Attempt at a macro party in Ferraz: from Quevedo's 'Quédate' to Carrà's 'Pedro, Pedro' | The truth

Perhaps the closest definition of what was seen – and especially what was experienced 'in situ' during the almost three hours that the entire display lasted in the rain and under the sun – is that the rally in front of Ferraz was an attempt at a macro party in the middle of the street. in which the PSOE apparatus did its best to try to exorcise the fear of a party without Pedro Sánchez and, in the process, raise the spirits of a militancy disconcerted by the now famous letter from its leader.

In the end, according to the Government Delegation in Madrid, 12,500 people gathered near the socialists' headquarters, after the party mobilized buses to bring militants from groups from outside the Spanish capital. In last year's 'National November', the largest protest called against Sánchez on the same stage for his pacts with the independence movement and the amnesty law – it was on the 9th of that tense month – brought together 8,000 protesters.

Whether or not those 12,500 attendees embody the show of force that the party expected to convince Sánchez not to resign is unknown, but at least those thousands of supporters, most of them elderly, went home the less with the better. The mood in which they arrived in Ferraz, under an impressive downpour, predicted that the party was going to have to be suspended.

The format of this unusual federal committee without the presence of the general secretary, confined since Wednesday in the Moncloa, suggested that nothing was going to be the same. And the screens outside the headquarters confirmed that this was going to be anything but a mere organic meeting. The atmosphere, with thousands of people watching the monitors, was much more similar to that of a soccer match than a political meeting. As if it were a matter of attacking plays and shots on goal, those gathered were crying out loud at times, as they listened to what, one after another, their leaders were saying. The shouts of “Goal!” They mutated in Ferraz with slogans like “Pedro stay!”, “Yes, keep going!” or “They will not pass!”, in a call, which in the messages and on the street, evoked the Civil War and the opposition to Francoism.

«Peter, stay!»

But the PSOE apparatus, in a very measured strategy, had everything planned and had designed an event in which the emotional climate would increase. As if it were something unpremeditated, after the intervention of Emiliano García-Page who stood out for being the only one to be booed by the bases for his criticism of Sánchez's pacts, the organizers of the federal committee abruptly ended the meeting before what sought to be an outburst of the leadership to merge with the militancy, in a kind of massive communion, in the face of the delicate moments that the party is experiencing.

“Let's go to the street!” cried Santos Cerdán, Secretary of Organization. And from there the mass bath of the dome took place in which María Jesús Montero became the undisputed star of the night (being in the morning) and the very personal master of ceremonies. Although Pilar Alegría, Óscar López, Fernando Grande-Marlaska or Patxi López, among many others, poured out their greetings, none of them reached the level of the first vice president, the leader who would replace Sánchez in office if he throws out the towel this Monday.

Montero – who could become the first woman to head the Government of Spain in a few days, even if only on an interim basis – was euphoric. She kisses, hugs and selfies until she is almost exhausted. She also makes herself hoarse with her continuous cries of “strength, strength!” with which she harangued the militancy. Much less infected by that forced festive atmosphere in the face of a critical situation were the ministers Félix Bolaños and Óscar Puente, who did not stop sobbing even when the PSOE put all its weight on the grill.

The loudspeakers, in which until then only the speeches and the anodyne soundtrack of the party rallies had been heard, burst with the music of the Canarian Quevedo and BZRP and their well-known 'Quédate' in an attempt to make the militancy jump, Although it is true that many of those present did not recognize the song that was heard ad nauseam in the summer of 2022. And, of course, then came Raffaella Carrà's 'Pedro, Pedro' which has gone viral due to a Tik-Tok video.

The songs of leading artists for the left such as Joan Manuel Serrat, Miguel Ríos or, in the last batch, Ismael Serrano were mixed with 'La Internacional' in an end to the party that remains to be seen if, as the party intended, it ends up distancing the demons of militancy. A militancy that, once the music was turned off, went back home to wait for this Monday to arrive and find out if what happened this Saturday was of any use.