Political change is inconceivable without populism. Populism is not simply a way of talking about politics that pits the people against the elite. It is a political logic that organises, mobilises and empowers the people. Without populism, politics can legislate and transform, but the change it brings about is likely to be absorbed into the existing system, as we have learned from the writings of the late Argentinian political theorist, Ernesto Laclau, and his collaborator, Belgian political theorist Chantal Mouffe.
This kind of populism needs a progressive-revolutionary strategy if it is to be effective. Podemos and Syriza, radical left-wing parties in Spain and Greece respectively, are stark examples of what happens when populism is missing this crucial component.
To be transformative, politics still requires what self-acclaimed populists seek to avoid: a comprehensive, intellectual understanding of the world capitalist system; a revolutionary subject which cannot be as loose as “the people” but rather comprise organised social groups that struggle for a radical and sustainable transformation of society; and cadres – seasoned activists that can build bridges between the subject and the people.
