In the spring of 2023, it seemed highly likely that Spain was going to be governed by a coalition with a far-right party, for the first time since its transition to democracy in the 1970s. Populist party Vox was poised to form a government with the conservative Popular Party – since the PP had done tremendously well in local and some regional elections, and had demonstrated its willingness to work with Vox. The snap national election that followed, in July 2023, was not so much about the big winners – and very much about their coalition partners. Both the ruling Socialist Party and the conservative Popular Party knew that they would do well in the elections, but neither of them would be able to govern alone: all eyes therefore were on the election results of their projected coalition consorts. While a win for Vox would help launch the Popular Party into the governing seat, the Socialist Party banked its hopes – somewhat riskily – on an entirely new political platform. Left-wing Sumar (Spanish for ‘adding’) platform, a collaboration between a whole string of progressive parties, had only a few months to present a strong coalition and convince the Spanish electorate. But here is the thing: they did it. 

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How a platform this young managed to do what many traditional progressive parties in Europe – parties with the weight of decades behind them – are struggling to accomplish, has left quite a few people in European politics scratching their heads. But with a Socialist-Sumar coalition now officially inaugurated as government, and far-right Vox back in opposition after a surprisingly disappointing election result for them in July, there can be no doubt that Sumar has managed to pull off something remarkable in Spain. According to Sumar MP Lander Martínez, who was a driving force behind their campaign, Sumar did not do well despite their lack of weight but rather because of it: it made them flexible and dynamic enough to create a real  people’s movement and a successful campaign, using tactics tailored to the present.

 

“You have to understand,” Martínez explains, “that here in Spain, we have some very traditional political parties that work mostly through assemblies, a solid member base, all of the old machinery of politics.” While Sumar does have a recognizable leader with governing experience in Yolanda Díaz (the incumbent labour minister), it was clear to Martínez that they couldn’t rely on traditional ways of doing things. “We needed a full reorganization of the political space on the left,” he says. “There were too many parties – and support was dwindling. We couldn’t be just an aggregate of existing parties: we had to offer something new. A movement, a project for the left.”

 

The MP explains how one of their biggest concerns early on was how to connect with people: how to involve them on a large scale – and fast. “We wanted to engage all sorts of new people: from civil society, unions, associations, academia, or migrants, people from different backgrounds. We went into the country to talk with them, but to bring them all together as a platform we needed some kind of digital infrastructure – which is something very new in Spanish politics. With the help of consultants and different thinkers, we decided to invest much more in digital strategy than we are used to. It was our hard work on this infrastructure that made us prepared for our campaign, even when the elections came several months sooner.”

 

Creating this digital infrastructure, he explains, largely came down to creating a base of supporters online. “There was never a moment of political success, or a big event, that we would let go by without developing a digital strategy that facilitated engagement in that specific moment,” Martínez says. “We had people subscribe to the event, we published ads in social media networks, and had direct contact with people via email, via newsletters. Often we personalized these newsletters, these connections.” People could call them, or email them, he says – and they would always, always get a response. “Different forms of communication work well in different places. But all of our work was geared towards the same thing: building a strong database of our supporters, which we could engage with in the electoral campaign. The base we created this way has been vital to us – and it also helped us finance our movement.” 

 

Sumar decided to ask grassroot, individual supporters for small donations, really anything people can contribute –five, ten, fifteen euros, fifty, a hundred.

 

The thing about this form of digital fundraising is that it allows people to get involved in a movement, says American fundraising expert Patrick Frank – who also worked with the Sumar campaign. “Ultimately, that is what any campaign tries to do, right?” says Frank. “If more people take action, if more people are involved, the outcome of your campaign is going to be better. I think everyone agrees on this. But there are several ways people can be involved, of course. They can volunteer with their time – holding up signs, knocking on doors – or with their voice: posting on social media, chatting to friends, colleagues, family. And they can volunteer with money. A lot of campaigns start from the assumption, however, that money is something their finance director will have to worry about, and not really something you can ask of your supporters.”

 

Frank relates how he thought in this way himself – back when he worked on both of the Obama campaigns as a field director. “I would get up on stage and I would say: hey, I will ask for your blood, your sweat and your tears, but I will never ask for your money. But then I turned thirty, and I was like: actually, if I can have my Saturday back and give you twenty dollars I think I would prefer that kind of fast engagement.”

 

He now goes as far as to say that online fundraising through small donations is more about involving people than it even is about raising money. “We have become used to life with the internet. When we make a decision, we set things in motion immediately – that’s how the internet works. We order something on Amazon and it’s already being shipped. The internet has instilled in us two things: an expectation of immediacy, and an expectation of participation. They give us a feeling of catharsis. Online donations are a really good way to give people that feeling of catharsis when it comes to their political needs.” Frank contrasts the immediacy of small donations with the type of commitment made by supporters that can be easily sabotaged by, well, life: if a 100 people say they will show up to an event on Saturday, usually about 20 show up. “It’s not that those 80 people stopped caring about your cause between Tuesday and Saturday. Something just came up, they had this thing to do.”

 

Life is very different now than it was during the time when a lot of our traditional, big parties were forged, thinks Martínez. People really do want to participate, but they don’t necessarily want to be lasting members of any official political structure. “We are not conservative in our ideals, so why would we be conservative in our tactics?” he asks rhetorically. “We need to try out many strategies – and we’ll fail half of them. But every tactic works for someone, and the online world allows us to try out a hundred different things, targeting different people in different ways. For instance: we sent people boxes of merchandise and just told them: do whatever you want with this. So then you get some groups of young people walking through town with signs and Sumar caps – while another person is doing an unboxing video of the merch on Instagram. We can let people campaign and be involved in ways that fit their lives.”

 

Creating this kind of engagement is what he thinks is key when it comes to digital organizing – and how progressive parties in other countries, too, can not just catch up with parties on the far-right, who often have a strong online presence, but utilize the digital world in a better way than they do. “Far-right parties use a lot of hard emotions, like hate or fear,” says Martínez. “Their tactic is about flooding social networks like TikTok with their messages – and they are good at that. But, at least here in Spain, they don’t get a lot of actual engagement with supporters in this way. They’re disseminating messages, but not creating a movement. It’s explosive, it’s emotion – and sure, they can move people when they need to, because they have the means to send those messages. But they’re not building community. This is what we do: we listen to people, have them express their ideas and needs – we don’t just disseminate our messages. The participation of the people is vital, and it’s going to be liquid: sometimes from home, sometimes being part of the movement in a town – but many times someone will just give 5 euros or sign their name on a digital petition. It doesn’t matter: what we need is real engagement. And this is the way to create it.”