In the land of Javier Milei, who is the most popular political figure among Argentineans? Who is considered the main opponent of the far-right government? Myriam Bregman, a human rights lawyer, congresswoman, and leading figure of the Left and Workers’ Front — Unity (FIT-U), the electoral coalition of the revolutionary Left. This marks a significant development in an Argentina that appeared to be tending toward authoritarian, ultra-neoliberal, and reactionary politics. Yet a major challenge lies ahead in transforming this situation into an organized political force … and in turning the tables.
And the Winner Is …
The news has been making waves in Argentina in recent weeks. On TV stations, in newsrooms, and on the streets, it’s no longer Milei’s TikTok videos that people are debating, nor the content spread by his influencers on social media. What had been looming for some time is now official, confirmed by several opinion polls: Myriam Bregman, a leading figure in the Left and Workers’ Front – Unity (FIT-U) and a member of the leadership of the Party of Socialist Workers — a sister organization of Left Voice — is now recognized as Argentineans’ favorite political figure.
We are familiar with debates over the reliability of polls, but in this case, several surveys — conducted by Tendencias, Opina Argentina, and Atlas Intel — corroborate this trend and confirm that it is here to stay. These results are causing panic in political circles, both within the government and among the Peronists. For instance, Atlas Intel’s survey conducted on the eve of May 1 places Bregman at the top of the list of the country’s most popular political figures, with a 47 percent positive rating, just ahead of Axel Kicillof, the current Peronist governor of the province of Buenos Aires (46 percent), and former Justicialist president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (41 percent), who is under house arrest following her corruption conviction. Although Kicillof and Kirchner are currently at odds, both are on the left of the Argentinean political spectrum. Kicillof is considered the Peronists’ main hope for the 2027 presidential elections.
Even more significantly, Bregman is well ahead of President Milei, who trails far behind, in fifth place, with only 36 percent approval and 62 percent disapproval. This is quite a feat for the man who won the 2022 presidential election with 55 percent of the vote in the second round, intending to “shake up” the Argentinean political landscape. He even managed — against all odds, and with a helping hand from the White House — to gain ground at the polls during the last midterm elections. In other good news, Milei’s decline in popularity is also affecting most of the figures in the far-right coalition currently in power.
This sympathy for the Trotskyist congresswoman does not automatically translate into voting intentions. This arena is far from what revolutionaries consider key to transforming society. But if we use it as a barometer, the Trotskyists’ gains are undeniable. According to leading Argentinean polling firms, if Bregman were to head the FIT-U presidential ticket — as she did in the 2023 elections, where she finished fifth with 2.7 percent (720,000 votes) — she is projected to come in third, surpassing her previous result. Tendencias even projected that she could receive 11.4 percent of the vote, and as high as 13.8 percent in a survey conducted by the Hugo Haime Institute. This situation is indeed unique, bringing both hope and challenges. It is quite unprecedented, even for a country like Argentina, where the revolutionary Left has historically had a stronger political and electoral presence than elsewhere, dating back to the era of the Movement toward Socialism (MAS) in the 1980s.
Political instability, the Crisis of the Far Right, and the Weaknesses of Peronism
The “Bregman phenomenon” didn’t come out of nowhere. “La Rusa” — as her supporters affectionately call her — has been in the national political spotlight for some time. Even during the presidential campaign, she was recognized as the one who stood up to Milei most firmly, particularly during the debate before the first round. The far-right candidate, who presented himself as a lionhearted, disruptive, anti-establishment rock star, was sent reeling by the Trotskyist candidate, who compared him to a “cuddly little kitten” (gatito mimoso) under the thumb of U.S. imperialism and big business. This phrase resonated and significantly tarnished Milei’s image even before his victory.
The power Milei displayed at the start of his term primarily stemmed from the weakness of Peronism, which had been discredited — both figuratively and literally — following the presidency of Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner, leaving the country in the grip of runaway inflation. This is precisely what Milei capitalized on to win: the promise to crush double-digit inflation — which had plunged millions of Argentineans into poverty — in exchange for a shock therapy regimen, ostensibly “libertarian” but in reality very classically (and violently) neoliberal.
Over the past two years, Argentineans have experienced the second phase of Milei’s program, as inflation, poverty, and real unemployment remain extremely high. Job losses, business closures, budget cuts, and freezes on public sector wages and retirees’ pensions have heavily affected the situation — not to mention the labor market counter-reform tailored for employers. The living conditions for the vast majority of Argentineans have worsened over the past few months. At the same time, Milei, who claimed to be putting an end to “the caste” (i.e., the political class), has found himself embroiled in a series of scandals involving cryptocurrencies, corruption, influence peddling, and the escapades of his chief of staff, Manuel Adorni, known as “Hondurasgate,” which involves collusion with Trump, Netanyahu, and drug trafficking.
As a result, the government’s position is becoming increasingly precarious. Milei is “holding on” thanks to his external supporters — foremost among them, Trump — and the weakness of the Peronist institutional opposition, which exists merely in name. In fact, the latter refuses to confront the government and has instead opted for compromise and collaboration. Some Peronist leaders align with Milei’s choices, dictated by the International Monetary Fund, while their bureaucracies, which manage the main union structures, systematically hinder the development of a genuine plan to oppose the government, despite calls for isolated and fragmented general strike days. In some cases, entire sectors of Peronism have supported or joined Milei, including the former Kirchnerist presidential candidate Daniel Scioli, who is now close to the government. For those who intend to oppose Milei — like Kiciloff, Cristina Kirchner’s former heir apparent — the top priority is to seek unity within the Peronist movement, even at the cost of greater moderation in preparation for the upcoming elections.
Just a “Bregman Moment”?
In this political landscape, the FIT-U stands out as the only meaningful opposition to the government and its underhanded tactics. In the legislature, while the Far Right has revealed its true colors by voting to freeze pensions and benefits for retirees and people with disabilities, the FIT-U is the only bloc that has neither voted for nor supported any of the bills introduced by the president’s supporters. The latter, on the other hand, have repeatedly relied on full or partial support from opposition deputies and senators. Moreover, as Argentineans have witnessed the Peronist camp’s crackup, as governors and deputies defect to join Milei — a classic occurrence in the country’s politics — the FIT-U parliamentary bloc is the only one to have maintained its cohesion. This has resonated with the public. On the chamber floor, in the face of the Far Right’s systematic alignment with Washington’s foreign policy, support for genocide in Palestine, backing for Netanyahu, rallying behind aggression against Venezuela, and endorsing Washington’s military threats against Havana, the FIT-U has distinguished itself through its consistent opposition to Milei’s pro-imperialist stance — demonstrating, in practice, what the “nationalism” of the Argentinean Right truly represents.
But the rise of Bregman and the FIT-U cannot be attributed solely to the actions of far-left representatives in Congress or within provincial and local bodies that Trotskyists entered during the last elections. In the arena of social and labor struggles — most recently in the auto industry, against the closure of FATE, and alongside retirees — in environmental battles against extractivism and agribusiness, in the women’s and LGBTQ+ movements, and among students defending public universities or honoring the memory of the struggles of the 1970s, as well as opposing the denial of state-sanctioned genocide and attempts to rehabilitate the last dictatorship — Bregman and her comrades have gained visibility by participating in these mobilizations, in which FIT-U militants are also involved.
It was primarily in the streets, neighborhoods, and places of study and work — settings for protests, sometimes massive in scale, such as student demonstrations and the events of March 24 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1976 coup — that the revolutionary Left solidified its image as the only significant opposition to the Far Right and the business establishment. It has also succeeded in gaining ground among new sectors of the working world and the working classes — who, having broken with Peronism, have grown wary of the “libertarian” promises of Milei — even though, for the time being, this situation has not led to widespread confrontation in response to the government’s extremely harsh attacks.
A testament to this political momentum was the large rally organized by the PTS on May 1 at the Ferro Indoor Stadium in Buenos Aires. Thousands of workers, students, retirees, and social movement activists participated in the event alongside Bregman and Nicolás del Caño, as well as delegations from France, Brazil, and Chile, among others. On this occasion, “La Rusa” issued a new challenge: not merely to organize resistance against Milei and his ilk, but — precisely to organize this resistance — to build a party of the working class and the world of labor.
Building a Mass Workers’ Party: The Challenges for Trotskyists in Argentina and Elsewhere
Argentina’s workers are facing the crisis of the far-right government, which has neither relented in its offensive nor abandoned its authoritarian and reactionary agenda. Meanwhile, Peronism, which many workers once supported, is disoriented and cannot and will not embody a genuine opposition, much less an alternative. As a result, significant sectors of the working class are now rejecting or distancing themselves from both Milei and Peronism. This situation poses new challenges and calls for a renewed commitment: to transform this support and sympathy for revolutionary ideas — for the positions defended by Trotskyists in struggles and mobilizations — into a tool capable of confronting Argentinean capital, multinational corporations, and their imperialist backers, starting with the Trump administration. Further, we must commit to offering a perspective of hope to the working classes and the youth, one that can exert a lasting influence in the class struggle.
Myriam Bregman, flanked on her left by Nicolas del Caño and on her right by Alejandro Vilca, both leaders of the Socialist Workers’ Party.
For Bregman, the issue extends beyond merely organizing a genuine plan of action and a general strike — one that cannot be reduced to the isolated days of mobilization initiated over the past two years by Peronist union leaderships, which officially aim to pressure the government but ultimately serve to alleviate social pressure. It is on the political front that those disillusioned with Milei, who will never return to Peronism, must organize, as workers, around a program of class independence, specifically that of the FIT-U, with the goal of establishing a government representing the working world and the popular classes.
This call is primarily directed at the organizations that make up the FIT-U, particularly the MST, PO, and IS, and has ignited several heated debates that can be followed on the websites of various FIT-U member parties. It also targets those who have joined the ranks of the revolutionaries during recent mobilizations, participated in strikes, stood on picket lines, and wish to confront Milei without reinstating Peronism.
In a country like Argentina, with its Trotskyist tradition, where the revolutionary Left plays a significant role in social struggles, the goal must be to overcome current organizational fragmentation and limited electoral unity in order to meet the challenges facing the Far Left. As Bregman said at the this year’s May Day rally, the goal is “to be thousands in order to organize millions.” In the current Argentinean context, this formula is far from abstract. If this challenge is met, it could help transform the situation — and not just in Argentina.
The current dynamics of the Far Left in Argentina — centered around Bregman and the PTS — offer valuable lessons at the regional level and for the revolutionary movement as a whole. Beyond the specific factors characterizing the instability of the Argentinean situation and the crisis of the far-right government, it raises several questions. This dynamic illustrates that the “strength” of the Far Right is always directly or strongly correlated with the weakness of its opposition — whether social democratic, progressive, or left wing — and is incapable of presenting an alternative for the working world and the working classes as radical as the one the Far Right offers in favor of employers and the powerful, regardless of its populist postures designed to obscure these realities.
Furthermore, this dynamic demonstrates that it is possible to engage with and intervene in all struggles led by the working class, the working-class population, and young people, without segmenting them or pitting them against one another. The central focus of political intervention should be to mobilize the world of work as a fundamental lever for transforming the parameters of the situation. This dynamic illustrates how revolutionaries can and must address the youth, the most precarious, and the fragmented and fractured “new working class” — which is racialized and stigmatized — with a program of class independence and revolutionary mobilization.
This dynamic presents a challenge that can be met: to commit to a Far Left that neither withdraws into itself, clinging to an “orthodoxy” that offers no protection against opportunism, nor constantly seeks shortcuts to broadly reach the working class. It illustrates that the revolutionary Left is not doomed to folkloric marginality or to adapting to the “Left of the possible,” which ultimately leads to powerlessness and dead ends. In the U.S., the current dynamics in Argentina should serve as a source of reflection — not for blind replication or imitation, but to consider our differences, our common ground, and the tasks that should unite us in overthrowing the bosses.
This article was originally published in French at Revolution Pèrmanent
Translated and edited by Stacey Bear for a U.S. audience
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