The Socialist Council and the Erraki network, at a press conference on Tuesday, have denounced that the court has sent the eviction order against the Socialist Centre in Vitoria-Gasteiz by 15 September and demanded that Laboral Kutxa be suspended.

Nowadays, Laboral Kutxa owns the premises of Monseñor Estenaga Street, as a consequence of foreclosure to pay off the debts of the previous owner. In May of this year, the Socialist Council of Vitoria-Gasteiz occupied the old supermarket Día, empty and unused since 2016, to launch a new project.

The credit cooperative of the Mondragon Group has been called to "desist from the eviction process and sit down to negotiate the terms of the use of space". To this end, on 12 September they convened a demonstration in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Laboral Kutxa, to denounce the eviction. The march will start at 18:00 hours from the Plaza de la Virgen Blanca.

The space of the socialist movement

The political organization Socialist Council of Vitoria-Gasteiz, created in December 2020, announced in May this year the opening of the space called the Socialist Center of Vitoria-Gasteiz. The site, which had been empty for five years, was occupied to "strengthen the communist organization", "improve the living conditions of the proletariat" and create "own spaces" for this, among other things.

Since then, the new space of 900 square meters has three main functions: The food store of the Housing Union has moved to the area, emergency housing is being conditioned and has become a place with conferences, assemblies, workshops, concerts and training sessions.

"The owner's laziness made the space situation worse: it was filled with water by drowning, the walls were damaged, the electric system was damaged... This is what the capitalist system brings, which the quality of the spaces is totally dependent on their economic profitability," they explained in a press conference.

Economic and political interests

The risk of eviction has arrived three months later, and the Socialist Council considers that "a conflict is occurring between two antagonistic positions found in capitalist society": "On the one hand, private property and, on the other, non-ownership; on the one hand, the form of merchandise from spaces and, on the other, the value of the use of spaces; on the one hand, capitalist control and, on the other, personnel control".

"On the one hand, there are the economic interests of the Kutxa Labor Bank, which, despite its social character and constant apology, is a success to continue accumulating the money that wants to evict the social project. On the other hand, there are the political interests of the Socialist Movement of Vitoria-Gasteiz, which is completely renovating the space and making it a useful space for the independent organization of the proletariat," they have opposed.