Revival of 'sanchismo' at the request of Tezanos on the anniversary of the conquest of Moncloa

"For them!". It was almost the president of the Circle of Fine Arts, Juan Miguel Hernández León, who has placed the most emphasis on the situation experienced by the PSOE after the debacle in Andalusia. But his intervention barely lasted a couple of minutes to introduce the presentation of the director of the Center for Sociological Research, José Félix Tezanos, about Pedro Sánchez. By chance, the text edited by Catarata was presented 48 hours after the Socialists lost for the second time in democratic history in their old fief – this time with an absolute majority of the PP – four years after Pedro Sánchez conquered La Moncloa. Plans in the environment of socialism but it was not a topic that came up in the presentation, although it was in the traditional huddles that occur later.

With a certain optimism, Tezanos assumed that the PSOE is now above 28% of the votes (the result it achieved in the 2019 general elections), despite the fact that it has chained several defeats in recent months. The director of the CIS acknowledged that his book is a "praise" to the Prime Minister, despite his expected neutrality as head of the public sociological center. “He was a leader with dignity”, he has expressed in his intervention before some 300 people.

And it is that 'Pedro Sánchez. He had left: from the primaries to Moncloa' is a chronicle of the contemporary history of the PSOE: from the beginning of the catharsis against a newly elected socialist leader until his arrival at the presidency (which led to the appointment of Tezanos in the CIS). He was one of the protagonists of that process since an unsettled Sánchez received him at his home in Pozuelo de Alarcón when he was contemplating his options of fighting to recover his office on the fourth floor of Ferraz.

What Sánchez achieved is a feat that Tezanos narrates with a "desire for objectivity" based on the reconstruction of what happened with testimonies from some of its protagonists and whose first version was completed in July 2017, coinciding with the 30th Congress in which Sánchez prevailed over Susana Díaz and Patxi López, and with them the traditional structures of power. "These were impressive times," said the director of the CIS, who at that time was largely in charge of the programmatic document for Sánchez's candidacy, under the slogan 'For a new social democracy', which was precisely presented at the Círculo de Bellas Artes . That victory was the one that allowed the PSOE to get 20% of the vote, according to the sociologist.

"For me it was the most beautiful time of my life", confessed the deputy general secretary of the PSOE, Adriana Lastra, about the stage in which Sánchez took his Peugeot to reconquer the power of the PSOE thanks to the overwhelming vote of the militancy. "What seemed delusional soon became an illusion," said the number two of the PSOE, who has vindicated the centenary party and has asked not to look for "flatters or slights" in the Tezanos book. Despite being a vindication of sanchismo, there were some representatives of the old susanismo, such as the Madrid deputy José Cepeda, or those who supported Patxi López. The PSOE has long since turned the page, especially since Sánchez arrived in Moncloa. Many of those who were by Sánchez's side at that time and who are no longer on the front line were missing.

"That was a day of great happiness," said the current Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, about Sánchez's victory on May 21, 2017. He reached that day after an arduous legal battle that in the book of Tezanos transcend some hitherto unknown episodes such as the attempt by the faithful to the former secretary general to declare the manager illegitimate for not having activated with a set time. "We can say that we were right, we chose the best leader, he is the leader who has led us to the presidency of the Government and he is the leader who is transforming our country and placing it at the forefront", affirmed the faithful squire of the president, aware that the PSOE is in low hours, but convinced that it will come back: “The deafening noise will fade away”.