Left Populism in Europe: Lessons From Jeremy Corbyn to Podemos

with author Marina Prentoulis

joined in conversation with Populism European editor  David Broder

This book evaluates the transformational process of left populism across grassroots, national and European levels and asks what we can do to harness the power of broad-based, popular left politics. While the right is using populist rhetoric to great effect, the left’s attempts have been much less successful. Syriza in Greece and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labor Party in Britain have both failed to introduce socialism in their countries, while Podemos has had better fortune in Spain and is now in government with the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party.

Bringing a wealth of experience in political organizing, Marina Prentoulis argues that left populism is a political logic that brings together isolated demands against a common enemy. She looks at how egalitarian pluralism could transform economic and political institutions in a radical, democratic direction.

But each party does this differently, and the key to understanding where to go from here lies in a serious analysis of the roots of each movement’s base, the forms of party organization, and the particular national contexts. This book is a clear and holistic approach to left populism that will inform anyone wanting to understand and move forward positively during this bleak time for the left in Europe.

“It’s been a dramatic decade for left-wing political projects in Greece, Spain, and the UK. Through personal experience, a wealth of interviews and analysis, Prentoulis pulls together an assessment which is vital for anyone who wants to understand the post-crash upsurge of radical politics in Europe.”  —Nick Dearden, Director of Global Justice Now

“Rigorously reflecting on the choreography of contemporary left-wing experiments flirting with left populism in crisis-ridden Europe, Prentoulis offers a challenging first assessment of its political advances, limitations and potential for left strategy.” —Yannis Stavrakakis, Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Marina Prentoulis is Associate Professor in Politics and Media at the University of East Anglia. She has been the UK spokesperson of Syriza and has given numerous interviews on British and International media including BBC’s Newsnight and the Andrew Marr Show as well as CNN and Sky News.

David Broder is a Rome-based writer and translator. He is the European editor for Jacobin and regularly writes with a focus on Italy, including in the journal Internazionale. David is also the author of First They Took Rome: How the Populist Right Conquered Italy (Verso).

Books will be available on June 24.

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