In January, Izquierda Unida (IU) leader Alberto Garzón and his comrade Yolanda Díaz became Spain’s first communist ministers since the Second Republic of the 1930s. Garzón took on the newly created Consumer Affairs ministerial role, while Díaz headed the Labor Ministry. They were joined in cabinet by multiple colleagues from the wider Unidas Podemos grouping, of which IU is part — most notably deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias – as the radical left alliance reached a coalition agreement with Pedro Sánchez’s center-left Socialist Party (PSOE).

None of these newly sworn-in ministers could anticipate what was to follow. Only two months after entering office, the coalition was faced with the full force of the coronavirus pandemic’s initial outbreak, as Madrid became one of the epicenters for the virus in Europe. The crisis this spring demanded emergency measures — and negotiations over a response at the European level. But the government now has entered a new phase of the effort to contain COVID-19, as a renewed surge in Spain’s infection rates threatens to collapse the primary care system in the capital and brings forward the prospect of fresh restrictions — and even a possible second lockdown.

But the coronavirus crisis isn’t the only problem hanging over the Sanchez. And his allies.. There are major differences among the partners of the alliance and the relative conservatism of its larger coalition partner in the PSOE, further limits the Left agenda along with the unreliable support coming from the government’s fragmented parliamentary majority, which currently depends on various smaller regional parties to make up the numbers.

Today, the government is fighting for its immediate survival, faced with the radicalization of the Spanish right. This latter hopes that the government will eventually be toppled under the weight of its own contradictions — and the multiple crises enveloping it. Shortly, the far-right party Vox is set to table a no-confidence motion in a bid to capitalize on the fallout from the pandemic, while a series of pending court cases look to eat away at the coalition’s legitimacy as part of a sustained campaign by right and corporate media. Amid all this, a fresh crisis within Spain’s scandal-ridden monarchy has exposed tensions between the coalition partners.

In a recent interview to the American leftwing magazine Jacobin,, the Spanish Consumer Affairs Minister Garzon said that the formation of this coalition in January represented a historic milestone in recent Spanish history. Not only was it the first coalition since Spain’s transition to democracy in the 1970s, but it was also the first to include ministers from parties to the left of PSOE. The coalition came to office already facing a series of major crises — such as the territorial crisis [around Catalan independence], the rise of the extreme right, and the economic fallout from the austerity years.

Yet — and this is how things go — the coalition partners, especially the combined Left IU led by Podemos were confronted very quickly with having to deal with a global pandemic, which has hit Spain particularly hard. The government’s response has centered on what we is called “the social shield” — a package of measures aimed at protecting the working class and the social majority from the economic fallout of the pandemic. The coalition govt has prohibited evictions and the cutting off of basic services like water and electricity, implemented a major furlough scheme [the ERTE scheme] that has basically involved nationalizing the payment of wages as well as introduced a guaranteed basic income to protect the most vulnerable sectors of society.

According to the Spanish communist minister, this response, with its clear focuses on social protection, was facilitated by presence in government and represents a clear contrast to how the previous crisis in 2010 was managed. Then, this govt saw further neoliberal reforms and austerity, but the coalition is now reinforcing public services and protecting working families. With a strict lockdown like the one implemented in the spring, the consequences are very unequal. It’s not the same being locked down in a 200-square-meter house and in a 70-square-meter apartment. Similarly, being able to continue with online classes if you are from a middle-class family is very different from a home with one computer between four children. So the coalition’s initial response has centered on dealing with these differential impacts.

The coalition is now faced with charting a path forward for the country amid an unprecedented economic crisis — which has seen GDP falling by 18.5 percent in the second quarter of 2020.

Obviously, right now, the government is in a very volatile moment with many unknowns — both in terms of the evolution of the pandemic and with regard to the other structural difficulties facing the country but it needs to continue protecting workers and businesses alike, and it looks likely that the ERTE furlough scheme will be extended beyond September. This is not simply an ethical necessity, but also a question of stimulating aggregate demand, then minister explained.

The government is also faced with the challenge of how to reactivate our economy, which has major weaknesses that need addressing. One thing that has been made evident in this crisis is that countries with a greater industrial base have endured better than those more dependent on services and tourism. Annually, Spain receives 18 million tourists from the UK alone, and the sector accounts for 12 percent of GDP. In normal times, this represents an opportunity, but it has left Spain very exposed during the pandemic. While protecting tourist industry, the government needs to advance a comprehensive program for the reindustrialization of Spain and for a just ecological transition.

According to Mr Garzon, at the heart of the problem is the way in which the European Union is structured economically, and the imbalances and divisions this creates. Europe is currently developing along a two-speed track. On one side, are Germany and other northern states — with a strong industrial base, oriented to exports, with manufacturing that requires high technology. Then, on the other end, there are southern peripheral states with little industrial diversification and dependent on low-value-added sectors. In Spain, as elsewhere in the South, the government has to be able to come out of this crisis with a more diversified productive structure so as to secure higher wages and better living conditions.

According to Garzon, a coalition with Unidas Podemos was not Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s first choice. In terms of the immediate response to the pandemic, the two parties have shown a united front, but faced with charting a path forward for the country; Sánchez now seems to want to move back to the center. In particular, he is distancing himself from the parliamentary pact with the pro-independence Esquerra Republicana Catalan Republican Left and is instead reaching out to the right-wing Ciudadanos over a possible budget agreement. Is there not a risk that Unidas Podemos’s weight in government could be reduced, as we enter a crucial twelve months for determining how Spain deals with this unprecedented economic crisis?

At the same time, the Spanish communist leader says the coalition’s principal challenge in Unidas Podemos is organizational. As for the European and international left more broadly, we need to reconnect with our traditions and social base, which primarily means rebuilding trade unions and other collective structures. A political strategy centered on discursive battles in the media — as proposed by left populism — might be able to reap enormous profits during favorable moments. But it is also very vulnerable when the tides shift and the winds turn against you. An initial electoral advance can be difficult to sustain if below, at a grassroots level, you have not constructed a series of trenches and dikes able to withstand the inevitable countermovement. That demands building such structures in neighborhoods and workplaces across the country. (IPA Service)