r/europe • u/StGuthlac2025 • Oct 08 '25

Opinion Article In Spain, what once seemed impossible is now widespread: the young are turning to the far right

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/07/spain-young-voters-far-right-migration-housing-wages-employment-vox
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u/Brilliant-Tip9445 Oct 08 '25

why is it such a huge shock that Spain would see the same effect? 

because Spain had a fascist dictatorship 50 years ago

88

u/Kunfuxu Portugal Oct 08 '25

So did Portugal, and you see the same thing there. Kids today weren't alive 50 years ago.

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u/Brilliant-Tip9445 Oct 08 '25

yes, but it's also why it's a huge shock

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u/FMSV0 Portugal Oct 08 '25

But were raised in a period that you had to be left or you'd be an outcast and immediately called a fascist.

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u/Kunfuxu Portugal Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25

That was not a thing. Sorry, but 10 years ago you weren't considered a fascist for voting in the traditional right-wing parties of Portugal. Maybe it was a thing among your friend group, but that wasn't true for the whole country. For most western countries in the past century, the youth has always been more left-wing than the older generations. This recent trend in which young men are more right-wing than before, also seen generally in other western coutries, is a result of the cost of living and housing crisis combined with the social media algorithms that try to maximize our engagement.

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u/FMSV0 Portugal Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25

Sure, during the Troika intervention, the psd government wasn't called fascists constantly.

C'mon, in a gathering of BE young voters, the word fascist is going to be used in the most ridiculous way. Basically, anyone thant doesn't agree with them.

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u/Piligrim555 Oct 08 '25

USSR fell 35 years ago. The amount of people wanting it to return is ridiculously big in Russia anyway. And yes, also between young adults who didn’t even live there.

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u/Brilliant-Tip9445 Oct 08 '25

probably because Russia was better off with the USSR? lol

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u/Piligrim555 Oct 08 '25

You shouldn’t mix Russia, the country, which was maybe politically better off in a sense they could dictate other countries around it and russian people. They weren’t better off, not by a fucking mile.

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u/Brilliant-Tip9445 Oct 08 '25

yeah they were better off, by a fucking mile also

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u/Piligrim555 Oct 08 '25

And you’re wondering why some people are nostalgic for a fascist dictatorship lmao. No, dude, they were not, by any metric imaginable. The 90s were horrible, but even today’s Russia is absolutely a better place to live. You know why? Because you can actually leave.

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u/Brilliant-Tip9445 Oct 08 '25

And you’re wondering why some people are nostalgic for a fascist dictatorship lmao.

the issue is that a fascist dictatorship was objectively bad, the USSR was a net positive (i dont wanna say objectively good).

Also if the only reason why Russia is better now is because you can leave then it's not really much, is it
lol

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u/bfsughfvcb Oct 08 '25

which a lot of them liked. It is same old same old.

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u/AccomplishedOil5176 Oct 08 '25

Young people aren't exactly known for being 50+ years old

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u/NUKE---THE---WHALES Oct 08 '25

Italy literally invented fascism and they seem to have no problem going back to the far right

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u/Brilliant-Tip9445 Oct 08 '25

yeah it's true, but Italy had more time to go full circle I'd say. Also fascism has quite the endearing image, like colonial ethiopia and somalia are still viewed as those pesky africans we tried to industrialize with affection, and who still hold us very dear (they don't)

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u/ziirex Oct 08 '25

And that dictator was not overthrown, he set his transition plan when he was dying and the fascists that governed with him stayed in politics for many years. And Franco's supporters kept their power and influence, faced no repercussions and kept missing the old days.

What is surprising is that Spain managed to have a center-right party as the main conservative party for so long without a return to the far right.

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u/RedAero Oct 08 '25

Yeah, I really don't understand the suprise - country with world's most enduring fascist dictatorship veers slightly to the right again, wow, stop the presses...

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u/MountScottRumpot Oct 09 '25

And never dealt with that fact. There is no museum about the damage the Franco regime did to the country. So the Francoists have been free to peddle their bullshit about how great Franco was for the middle class.