to create a “people” fighting for equality and social justice.
We find such a political strategy in movements such as Podemos in Spain, La France Insoumise of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, or Bernie Sanders in the US. This also informs the politics of Jeremy Corbyn, whose endeavour to transform the Labour party into a great popular movement, working “for the many, not the few”, has already succeeded in making it the greatest left party in Europe.
Populists are on the rise but this can be a moment for progressives too
Many would say that the first basis of constructing a “collective will” is to have some unity on the left.
To construct a left.
This is obviously not the result of the politics of either La France insoumise or, now, Podemos. Podemos, naturally, as the Spanish press points out, has its own concerns, and difficulties, in recent electoral contests, such as in Andalusia.
More broadly Éric Fassin has summed up the central problems of ‘left wing’ populism during this debate (extracts).
Left-wing populism A legacy of defeat: Interview with Éric Fassin
Is it a good strategy? Does it work?
……
The problem with the populist strategy, for the left, is that it’s neither left nor a winning strategy. It was even less so during the latest presidential campaign in France: everyone played that same card at the same time, including Macron, with a rhetoric of ‘centre’ populism! Of course, my argument is not just about France. The same considerations apply to the United States. But another dimension becomes apparent there, thanks to the availability of racial data. Trump’s success is not so much among working-class voters in general, but more specifically among the white working class. In a left-wing populist strategy, the racial dimension of the Trump vote is underestimated, and the class dimension is overestimated – whereas it now seems clear that his critique of the establishment was always just an illusion.
….
Beyond differences, left-wing populisms share the same premise: replace the opposition between right and left by the one between ‘us’ and ‘them’, people from below and elites from above. Obviously, the caste is less numerous than the people: ‘we are the 99% and they are the 1%.’ Indeed. But then, how come it’s so difficult for left-wing populists to reach a majority in elections? This is why we need to differentiate sociology and politics – and not conflate them as populism tends to do. If the working class voted according to their common interest, clearly the left would be flourishing today. That is not the case.
….
Politics is not just about elections. But I think that populism itself is defined by an electoral project. Mélenchon is first and foremost a former and probably future candidate running for presidential elections. So, indeed, there is more to politics than elections; but my little book was written in a context of elections, as an attempt to reclaim the opposition between right and left at a time when the populist illusion seeks to define the terms of debate far beyond elections.
The discussion, which is much longer, has to be read as a whole.
I highly recommend Éric Fassin’s clear and short, Populisme: le grand ressentiment (2017) which Radical Philosophy says is being translated into English (the point above about constructing a left “construire une gauche” is taken from the conclusion).
For a broader international starting point the Wikipedia entry Left-wing populism is good.
Tendance Coatesy 
Why would El Pais not support Podemos? I have always found their coverage sympathetic.
Dave Roberts
January 23, 2019 at 4:12 am
I think it’s a left of centre of paper, clear and reliable, with a pluralist group of commentators. I buy it sometimes and do not just see it on-line.
The view about Podemos comes from their supporters.
Andrew Coates
January 23, 2019 at 1:02 pm
When it started after Franco there was a large PCE element involved but they have all died off or given up as far as I know. It has good reporting on Costa del Sol crime. I always look to see if anyone I know has been nicked or shot!
Dave Roberts
January 23, 2019 at 9:14 pm
A comment by the Trotskyist minority. https://vientosur.info/spip.php?article14551 Use goog translate for teh gist. If I read the following correctlyy, it seems that tehre are moves to marginalise the Trotskyist current. https://vientosur.info/spip.php?article14419
Jim Monaghan
January 29, 2019 at 1:23 pm