Sanchez trades with Israel and increases military spending

The Spanish “example” put to test

Italian version

The ‘Spanish example’ is on the lips of the reformist left around the world. As in Italy.
The Sanchez government is cited as ‘proof’ of the viability of reformism, of a possible progressive bourgeois government capable of uniting the so-called radical left with the moderate and liberal left. A government capable of maintaining a positive relationship with social movements and their demands, exposing itself to their pressures and influences.
In particular, pacifist demands and calls for solidarity with Palestine would have found an exemplary reference point in the Sanchez government: Sanchez rejecting the US request for 5% investment in arms, Sanchez decreeing an embargo on Israel... what better example of a progressive stance?

However, as always, bare facts disrupt the narrative.

The Spanish government has more than doubled its spending on armaments, bringing it from 0.9% of GDP to over 2%. The 23 December Council of Ministers meeting added another two billion. Thirty-three billion in total defence spending. Not “for Ukraine”, of course, but for military trucks, submarines, supplies for the navy's arsenals, the Rota naval base... In other words, for the military force of Spanish imperialism. “Spain is a reliable partner and one of the countries that best respects its commitments within the Atlantic Alliance” said the Spanish Minister of Defence (Il Manifesto). We can well believe her.

At the same time, the Sanchez government has granted a licence for the transfer of Israeli defence equipment to Airbus, the European aerospace and defence big company. This comes at a time when Spain is already one of Europe's leading players in military trade with the Zionist state.

But wasn't it Sanchez who announced the embargo on Israel? Yes, of course, but with a loophole clause whereby the embargo could be circumvented for reasons of... general national interest. Evidently, the general national interest of Spanish imperialism is to supply Airbus with dual-use Israeli technology.
Six hundred Spanish organisations in solidarity with Palestine, which had already criticised the ambiguity of the embargo resolutions, are now rightly denouncing Sanchez government's decision as complicity with Israel.

The “radical” left partners in the government (Sumar) stammers. The left that has now been marginalised by the government (Podemos) “criticises” but suffers. The Italian left-wing newspaper Il Manifesto, traditionally supportive of Sánchez, speaks of a Spanish left that “struggled to react” to such a “sudden shock decision”.
But the point is not the difficulty of reacting, but the effect of the compromise. Do Sinistra Italiana (Italian Left), Rifondazione Comunista (Communist Refoundation Party) and Potere al Popolo (Power to the People) have anything to say about this? Rifondazione Comunista, in particular, has long identified the Sanchez government's experience as its own point of reference for the heartily desired recomposition with the Italian centre-left. Can they now remain silent in the face of these facts?

The point is the bourgeois nature of the Sanchez government. Of course, the Spanish right is much worse than Sanchez. But it is the "lesser evil-ism" that prepares the worst, as always.

The building of a revolutionary left is on the agenda everywhere, including Spain. This is the work of the International Socialist League.