Chapter 14: From Classical Syndicalism to Spain's 15-M Movement^*

In May 2011, activists and ‘ordinary citizens’ filled the streets and squares of Spain demanding ‘Real Democracy Now!’ and protesting against austerity cuts. They became known around the world as the ‘Indignados’, and in Spain as simply the ‘15-M’ movement. The title of this chapter leads us to imagine that we can trace a chronological line or historical evolution from classical syndicalism to Spain's ‘15-M’ or ‘Indignados’ movement. It is true that within the studies of social movements in Europe, there is a certain narrative that traces the evolution of contemporary progressive social movements from ‘origins’ in the labour movement. The simplest version of the story goes something like this: the original social movement is the workers' movement or the labour movement. This movement is focussed on demanding workers' rights and the redistribution of economic goods, it expresses a central social conflict between the working class and the capitalist class and it mobilizes the worker identity as political subject. From the 1960s, we begin to see the emergence of new social conflicts and alongside and expressing these conflicts, new social movements that mobilize different political subjects and demands. From there, we enter into a scenario where mobilization takes on a more global character, fostered by globalization processes with a special emphasis on the advance of information and communication technologies, above all Internet and digital media. And from there we arrive at our contemporary scenario – post–global financial crisis – with the movements of the squares and their demands for ‘real democracy now’ and an end to austerity politics.