The problem of housing and working conditions... is capitalism!

Everywhere, the costs of fuel, food and housing are skyrocketing! Everywhere there are redundancies, mass unemployment and job insecurity! And governments – whether of the left, the right, ‘socialist’, liberal or populist – are incapable of providing a solution.

All states are overwhelmed by debts that have become astronomical, while military spending reaches 2,887 billion dollars worldwide! This arms race increases debt, fuels inflation and drains all social budgets.

In Madrid, the monthly rent for a small two-bedroom flat costs at least 1,000 euros plus additional charges, and the average rent for a single room is 550 euros per month. If we factor in other expenses such as food and transport (and taking into account the huge rise in prices), it amounts to… barely scraping by day to day! But that’s not the worst of it: the future looks set to make it impossible to buy a home, or even to have the job security that would allow one to consider it at all, given the widespread use of flexible working arrangements, subcontracting, temporary, precarious and insecure work, and so on. This situation is causing enormous anger amongst all those who are exploited!

On 27 September, following a housing protest against the eviction of 87-year-old María Carmen Abascal – who died on 7 October – the tenants’ union organised a sit-in at the Puerta del Sol. Since then, it has become, beyond the call for the protest itself, a focal point for the struggles in the education and social sectors, with people flocking to the square to express their outrage and solidarity.

Strength in workers solidarity

The defence of decent housing is part of the struggle for the living conditions of the working class, for wage rises to keep pace with inflation, against redundancies, and against social cuts in education and healthcare. At Puerta del Sol, the elderly gather – threatened with eviction because their pensions are not enough to cover exorbitant rents that leave them struggling – alongside young people whose incomes from precarious jobs are not enough to make ends meet.

At Puerta del Sol, there is a change in spirit brewing, one that has been gathering momentum for several years now, ever since the mass struggles of workers Britain in 2022 who shouted “Enough is enough!” in the face of unbearable attacks across all sectors. A change that goes beyond the demand for housing and which calls for a struggle against the deterioration of workers’ general living conditions in the name of capitalist profits and spending on war. And this process is currently international and simultaneous across European countries; the struggle of students in France and Belgium against budget cuts mirrors that at Puerta del Sol.

In France, the struggle is spreading “in solidarity with the suppressed students”, who assert that “we are also here to support the teachers, who are underpaid, have overcrowded classes and lack sufficient jobs”; “Pay those who teach us to read!”

But in Spain, France and throughout the world, it is a trap to fall into a form of solidarity that dilutes our strength as workers amongst ‘the general population’ or, worse still, a solidarity with a sector of our exploiters!

Workers’ struggle is not a ‘citizens’ struggle’

The inability to afford housing mainly affects the working class. It would never occur to anyone that members of the ruling class, senior civil servants, business owners and their executives have housing problems!

The struggle for decent housing is a workers’ struggle; yet they want to present it as a mobilisation of citizens! Citizens do not identify with any social class, let alone the class struggle; rather, they place their trust in the state and its legislation, which is in fact what grants them their identity as citizens. In contrast, the workers’ struggle is a class struggle, which recognises the state as the organ of the ruling class that exploits us.

Therefore: We do not demand our rights as citizens, but rather we fight for our living conditions! Citizens merely seek to channel their anger and discontent into the ballot paper, which does not change the attacks, but only the way they are presented and carried out. But we are the working class, as we shout at the demonstrations! Our solidarity is the expression of a common interest: to confront the simultaneous attacks on all fronts.

The workers’ struggle cannot be an electoral struggle

Both the Right and the Left are responsible for the housing crisis facing the working class! Even before the 29 November election was called, the ‘most progressive’ government tried to manipulate the housing protests for its election campaign, and Sánchez has introduced last-minute decrees on housing protection to distance himself from the Right and the regionalist parties that have rejected them. But immediately following the death of María Carmen, the demonstration marching from Sol to Parliament chanted: “Where is the most progressive government?” (which includes, in addition to the PSOE, Podemos, IU, etc.). For its part, the PP, with the help of Vox, wants to put an end to the tent camps as soon as possible and return to the Ceuta situation. The aim here is to shift the class conflict into the arena of the daily parliamentary row.

But both the Right and the Left are responsible for the housing problems! The last Aznar government inflated the property bubble to breaking point, but it burst under the ZP government, which had continued the same policy of ‘economic growth’. Similarly, the policies of the Right and the Left converged in their response to the 2008 crisis: austerity and a deterioration in living conditions for the working class, with many workers losing their homes, as well as being forced into debt to keep paying their mortgages, and with wages being frozen. From 2013 onwards, speculation in the housing market ran rampant, fuelled in part by the growth of tourism. In fact, the recent ‘economic miracle’ of Spanish capital is based largely on the exorbitant growth of tourism, alongside the reduction in labour costs due to immigration and austerity measures. And from 2020 and 2023 onwards, Podemos, IU and the PC supported these policies.

The problem of the housing crisis for the working class is not down to the policies of the Right or the Left (which, moreover, are very similar), but to the global crisis of capitalism.

The workers’ struggle cannot be a general strike, but must move towards a mass strike

Faced with the convergence of different struggles and demands in the housing camps, the mainstream trade unions, the UGT and CCOO, have called a general strike for 11 November, supported by virtually all the other trade unions and by the extra-parliamentary Left. The president of the employers’ organisation, Garamendi, has reacted by stating that a general strike should only be called over pay issues. And in doing so, he demonstrates that he does not understand what is happening – the potential for the anger and immense fighting spirit within the working class to find, in these mobilisations, a ground for unity and for confrontation against the global deterioration of ALL our living conditions.

The CCOO and UGT have understood this, and that is why they are setting us the trap of the general strike, which is NOT the terrain for unity, but rather that of convergence: each in their own sector, in their ‘own’ struggle. Nor is it the terrain for the organisation of the struggle by the workers themselves, but rather that of handing over decisions, calls for action and negotiations to the trade unions. The very same trade unions that, in the Airbus case, first backed the company’s proposal and then supported government mediation AGAINST THE ASSEMBLIES!

This trade union strategy is nothing new: the general strikes against the various labour reforms (under the González and Rajoy governments), or the youth employment plan (González), or Aznar’s ‘decree’ against unemployment benefits, etc., actually served to bury the struggles and halt the momentum towards unity and self-organisation!

Our strength must lie in discussion and decision-making within mass, united assemblies, taking the struggle into our own hands. It must be the defence of demands common to all sectors, the organisation of the movement’s expansion through delegations sent to other sectors, and united demonstrations and assemblies.

What is the way forward? How do we continue the struggle?

The terrain is full of traps, but the fighting spirit and solidarity are immense! Right now, in France and Belgium, the struggles of secondary school and university students are seeking to spread to workers. Fighting for our living conditions, on our own terrain, gives strength to the struggle of our French and Belgian comrades-in-arms, and to workers all over the world!

Gathering at the Puerta del Sol must become a force for unity, organising assemblies in the squares – not just in Madrid – where students can join together, and ensuring that demonstrations are organised and efforts made to extend the struggle to all workplaces. Our strength lies in fighting united as workers, creating a balance of power, and avoiding the traps and provocations that serve as justification for repression.

United, self-organised assemblies in the squares!

Extend the movement to all sectors!

Solidarity with the students and workers of France and Belgium!

International Communist Current, 11 October, 2026