United Left (Spain)

Foundation

The first organizational predecessor among the various left-wing parties that would later form United Left dates back to 13 February 1986, when an electoral coalition agreement was presented under the provisional name Left Alternative (Alternativa de la Izquierda), made up of the Progressive Federation and the Socialist Action Party, calling on the Communist Party to join the grouping.^[14] United Left (IU) was founded in the wake of the mobilizations demanding Spain's withdrawal from NATO in 1986, when the Civic Platform for Spain's Withdrawal from NATO (Plataforma Cívica por la Salida de España de la OTAN) – chaired by the writer Antonio Gala – brought together almost all of the country's left-wing organizations. Many of those organizations later joined the coalition "United Left Platform" (Plataforma de la Izquierda Unida).^[15] On 12 March 1986 a referendum was held in which voters chose to remain in NATO, although nearly seven million voted against.

The first meeting of the coalition took place on 27 April 1986 in the office of the lawyer Cristina Almeida, and was attended by the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC), the Socialist Action Party (PASOC), Republican Left (IR), the Progressive Federation (FP), the Humanist Party, and the Carlist Party.^[16] These parties would later be joined by the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) and the Workers' Unity Collective-Andalusian Left Bloc (CUT-BAI), as well as a number of independent politicians. A Political Commission was formed to run it, chaired by Gerardo Iglesias, secretary general of the PCE – a party that accounted for 80% of the coalition. On 29 April the coalition was formally established.^[17]

In June 1986, IU participated for the first time in a general election, winning seven seats (three more than the PCE in the previous general election) with 4.6% of the vote. In the 1987 municipal elections its results improved, winning 7.18% of the vote. However, that same year the Humanist Party was expelled from IU, among other reasons because of its connections with an Argentine sect known as La Comunidad.^[18] The Carlist Party was also expelled from the coalition.^[19] The Progressive Federation eventually left IU in 1987 and dissolved a year later, in 1988.

Up to that date, IU had run in elections with a symbol that included the logos of the PCE, PASOC, PCPE and FP,^[20][21] but in 1988 it launched a public competition to design a new logo. The result was a symbol with the I and the U in gray and green with a touch of red, with significant variations depending on the region where the candidacy was presented, incorporating regional flags or icons and changes in the initials or even entirely different marks, such as that of Ezker Batua in the Basque Country.^[22]

In January 1989 the PCPE also left the coalition, following the reincorporation into the PCE of its president and founder – Ignacio Gallego – together with eight thousand members, forty-eight members of the Central Committee and the majority of public officials. In February 1989 the 1st General Assembly was held, where it decided to abandon the coalition model and approved its new self-definition as a "political and social movement".^[23] Nearly a thousand delegates participated, of whom only 25% had been elected from among the parties integrated into the coalition, and the rest directly by members in the various autonomous communities. A Collegiate Presidency was elected – later renamed the Federal Presidency – which chose Gerardo Iglesias as federal coordinator.

In the 1989 general election, United Left had already become the third most-voted political force, reaching seventeen MPs with 9.07% of the vote.

Rejection of pacts with the PSOE

In November 1989 Gerardo Iglesias resigned as secretary general of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and as IU coordinator, and in the latter position he was replaced by Julio Anguita – mayor of Córdoba between 1979 and 1986, and a politician very well known at that time within the PCE. In November 1990 the 2nd Federal Assembly of IU was held, which confirmed Julio Anguita as coordinator, and which represented the transfer of political authority from the PCE and the other constituent parties to IU's own bodies. At that assembly it was agreed not to make pacts with the PSOE, considering that it had betrayed the "ideals of the left". However, the regional federations of Galicia, Catalonia and the Canary Islands had established themselves as autonomous bodies, in order to seek their own agreements. In the case of Initiative for Catalonia – which had succeeded the PSUC – its leader Rafael Ribó advocated seeking "the common home of the left", by making pacts with the PSOE.

In August 1991, a group of leaders of the PCE and the PASOC, supported by the secretary general of Workers' Commissions (CCOO), Antonio Gutiérrez, supported transforming IU into a political party by dissolving the forces that made it up, trusting that the 13th Congress of the PCE would be the last to be held, thus opposing Julio Anguita's line of maintaining party pluralism within the coalition.^[24][25] After the decision by United Left of the Valencian Country to register as its own political party, a majority sector of IU's Presidency opted to support it and grant full autonomy to the territorial federations; Julio Anguita, by contrast, chose to refer the decision to the Federal Political Council, resigning in protest at what he considered a breach of the party's rules.^[26] Ultimately, any dissolution of the PCE was rejected.^[27] United Left in the Canary Islands (ICU) was part of the Nationalist Canarian Initiative (ICAN) coalition for a few months in 1991. The rank-and-file members, dissatisfied with a project outside IU's federation and "shifted to the right" – because of the pacts it signed with the PP – revived the project of the PCE and of United Left in the Canary Islands in 1991 and 1992, respectively. Later, ICAN formed Canarian Coalition in 1993.

In 1992 Julio Anguita denounced what he saw as a PSOE and PP strategy to build a new two-party system, through a strategy of constant tension between the two parties, despite the fact that they shared the same economic model that generated corruption. Against this, Anguita defined what he called a "new way of doing politics".^[28] In IU's 3rd Assembly, held that same year, United Left debated the Maastricht Treaty in depth, deciding to oppose the European project it represented. Anguita was re-elected in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Federal Assemblies (1992, 1994, and 1997, respectively), although from 1992 onward he had to confront an organized internal opposition faction called "Democratic Party of the New Left" (Nueva Izquierda), of social-democratic tendency and supportive of the Third Way, which brought together part of the IU sectors outside the PCE. Numerically, New Left was a small sector, but it included prominent public officials and leaders – such as Nicolás Sartorius, Diego López Garrido, and Cristina Almeida – who appeared frequently in the media, and it largely favored consolidating IU as a political organization independent from the political groups that created it, to transform it into a party that would collaborate closely with the PSOE.

The "two shores" theory

In 1993 Julio Anguita announced a crisis of the state, since he believed the government of Felipe González (PSOE) was only "patching up" problems, betting on "profitable and fast" business, which led to corruption cases. He rejected precarious employment, company closures and the erosion of the industrial base, and highlighted the "substantial overlap" between PSOE and People's Party proposals and the falsity of a situation centered on verbal confrontation between González and José María Aznar, "which brings to mind the two-party system of Cánovas and Sagasta".^[29]

IU's general coordinator developed the theory of "the two shores" and the "sorpasso" (overtaking): the PP and PSOE were on the right bank, with neoliberalism, and IU on the left bank, with the workers. He also rejected having "leaders", considering that politics should be a collective task,^[30] as well as the "social pact" proposed by CCOO's new leadership with the government and employers' organizations.^[31] Also during this period, United Left became the first political organization in Spain to have an internal LGBTQ group, by creating ALEAS in 1994, an area devoted to the defense of affective-sexual freedoms.^[32]

In the 1995 municipal elections IU obtained 11.68% of the vote, which allowed several federations to form governing agreements with the PSOE in many town councils, especially in southern Madrid and in Andalusia. That same year Alternative Left joined as an internal current, formed by former members of the dissolved Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), and which eventually became Espacio Alternativo. In 1996 IU held primary elections in which Julio Anguita was chosen as the lead candidate for the next general election.^[33][34] In the March general election that year, IU surpassed 10% of the vote and managed to form a parliamentary group of 21 MPs, a result very similar to what the PCE had obtained in the 1970s.

Following the People's Party, led by José María Aznar, coming to power, tensions increased within IU. Anguita not only opposed the governing party, but also continued criticizing the PSOE and former prime minister Felipe González, for being mired in corruption and in policies contrary to his positions.

Expulsion of New Left

Tensions within IU continued until they had political consequences. On 25 May 1997 the national council of the Galician federation, Esquerda Unida-Esquerda Galega (EU-EG), decided – with state-level support from the Democratic Party of the New Left – to form a coalition with the PSdG in the regional election.^[35] The agreement, headed by the general coordinator, Anxo Guerreiro, went against the decision taken at the EU-IU national conference, as well as against the secretary general of the Communist Party of Galicia (PCG). The federal leadership of United Left disavowed the coalition and sanctioned the MPs of the New Left current who supported it. On 15 June 1997 the Treball festival was held amid strong tensions between IU and Initiative for Catalonia (IC). Rafael Ribó, president of IC and secretary general of the PSUC, continued defending alliances with the PSOE and rejected IU's criticism of the trade unions CCOO and Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) as well as the sanctions against the New Left MPs, by then already organized as a party within IU. He also supported the Esquerda Unida-PSOE coalition, disavowed by IU's leadership. By contrast, Julio Anguita defended left unity only through specific programmatic criteria and by rejecting the corruption that affected the PSOE.^[36]

In 1997 the three IU MPs belonging to New Left broke away from the rest of the parliamentary group and refused to reject the labor reform that created the "open-ended employment promotion contract", which made dismissal cheaper compared with the ordinary contract.^[37] IU's Executive expelled New Left members from the leadership and asked them to give up their seats as MPs,^[38] after which they decided to remain in Congress under the name Democratic Party of the New Left (PDNI). In September that year IU held its 5th Federal Assembly amid a serious crisis. The New Left party was expelled, with its members joining the PSOE. The federations controlled by that current (specifically those of Castilla–La Mancha and Aragón) were dissolved. The leaders of IC and EU-EG, with their executive committees, were also expelled.^[39] Part of EU-EG held an assembly in which they decided to maintain their relationship with United Left at the federal level and to run in regional elections under the name "United Left". Later, the courts granted IU's Galician federation the use of the name Esquerda Unida, and supporters of the former coordinator Anxo Guerreiro constituted Left of Galicia, which dissolved a few years later. Similarly, the IC sectors closest to IU's federal leadership left the party and formed PSUC viu, which would create, together with other parties, the coalition United and Alternative Left (EUiA), federated with IU.^[40] In December 1998 IU led demonstrations across the country after a year of mobilizing for a 35-hour workweek, with support from trade unions such as the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) or Unión Sindical Obrera (USO), as well as the critical sector of CCOO. By contrast, the leaderships of the major unions CCOO and UGT did not join. It was the start of a Popular Legislative Initiative that needed to collect 500,000 signatures to be launched.^[41] That year several organizations joined United Left: the Revolutionary Workers' Party (POR), the Revolutionary Party of the Workers (PRT), and New Clarity, affiliated with the International Marxist Tendency.

Illness and replacement by Francisco Frutos

In mid-1998, after reflecting on it and reaching agreement with other leaders, Julio Anguita resigned as secretary general of the PCE and was replaced by Francisco Frutos.^[42] Anguita argued at the time that the reason for his departure was his illness, although years later he acknowledged that this was only a pretext, and that what had happened was that the positions he had defended had been decisively defeated and he saw no point in continuing where he did not feel comfortable. He did not agree with a policy of unconditional support for the PSOE or for CCOO at the trade-union level, since he believed action should be based on ideas and the program.^[43]

Rapprochement with the PSOE and electoral decline

Gaspar Llamazares led IU while relying politically on the PSOE, with a policy of confrontation with the PCE, led by Francisco Frutos. At the Catalan level he restored relations with Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV), while at the same time maintaining United and Alternative Left (EUiA) as IU's formal affiliate in Catalonia. He likewise tried to give IU a more ecosocialist orientation, rather than a communist or libertarian one.^[44] In 2001, IU's then Basque federation, Ezker Batua (IU-EB), entered the Basque Government, making a pact with the conservative Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Eusko Alkartasuna (EA).

In 2001, Pablo Castellano stepped down as PASOC president and was succeeded by Luis Aurelio Sánchez, and PASOC left IU due to disagreements with Llamazares' new policy, while a splinter group (later called Left Socialist Initiative) remained within. On 2 March 2002 Republican Left also left the coalition,^[45] being unable to develop a clear political project within United Left, and Ángeles Maestro founded Corriente Roja within IU, representing the positions most critical of the leadership and closest to the Basque nationalist left (izquierda abertzale).

Internal conflict

During the European election, Corriente Roja, led by Ángeles Maestro, left the coalition due to strong disagreements with the leadership's policy, which it described as reformist. The PRT-IR did likewise. A month later, IU's Basque federation approved new statutes that included a change of name to Ezker Batua-Berdeak (EB-B), and under which the organization became a party independent of the federal leadership, associating with United Left through a protocol signed by Gaspar Llamazares. The PCE-EPK opposed this decision.^[46]

In December of 2004 the 8th Federal Assembly of United Left was held as an extraordinary assembly, after the crisis triggered by the coalition's successive electoral defeats and by division in its leadership. This assembly re-elected Gaspar Llamazares as federal coordinator, against his main opponent, Enrique Santiago, in a highly controversial process that some sectors described as irregular because Santiago's candidacy – backed by the Communist Party – and the list presented by Sebastián Martín Recio – backed by IU's most left-wing sectors – together totaled more than 50% against 49% for Llamazares' official list. Membership was 70,000.^[47]

The following year it updated its logo, changing it to a red logo set inside a square tilted to the left. This new logo, besides being a nod to its ideological spectrum, also sought to reduce costs by allowing campaign materials to be printed in a single color and to adapt better to any use.^[22]

On 25 January 2007, the federal leadership and the regional leadership of the Community of Madrid signed a "political agreement" under which Inés Sabanés would be the candidate for the presidency of the Community in the 2007 election and Ángel Pérez candidate for the city council, which drew criticism from IU's Political Council in the city of Madrid, which had chosen other candidates through an internal assembly process among party members in Madrid.^[48]

In June 2008 Coalition for Melilla joined United Left as a full federation in the autonomous city of Melilla.^[49]

Controversial postal-vote primaries

On 17 November an assembly of IU's Valencian federation was held, in which a new leadership would be elected, taking place amid a deep crisis with the internal current Esquerra i País, already organized as a party under the name Valencian People's Initiative (IdPV) and supported by ICV. Some IdPV members had then stopped paying dues as a protest measure against the regional leadership, and IU's federal leadership sent a letter warning that the assembly would be annulled if the regional leadership did not allow them to participate.^[50] The assembly went ahead and Antonio Montalbán was chosen as lead candidate, with the support of the PCPV, independents, and Espai Alternatiu.

IdPV challenged the Assembly, and although the petition was unanimously dismissed by the internal oversight body (the Sindicatura de Greuges d'EUPV), the federal leadership decreed primaries within EUPV by postal vote. In the primaries promoted by IU's federal leadership only 33.24% of the Valencian membership participated, choosing IdPV's candidate, Isaura Navarro, with 1,057 votes. EUPV's candidates did not participate and the leadership did not recognize those results, because the process had not been authorized by the legitimate regional body and in any case there had been no quorum (only 30 of the 87 members were present). Thus, in another referendum organized on 11 January 2008 by EUPV's Consell Nacional, Montalbán won with 1,299 votes.^[51] In January 2008, after EUPV's court request to suspend the primaries, the federal leadership recognized the results.^[52]

After the worst results in its history in the 2008 general election, in which United Left obtained only two MPs (won within the coalition with ICV), losing an MP in Madrid, another in Barcelona and the only one in Valencia, Gaspar Llamazares announced his intention to leave his post as general coordinator at the next assembly. In the Congress of Deputies, IU formed the Republican Left of Catalonia–United Left–Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ERC-IU-ICV) Parliamentary Group after the loan of two MPs from the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG). On 22 April 2008, former general coordinator Julio Anguita sent the PCE's Federal Committee a document defending the need for a "refoundation" of IU. In his letter, he attributed the electoral debacle to a "lack of a clear line" and to the absence of a coherent program. He defended radical democracy, the struggle for the Third Republic and federalism, both for the coalition's organizational model and for the state. In his view, the debate should begin at IU's next federal assembly.^[53][54] In July 2008 IU had 48,318 members.^[47]

9th Federal Assembly

On 15 and 16 November 2008 the 9th Federal Assembly was held in Rivas-Vaciamadrid, with the slogan Answers from the left (Respuestas por la izquierda). IU's federal presidency lowered to 5% the number of endorsements required to present candidacies, of which there were ultimately five:

That of Cayo Lara, general coordinator of IU in Castile-La Mancha and consensus candidate of the PCE for the list Otra IU es Posible ("Another IU is possible"), which obtained 43% of the vote. That of Inés Sabanés, of the "Llamazarista" current known as IU Abierta, which obtained 27% support. That of senator Joan Josep Nuet, candidate of the Nacional-II or "third way", built around Catalan, Madrid, and Aragonese leaders, which in the previous assembly had supported Gaspar Llamazares, obtained 19% of the vote. That of Haizea Miguela, of Ezker Batua, supported by critical sectors of the Basque and Murcian Communist Party of Spain as well as an Extremaduran majority, which obtained 6% support.^[55] That of Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, leader of CUT-BAI, also backed by Call for Andalusia, which received 5% support among those present.^[56]

The assembly concluded without choosing a new Federal Coordinator to replace Gaspar Llamazares, due to disagreement among the coalition's different currents. A commission, chaired by the most-voted candidate, Cayo Lara, was tasked with preparing the call for the full Political Council (at the assembly only half is elected, 90 members; the other 90 are elected by territorial federations).^[57]

Finally, the Federal Political Council, convened on 14 December, elected Cayo Lara as the coalition's federal coordinator with 55.08% of the vote, against the Nacional II candidate Joan Josep Nuet. IU Abierta had designated Eberhard Grosske as its candidate,^[58] but ultimately preferred to withdraw him and abstain.^[59]

On the other hand, on 22 November,^[60] Espacio Alternativo approved a resolution by which it definitively abandoned its integration in United Left,^[61] organizing itself as a political party with the intention of running in the 2009 European election under the name Izquierda Anticapitalista, although most of its members in the Valencian Community continued participating within EUPV, notably the economist Manolo Colomer and Antonio Arnau, who was responsible for social movements in EUPV.

Anti-capitalism and internal plurality

Cayo Lara, despite representing the PCE within IU, included from the outset representatives from all the party's sectors and factions into IU's new leadership. In his first public speech, Lara mentioned the poor, the unemployed, and people burdened by mortgages, and called for a general strike which he considered necessary, urging IU to abandon internal struggles and to focus on what was really happening in the country.^[62]

In the 2009 European election IU repeated its coalition with ICV, called "The Left", which, although it fell slightly in support, stabilized the decline by obtaining practically the same backing as in the previous election: 3.71% of the vote. Although IU-ICV had agreed to integrate into the same European political group, ICV broke the pact and joined the Greens/EFA group, so IU decided on 27 June 2009 not to renew it on the same terms.^[63]

In November 2009 the state attorney general Cándido Conde-Pumpido revealed that there were 730 open cases for alleged corruption against public officials from political parties, with 20 of them (2.7%) corresponding to United Left.^[64][65]

Refoundation of the Left

On 28 November 2009 IU approved a "Refoundation of the Left" initiative, which sought not only to refound IU but the refoundation of the entire left into a "stronger, anti-capitalist, transformative and republican political force", calling on all sectors of the alternative left in a process of "accumulation of forces" (building up political support).^[66][67] The refoundation sought convergence with the extra-parliamentary left and even with left-wing sectors disenchanted with the PSOE.^[68]

But this process did not take place in all federations and was implemented unevenly, as in the case of IU's Asturian federation, United Left of Asturias – a base of support for Open Left which kept the Communist Party of Asturias expelled and did not participate in the 1st Refoundation Assembly.^[69] For its part, IU's Madrid federation leadership (United Left of the Community of Madrid, IUCM) had chosen the electoral candidacies proposed by Ángel Pérez a month before that assembly,^[70] prompting harsh criticism. That same year the regional MPs in the Assembly of Madrid Inés Sabanés^[71] and Reyes Montiel^[72] left for Equo.

On 24 September 2010 United Left also reached an agreement with The Greens–Green Group, calling on both organizations to advance in processes of political and social convergence. The agreement included creating a joint working group to develop a New Political Program, meant to overcome capitalism, that could represent the full range of left-wing political, ecological, feminist, and pacifist organizations.^[73] This agreement broke down shortly thereafter and ended up in court for breach of the agreed and signed accords.^[74]

The first federation to complete the first phase of refoundation was United Left of the Balearic Islands (EUIB), which temporarily constituted itself as Alternative and Green Left,^[75] and later returned to its original name. In Galicia, events were organized in several regions, including one in Santiago de Compostela attended by representatives of the Real Academia Galega and forces such as Workers' Commissions (CC.OO.), the Galician People's Front, the Central Unitaria de Traballadores, and the Marcha Mundial das Mulleres.^[76]

On 26 June 2010 the 1st Federal Assembly was held, marking the beginning of the nationwide refoundation process, in which social organizations of all kinds participated: unions from different professional sectors, neighborhood associations, pro-LGBTQ rights groups, and even the Foro por la Memoria. Observers included Batzarre, Zutik, CC.OO., UGT, ICV, Foro Mundial de Alternativas, and the Foro por la Memoria. At that assembly the support of Republican Left (an organization that ultimately rejoined the coalition^[77]) for the Refundación de la Izquierda process was made public.^[78]

One of the fundamental agreements of this refoundation process was the creation of a mechanism to verify membership rolls in the Federal Executive Commission, which was launched in September 2009. With the updating of the rolls it was found that the number of members was lower than had been believed.^[79]

As a result of this process, alliances were established such as that between Batzarre and United Left of Navarre (IUN), which on 29 January 2011 presented the electoral brand Izquierda-Ezkerra,^[80] which, after a vote of both organizations' members, decided to run in municipal and regional elections to generate an open left-wing political movement that would bet on unity across the different left-wing forces in Navarre,^[81] with an electoral program drafted through a participatory process.^[82]

Republican Left also rejoined IU after a nine-year split between the two organizations.^[83][84]

Social Convocation and the Plural Left

On 4 July 2011 IU announced at a press conference the "Social Convocation" process (Convocatoria Social), an invitation to the public to participate in drafting a program through open assemblies, as well as the intention to hold a series of meetings with other left-wing political forces in order to run in the next general election.^[85]

As a result of these meetings, IU ran in the general election in Navarre in the Izquierda-Ezkerra coalition,^[86] in Aragón with the Chunta Aragonesista (CHA),^[87] in Catalonia with ICV, in Extremadura with SIEX, in Ceuta with the Democratic and Social Party of Ceuta,^[88] in the Canary Islands with Initiative for El Hierro (IpH), Canaries for the Left (CxI) and the Party for Public Services and Public Employees (PSyEP), in Melilla with Coalition for Melilla, and in several other constituencies with green parties such as The Greens of the Valencian Country (EVPV), Gira Madrid–The Greens (GM-LV), The Greens–Green Option (EV-OP), Greens of Asturias, Greens Initiative, and Ecosocialists of the Region of Murcia.^[89][90] In the case of the Basque Country, IU broke with Ezker Batua amid an internal crisis, and Ezker Anitza was formed as the new Basque federation, supported by regional coordinator Mikel Arana and the PCE-EPK.

In addition, for the Senate it expanded the alliance in Murcia with Equo and Movimiento por Santomera^[91] and in Catalonia with Catalan Agreement of Progress.^[92]

Finally, it ran in the 2011 general election for the Congress of Deputies, with Cayo Lara as lead candidate,^[93] together with twelve other political forces under the name Plural Left,^[94] obtaining 1,680,810 votes (6.92% of valid votes), rising to eleven MPs (two from ICV and one from CHA, plus one from EUiA) and recovering its Parliamentary group; the best result since 1996 under Julio Anguita.^[95]

According to the Court of Auditors, in 2011 IU was one of seventeen parties in technical bankruptcy, that is, with negative net worth, specifically 8,520,508 euros.^[96]

In 2012 elections were held in Asturias and Andalusia, Galicia and Catalonia, in which IU increased its representation. In Andalusia, IULV-CA doubled its MPs compared with 2008, from six to twelve, obtaining 437,445 votes (11.34%) and holding the balance of power; in Asturias it was the only force represented in the parliament that grew compared with the previous year's election, reaching 68,827 votes and one additional seat, ultimately holding five regional MPs;^[97] in Galicia IU's Galician federation, Esquerda Unida, ran within the Galician Left Alternative coalition together with Renewal–Nationalist Brotherhood, Equo, and Espazo Ecosocialista Galego, with that electoral grouping surpassing the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG), obtaining 13.99% and nine seats; and in Catalonia ICV-EUiA obtained 13 seats (three for EUiA) and 9.89% of the final count, positioning itself as the fifth-largest electoral force.

In Madrid, although in the previous regional and municipal elections, according to The Greens–Green Group, about one hundred of its members had been elected as councillors, some of them in coalition with IU,^[98] on 26 April 2012 its president Esteban Cabal declared the coalition broken, claiming IUCM had breached the agreements, accusing them of behaving like "criminals", while Gira Madrid-The Greens, which did not win any councillor, kept its agreement with IU.^[99]

At the end of 2012 IU held its 10th Assembly, in which Cayo Lara was re-elected coordinator unanimously and the Federal Political Council was renewed with social-movement activists and trade unionists, as well as representatives of all the organization's currents.^[100] In 2013 the organization had 36,000 members.^[101]

In 2013 Coalition for Melilla, after five years forming IU's federation in the autonomous city, decided to detach itself, so from then on United Left formed its own federation there.^[102]

In April 2014 the Sevillian businessman José Antonio González stated before judge Mercedes Alaya that he had delivered 70,000 euros to an IU official as an alleged quid pro quo for awarded contracts.^[103] The organization considered the claim unsubstantiated and requested that, before giving it credence, the allegedly involved person be identified.^[104]

2014 European election and internal crisis

Ahead of the 2014 European election United Left again chose Willy Meyer as lead candidate for the third time, despite internal voices calling for renewal of candidates and selection methods.^[105][106] Although the Plural Left list in which IU participated was the third political force with 1,575,308 votes (10.03%) and six seats (out of 54), a gain of four seats compared with the previous European election,^[107] Podemos, a recently created left-wing party that selected its candidates through open primaries, was the fourth most voted (7.98%), obtaining five seats.^[108] For several media, Podemos was "the surprise" of the election and a warning to IU, which had not managed to capitalize on existing social discontent.^{[109][110][111]} Podemos surpassed IU in five autonomous communities, including the Community of Madrid.^[112]

On 25 June 2014 Willy Meyer announced his resignation, before taking up his seat, after it became public that the pension fund for MEPs in which he participated was managed by a SICAV in Luxembourg,^[113] and he was replaced by the next person on the list, Javier Couso.

In January 2015 IU organized for the first time in its history open primaries for supporters, to choose IU's next candidate for the Congress of Deputies. Of the 82,177 on the roll, 47,082 were supporters (more than 57%) and 35,095 were dues-paying members.^[114] Finally Alberto Garzón was elected as the candidate, the only candidate to secure enough endorsements to run.^[115]

Accountability purge in IUCM

In February 2015 a crisis erupted in IU's Madrid federation (United Left of the Community of Madrid, IUCM), following the regional leadership's refusal to hold those responsible for the Bankia (Caja Madrid) "black cards" case politically accountable, which led IU's newly chosen candidate for president of the Community of Madrid, Tania Sánchez, to leave, along with a group of around 60 members^[116] who founded a new party called Call for Madrid.^[117]

The rest of the Madrid federation's critical sector did not leave IU, although several local assemblies, the Communist Party of Madrid (PCM) and the nationwide Communist Youth Union of Spain (UJCE) broke with the regional leadership and referenced only IU at the federal level.^[118][119] After IUCM's leadership informed Ahora Madrid of its intention to present its own candidate list in the municipal election,^[120] following a referendum disavowed by IU's federal leadership,^[121] Mauricio Valiente was forced to choose between IUCM membership and running in Ahora Madrid's primaries; he chose to request official confirmation that he had left the federal-level IU, claiming IUCM had expelled him, and ran in Ahora Madrid's primaries after consulting assemblies.^[122]

Also in February, the Unitarian Candidacy of Workers (CUT), a political party affiliated with IU since its foundation in 1986, definitively left due to disagreement with the "policy of forming pacts" that, in its view, IU's Andalusian federation was carrying out with the PSOE.^[123] This meant that from that moment on, members of that party could continue to appear on IU lists, but could also seek alliances with other political groups.

In the 2015 municipal and regional elections, IU suffered a sharp decline in regional parliaments, obtaining only fourteen MPs (five in Andalusia, one in Aragón, five in Asturias, one in Castile and León, and two in Navarre). However, at the municipal level it increased when councillors elected under its own lists were added to those obtained in unitary "popular unity" lists, some of which won mayoralties in Spanish provincial capitals and other cities.^[124]

"Popular unity" candidacies and the 2015 general election

Considering that "popular unity" candidacies were "the only path" to win the December 2015 general election, IU's candidate for prime minister, Alberto Garzón, proposed that his organization support this option; 91% of IU's leadership supported the initiative on 5 June, beginning talks with leaders of other left-wing parties.^[125] A few days later, on 14 June, the federal leadership severed ties with IUCM, whose leadership had breached federal agreements on accountability in the Bankia case and on convergence with other political forces, announcing the creation of a new IU federation in the Community of Madrid, organized through local and district grassroots assemblies, supervised by the federal leadership.^[126]

In July 2015 the citizen platform Ahora en Común was launched, aiming to create a candidacy for the December 2015 general election in which all left-wing parties, social organizations and independent people would come together. At that time, officeholders from Podemos, IU, Equo and municipalist candidacies joined.^[127] In September IU approved joining this initiative, hoping it would serve as a forum bringing together all political forces.^[128] Podemos' leadership refused to join and only favored agreements in some autonomous communities.^[129]

Finally, the three promoters of the initiative announced their departure from Ahora en Común, taking with them the "Ahora en Común" brand they had registered both with the Ministry of the Interior and the Patents and Trademarks Office, since Podemos had not joined and because they considered the platform had become a battleground for disputes among political parties.^[130] After the announcement of nationwide primaries in Ahora en Común, Equo left the platform, considering that the primaries did not help convergence with Podemos.^[131] Those who remained continued under the name Popular Unity in Common,^[132] and the coalition that appeared on ballots as "Unidad Popular: Izquierda Unida, Unidad Popular en Común (IU-UPeC)" was also formed,^[133] formed by IU and Unidad Popular en Común itself, plus Chunta Aragonesista, Izquierda Asturiana, Batzarre-Asamblea de Izquierdas, Construyendo la Izquierda-Alternativa Socialista, Segoviemos, and Izquierda Castellana.

In October open primaries were held to choose Popular Unity's candidates, using the Dowdall method previously used in Ahora Madrid, with list positions ordered by gender-parity criteria.^[134] Alberto Garzón won the primaries for prime-ministerial candidate with 23,712 (96%) out of a total of 24,615, having run against thirteen other candidates.^[135]

In Galicia IU joined the En Marea coalition, together with the municipalist "Mareas", Anova and Podemos, agreeing that MPs elected under that candidacy would form their own parliamentary group independent of the state-level ones.^[136] Similarly, in Catalonia IU's reference EUiA joined the Together We Can coalition, together with Barcelona Together, ICV, and We Can, also agreeing that its MPs would integrate their own parliamentary group.^[137] In addition, in Navarre, the Izquierda-Ezkerra political group (in which IU and Batzarre are integrated) supported the Cambio-Aldaketa candidacy for the Senate, together with Geroa Bai, EH Bildu, and Podemos.^[138]

In the December 2015 general election the Popular Unity electoral coalition collapsed in votes and won only two MPs in the Madrid constituency.^[139] These poor results reflected not only the weak relationship between votes and seats in Spain's electoral system, but also the enormous rise of Podemos.^[140]

Electoral agreement: Unidos Podemos

On 20 April 2016 some media reported that Podemos and Popular Unity (IU-UP) were negotiating to present a joint list, in view of possible new general elections in June.^[141][142] That same month, more than a hundred intellectuals and artists such as El Gran Wyoming, Antonia San Juan, Carlos Bardem, Fernando Tejero, and Luis Tosar signed a manifesto calling on Podemos, IU, the existing territorial "confluences" and other political groups to group together and "join forces" for the next elections.^[143] Toward 30 April, both parties stated that formal talks had begun for a possible coalition.^[144]

Initially IU submitted the potential agreement with Podemos to a vote of its members, held between 2 and 4 May.^[145] The results were 84.5% in favor of the agreement.^[146] Negotiations also began on a minimal common program, although IU and Podemos opted to keep their maximal programs intact.^[147][148] On 9 May, Pablo Iglesias and Alberto Garzón officially announced that a pre-agreement had been reached to present a joint list of candidates in the next general election. The pact guaranteed that one sixth of the candidates obtained by the coalition (according to forecasts and not counting regional coalitions such as En Comú Podem, En Marea, and És el moment) would belong to IU candidates; it also preserved each party's identity.^[149] Podemos and IU held separate votes of their members on 10 and 11 May to confirm convergence,^[150] with IU's consultation achieving higher participation and more supporting votes among the 22,321 members and 49,720 supporters called to vote.^[151][152]

11th Federal Assembly

On 26 and 27 May online and on 29 May in person at branch offices, IU's membership elected the new leadership ahead of the 11th Federal Assembly, for the first time through primaries, with turnout of 40.2% among the membership. Alberto Garzón's list was chosen with 74.7% of the vote, against MEP Paloma López Bermejo, backed by Cayo Lara, who obtained 20.8%, while Tasio Oliver, backed by Gaspar Llamazares and Izquierda Abierta, achieved 4.6%.

On 3 and 4 June the 11th Federal Assembly of IU was held, in which Alberto Garzón was officially elected as the new general coordinator. The vote results gave Garzón's team, made up of a new generation of leaders, enough support to shape the organization's future.^[153][154]

Break with EUiA

On 8 June 2019 United Left approved temporarily suspending the protocol with United and Alternative Left, after learning that EUiA members had launched a political project called Sobiranistes. It also agreed to call an open assembly in Catalonia to explain this decision to EUiA members who supported IU's coalition strategy and program; the assembly was eventually held on 3 July 2019 in Sant Adrià de Besòs (Barcelona) and attended by Alberto Garzón. This call has been seen as a first step toward creating an IU Catalan federation that would be called United Left Catalonia, although it says its aim is to "recover EUiA".^[155]

Expulsion of the Feminist Party

On 4 December 2019 the Feminist Party of Spain issued a statement criticizing legislative proposals put forward by Podemos, a party integrated into the Unidas Podemos coalition, of which IU was part.^[156] The statement generated much controversy, to the point that IU's LGBTQ wing (ALEAS-IU) called for the party's expulsion from the coalition.^[157] Finally, on 22 February 2020 IU's Political and Social Assembly approved the expulsion of the Feminist Party for repeated breaches of statutes and for maintaining positions contrary to those adopted by IU's governing bodies, ending five years of the party's integration into the coalition since joining in 2015.^[158][159]

IU in the Government of Spain (since 2020)

In the April 2019 general election United Left renewed its agreement with Podemos in the Unidas Podemos coalition.^[160] In the November 2019 general election the party, within Unidas Podemos, won six MPs. The electoral coalition made a pact with the acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez (PSOE), establishing a coalition government between Unidas Podemos and the PSOE.^[161] In this way Unidas Podemos obtained five of the 22 ministries in the Second Sánchez government. Of those five, one went to Alberto Garzón: the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.^[162][163] It was the first time in IU's history that it became part of the Government of Spain and the first time since 1939 that a member of the Communist Party of Spain did so.^[164]

In the 23 July 2023 general election United Left did not renew the Unidas Podemos coalition and instead became one of the founding members of the Sumar electoral coalition, led by Yolanda Díaz.^[165] In that election Sumar won 31 MP seats in the Congress of Deputies, of whom five belonged to United Left.^[166] After Alberto Garzón's departure, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs was abolished, with its functions transferred to the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030;^[167] IU continued in the Council of Ministers with the same level of representation as in the previous term, this time with the Ministry of Youth and Children, headed by Sira Rego.^[168]

Communist Party of Spain (PCE)

In 1986, the PCE promoted United Left (IU) and participated with other political forces in its foundation, initially as an electoral coalition and later as a federation of parties.^[16]

Republican Left

It was part of United Left (IU) from its creation in 1986, playing an active role in the coalition until 2002, when it broke away due to disagreements with the leadership of Gaspar Llamazares.

On 19 June 2010, part of its membership decided to participate in the process of Refoundation of the Left promoted by the new leadership of Cayo Lara, and on 6 February 2011, the party's return to United Left and it was confirmed that its members would again stand on IU lists,^[77] although the sector opposed to this integration split off to create Republican Alternative.^[173]

Communist Youth Union of Spain (UJCE)

La Aurora (OM)

La Aurora Marxist Organization was founded in 1974 as the Revolutionary Workers' Party of Spain (PORE) and joined United Left in 1998. In 2005 it created the Redes current within IU.^[174] Its most active section, the one in Catalonia, is integrated into United and Alternative Left (EUiA) through the Bastida current, while in the Basque Country it was integrated into Ezker Batua-Berdeak through Sarea/Redes (although part of the POR left the coalition in 2011 to call for a vote for Amaiur through the Erabaki collective).^[175] In 2013 it changed its name to that of its publication, La Aurora.

Ecosocialists of the Region of Murcia

On 15 November 2010, the Regional Political Council of IU in Murcia unanimously approved the admission of a new political organization, Ecosocialists of the Region of Murcia, made up of people from outside the left-wing coalition as well as independent members already associated with it, and established with the objective, according to its statutes, of working in coordination with United Left to "transform society on the basis of the principles of social ecology, participatory democracy, and socialism".^[176]

Initiative for El Hierro

On 23 December 2010, United Left met in El Hierro with representatives of the leadership of Initiative for El Hierro, where the political agreement reached by the two political organizations was finalized. The agreement, ratified by the general assembly of Initiative for El Hierro, meant the recognition of this political force as United Left's sole affiliate in El Hierro, while retaining its own political identity and autonomy. Both sides maintain that the agreement reached aims to go beyond a simple electoral alliance and enable the process of reorganization of the broader Canarian alternative left.^[177]

Broad Front of Madrid

Broad Front was formed in 2013 as an internal current within IUCM,^[178] but in 2015 they announced that they were forming a political party within IU.^[179] After the expulsion of United Left of the Community of Madrid from United Left, Broad Front of Madrid joined as a constituent party of United Left–Madrid, the new Madrid federation of United Left.

Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya-Viu (PSUC Viu)

Joventut Socialista Unificada de Catalunya (JSUC)

Critical sector of Comunistes de Catalunya (CC)

Independent members critical of United and Alternative Left (EUiA)