The picture in the build-up to this Sunday’s Italian election seems gloomy. The rise of the racist Lega, part of Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing coalition, has been accompanied by sharpening reactionary rhetoric from the Five Star Movement. The same is also true of the Democrats, a party that moves further toward the center-right even as young and working-class voters abandon it. The traditional center-left has never been weaker.

However, one promising movement that has arisen in the run-up to the election is Potere al popolo (Power to the People; PaP). PaP seeks to offer new hope for the radical left after more than a decade of marginalization. Despite its modest poll numbers, its protagonists hope PaP’s foundation marks the beginning of a new generation of militants leading the way in reorganizing a Left that has too long been absent from society.

PaP was launched in November 2017 by members of the Ex-OPG, a social center in Naples. Since the launch, 150 local assemblies have been organized across Italy to create a new nationwide network. A number of different political or civil society organizations are taking part, from social centers and militant unions to political parties of the radical left.