Sanchez, Lenin, and Global Opposition to Trump

This past weekend, the self-proclaimed leaders of the global Left gathered in Barcelona to complain about Donald Trump and to declare that they are the real and legitimate representatives of the global masses, as they pushed back against the American president, his policies, and his purported destruction of the post-World War II institutions they profess to respect and cherish. The Global Progressive Mobilization conference, which drew some 6,000 elected representatives and activists from around the world, was organized and hosted by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has positioned himself as Trump’s chief international critic over the last several weeks. Sanchez said that he intends to turn Barcelona into a “hub of resistance” to Trump and the global Right and told the gathering that he will “twist the arm of the people who think they are completely untouchable.”

It is not entirely clear what Sanchez can actually do to twist anyone’s arm, literally or figuratively. As the prime minister of Spain, he oversees a lower-mid-tier EU economy and commands a lower-mid-tier global military. He talks a good game and proclaims to represent the morally superior political position, but his actions belie ulterior motives. He demands an end to American and Israeli tyranny and neocolonialism, even as he openly and unashamedly embraces ideas and partners that demonstrate, at best, an indifference to genuine tyrannical and colonial behavior.

Sanchez, it should be noted, is not merely Spain’s prime minister. He is also the president of something called the Socialist International. This organization has an interesting history, to say the least, and its members embrace an interesting set of beliefs about the world and how it works.

The Socialist International, which was founded in the aftermath of World War II, is the direct and explicit successor to the Second Socialist International, which was founded in 1889, collapsed at the start of World War I, and was officially dissolved in 1923. The Second Socialist International, in turn, was the direct and explicit successor to the First Socialist International, founded in 1864 and dissolved in 1876. The stories of the First and Second Internationals are fascinating in and of themselves and deserve a far longer and far more detailed retelling than can be provided here. That said, parts of those stories are relevant and provide needed context to Pedro Sanchez’s war against Trumpism.