Fernando Rosas, signer of motion A, proposed by the current leadership, spoke mainly to the party, questioning whether the Bloc wants to be an “ephemeral” and “hit and run” party or a “relevant party among the working people and progressive forces”.
For Fernando Rosas, without “true social roots”, the Left Bloc will be vulnerable “to attacks from the reactionary and fascist right”.
Rosas advocated that BE must be able to be “in the organized and lasting struggle”, not only “stirring up popular struggles but building and influencing them through a permanent organization”.
“If we want a revolutionary, environmentalist and socialist party we have to be in companies, in workers’ committees, in unions, in popular neighborhoods, in residents’ associations, in schools, in student associations (…) in feminist movements, in associations defending immigrants and minorities and in cultural movements and initiatives”, he listed.
“Make no mistake, nothing will be easy or quick on this battlefield for the organization and reorganization of the Bloc. This is a herculean, prolonged task. It requires a true cultural revolution in the party’s organizational concepts”, he said, receiving a standing ovation from former coordinator Francisco Louçã, and some of the delegates.
For Rosas, the reorganization of the party, which lost a large part of its electoral base and was reduced to a single deputy in Parliament in the May legislative elections, “requires specific and continued attention” from the future political commission.
“It cannot be left to chance”, he warned, considering that, if so, “everything will remain the same”.