Luka Mesec


Luka Mesec is a Slovenian politician and activist who has been the leader of the eco-socialist The Left party since June 2017. Mesec was elected to the Slovenian National Assembly for the first time at the 2014 parliamentary election, and reelected at the 2018 parliamentary election. He is the coordinator of the Council of the Initiative for Democratic Socialism, Labour-punk University and its successor, the Institute for Labour Studies.

Early life and education

Luka Mesec was born on 1 July 1987 in Kranj. He grew up in Železniki where he finished elementary and high school after which he enrolled in the political science studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana. In 2012, he graduated in European studies. During studies, Mesec was active in the Club of Students of the Selška valley, Student Politological Society Polituss, Mi smo univerza movement, and Prekercev front. Since 2010, he has actively participated in the work of the Labour-punk university, an activist-theoretical organization which brought democratic socialism to Slovenian politics and the Institute for Labor Studies.

Political career

Mesec participated in the 2012–13 Slovenian protests. He was elected to the Slovenian National Assembly at the 2014 parliamentary election, and reelected in 2018. Under his leadership, The Left party connected with member parties of the Party of the European Left, including Greek Syriza, French Left Front, German The Left and Spanish United Left.

Political positions

Mesec advocates participatory economics, social corporate governance, tax relief for the poor, labor rights and the abolition of tax havens, and is against neoliberalism, which, in his opinion, is nothing more than a class struggle of capital against organized labor. He believes that Europe, which once had a strong social democracy and trade unions, is experiencing this class struggle under the guise of European integration, in which countries compete against each other instead of being based on reciprocity.