Boycott Rajoy’s and the Monarchy’s election
The Parliament proclaimed the fictional Catalan Republic but the 155 has been extremely real: now the president of the Generalitat is Rajoy, with all powers. Puigdemont and Junqueras gave up without a fight and handed over the institutions with no resistance whatsoever. Besides their own luck, they are only worried about not breaking the “maximum stability and tranquillity.”By Corrent Roig
This is truly undignified before a people that voted for 1-0 and earned the respect and admiration of the world for its courage and determination, showing that it is through mobilization and popular self-organization that we move forward.
Rajoy called for an election on December 21 to legitimize the 155, bury the Catalan Republic, and channel it all through the institutions of the monarchic regime. This maneuver can only triumph with the complicity of the Soverignist movement leaders, fully willing to participate in this game.
No trust in Puigdemont-Junqueras nor in the ANC-Òmnium. Unconditional defense of them before a repression, but no political support.
There is no right to decide nor Catalan Republic without defeating the 155 and imposing a failure to Rajoy and the Monarchy’s election. The main task is to encourage thw boycott to the elections of the 155 by those who are not willing to sell out.
We call the CUP to politically decouple Puigdemont-Junqueras from the ANC and Òmnium and to head the struggle for boycott.
If the sovereignist process has failed is, above all, because of its lack of workers’ and popular demands. It is impossible to triumph if the struggle for the Catalan Republic is separated from the struggle for a social emergency program.
We called the most conscious and struggling sectors of the working class, the ones that participated in the 1-0 and went to strike on 3-0, to give a step ahead and head this struggle, because once again History has proven that the Catalan Republic will be a workers’ republic or it will not be. The Catalan bourgeoisie has shown that, in the end, its flag is the wallet.
A fictitious declaration of independence
The illusion generated by the Declaration of Independence of October 27 lasted just a few hours. The reason is simple: the proclamation of the Catalan Republic was not real, only fictional.
It was fictitious mainly because the deputies that voted for it did not want it. The day before, Puigdemont had made public that he had decided to give up the proclamation of the Republic and call for autonomic elections. If he did not do it was because Rajoy did not give him any option for a “honorable” surrender. The face of the councillors after voting the declaration of independence was a funeral’s face.
The shape, beside the content, was also fictitious. The declaration of independence that was approved as a “proposal of resolution,” which is a proposal without any legal value. In addition, it was not even published in the Official Parliament Bulletin nor in the Official Journal of the Generalitat. The extract of it that they voted did not proclaim the Catalan Republic either but the “development of the transience law.”
It was also fictitious because the government and the parliamentary majority gave up on any real resistance to the implementation of the 155. They accepted the defeat without fighting and they handd over the institutions without resistance, beginning by the Mossos d’Esquadra. When the general director and Mayor Trapero were separated and the institution was put under the order of Rajoy’s Ministry of Interior, they accepted the destitution and Trapero even called the Mossos d’Esquadra to be “loyal and comprehensive” with the new leadership.
They also accepted other destitutions, and the Government will not go beyond legal resources [to oppose it]. This is the “democratic opposition to the implementation of the 155” that Puigdemont talks about.
The declaration of independence was, also, indecorous, with secret vote and the President refusing to speak. Later, when the people was celebrating in the St. Jaume Square, Puigdemont did not want to go out to the balcony, and he did not even ordered to take out the Borbonic flag from the Palau de la Generalitat. It is stil there.
Of course, Junqueras cannot hide behind Puigdemont. He has the same responsibility.
What really worries Puigdemont-Junqueras
What really worries Puigdemont and Junqueras, beyond their personal luck, is the possibility of “breaking normality.” On October 28, the day after the implementation of the 155, when the government had left service already, Puigdemont made a desperate call to calm, to “search for the maximum stability and tranquility,” to “patience, perserverance, and perspective,” and not to abandon “never, ever, at any moment, a civic, pacific behaviour.” Such is the voice of “entreguismo.” [Non-ressistance, handing-over policy. – T.N.]
On the same day, echoing Puigdemont’s message as a transmission chain of the Govern, the ANC-Òmnium made a call stating “Let’s fill the bars (…) let’s buy clothes (…) let’s go the mountain (…) let’s save our energies.”
In reality, Junts pel Sí never really wanted to struggle for proclamation and defense of the Catalan Republic. On October 10, day of the 8-second Independence, they betrayed the popular mandate of the 1-0 and disobeyed the law of the referendum that they had passed themselves. Their policy, for many years, has been to take advantage of social mobilization and a moderate institutional confrontation to negotiate a fiscal agreement and a competence-shield [blindaje competencial] in [the frame of] the Spanish regime.
The problem is that the result of this was the 1-0. What the Govern planned as a protest became a popular upraisal that, confronting a brutal repression, guaranteed the referendum and demanded to respect the results.
Not the PdCAT nor the ERC have any right to what they are doing. On October 1 and 3, the Catalan people won the respect and admiration of the world for its courage and determination. The people does not deserve some leadership subjected to the mandate of the Europe of the capital, the banks, and the bosses.
A very real 155
Whilst the Parliament passed a fictitious declaration of independence, the regime inheritor of Franquismo passed the article 155, eliminating autonomy, separating the president, the vice-president, and all the councillors, and assuming all the powers of the Generalitat from Madrid. The first measure, once the government was dismissed, was to take control of the Mossos d’Esquadra, accepted without resistance. Now public order is in their hands and we will feel this sooner than later.
Now, all the faculties are in Rajoy’s hands, who has the right to take whatever measure he wants, whenever he wants it. Now they present a first version of an apparent “light” 155, avoiding to attack the TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio directly and from the begining, and avoidin direct confrontation with the educational community. This, of course, will change, specially regarding TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio, when the election of December 21 gets closer. In parallel, the Prosector office has already prepared lawsuits against Puigdemont, Junqueras, the councillors, Forcadell, and part of the Parliament Board, for sedition and/or rebellion.
The EU and its governments are with Rajoy and the King against the right to decide
The EU and its governments have given vital and unconditional support to the King and Rajoy. They justified and backed the repression and the 155. The EU is a big anti-democratic gear of the financial oligarchy against the working class and peoples of Europe. Our allies are the workers and peoples of Europe; the EU and its governments are our enemies.
The PSOE-PSC, necessary helper and main accomplice of the King and Rajoy
The PSOE-PSC proved that they have nothing of socialist and classist, and that they are, together with the PP, one of the basic pillars of the monarchic regime. They are the ones that, together with the PP, modified the article 135 of the Constitution, imposed cuts, labor reforms, and nefarious pensions, and they are part of the boards of banks and electric companies. Sánchez’s Somos la Izquierda lasted until the call of the King. They participate in unified demonstrations with the right-wing and extreme right-wing. Exactly like some old Stalinists revived to this effect, like Francisco Frutos, former PCE Secretary.
The CCOO-UGT bureaucracy, another necessary accomplice
Sustaining the bourgeois State and regime that feeds them and shaking hands with the bosses, the CCOO-UGT confederations aligned, from the beginning, to Rajoy, Sánchez, and Rivera. They did not move a finger against the repression, except for a cynical formal rejection and call to dialogue. In Catalonia, they dedicated to demobilized and impede a workers’ response in the companies. In the end, the Catalan and Spanish leaderships, together, supported the 155 and openly called to accept it.
Unidos-Podemos and the Comunes
Iglesias-Garzón and the Comunes also have major responsibility. They opposed the referendum in the name of an agreed referendum that they knew was impossible. Later, when the Govern de la Generalitat called it unilaterally, they denied its legitimacy and did not acknowledge the result of the 1-0. Now, under the slogan “Nor DUI not 155,” they make echo of the ones that declared the Catalan Republic “illegal” and “illegitimate.” They did not move a finger in the State for solidarity with Catalonia.
Coscubiela was enthusiastically applauded by the PP and Ciutadans’ deputies. Now, Marta Ribas charged the responsibility of the 155 on the deputies that voted in favor of the Catalan Republic. Colau pathetically implored for weeks to not declare the independence; now that the 155 is a fact, none of them hesitated a second to involve in Rajoy’s elections.
Unidos-Podemos, together with the Comunes, are now the left-wing of the monarchic regime.
The election of December 21 and the complicities with Rajoy
Rajoy followed the annulment of autonomy with a call for elections on December 21. This is an essential move, necessary to legitimate the 155, bury the Republic, defeat the independentist movement politically and rechannel it through the monarchic regime.
But, if Puigdemont and Junqueras, the PdCAT and the ERC, the ANC and Òmnium, and all the independentist councils were to reject Rajoy’s elections in the name of the 1-0 and the legitimacy of the Catalan Republic, and organize the boycott, the elections would be condemned to the most absolut failure, despite the participation of Ada Colau’s Comunes. Rajoy’s maneuver cannot triumph without the complicty of the soveraigntist movement’s leaders. This is where the problem lies.
Although Artur Mas did not take an official stand, days before Rajoy called for elections he had already pronounced in favor of participating. Junqueras also announced his participation to the press, although unclearly. Colau-Coscubiela leaders, with Pablo Iglesias’ support, are already preparing the lists. And even the CUP speaker made public, in contradiction with the stand defended so far, that “given the complexity of the moment” they do not close the door to participating.
There is an opperation by the official independentist movement that presents the 155 elections as a triumph and as a great chance to celebrate the referéndum, not validated by the regime until now. There are those who already call to “defend the polls” on D-21. It is truly undiginifed, the most clear ressignation to struggle for the Catalan Republic and of its will to rechannel it wll through the monarchic regime.
But, even if the “independentist” candidatures won the majority of he votes, it would not be to proclaim, defend, and build a Catalan Republic, but to negotiate a favorable position for businesses. And even this “idyllic” possibility is improbable, as the betrayal is so big that an important part of the independentist movement will not be carried as submissive electoral cattle by a leadership that lost all legitimacy, while the Spanish minority works for the oficial flag.
The role and responsibility of the CUP
The CUP had the obligation of telling the truth regarding the fraud that was being carried out, and it did not. On the contrary, it took pictures with Puigdemont and celebrated a fake declaration. It did not denounce, either, the betrayal of October 10, the day of the 8-second Republic. It even signed a declaration with no legal value that only served to “sweeten” the betrayal. A declaration that, besides, assumed “unilaterally,” among other things, all the EU regulations and Spain international treaties, mainly the NATO. We cannot share the “comprehension” that they showed before the passive acceptance of Trapero, either.
The CUP, before the 155 was a fact, had expressed clearly that it would not participate in any other autonomic parliament. Now, it is time to be consequent with its committment and head a popular movement for the boycott to Rajoy’s and the monarchy’s elections. We call not to listen to the siren cries of betrayal for which the PdCAT and the ERC fell. Without its electoral participation, the regime cannot fully legitimize the maneuver.
We call the CUP to decouple politically from Puigdemont-junqueras, to break with any political subejction to the ANC and Òmnium, and to help building a new leadershio that does not accept defeat without a fight and organizes a real ressistence to the 155, beginning by the organization of the boycott.
The CUP has a major responsibility with the CDRs, and we call it not to surrender to the temptation of making them [the CDRs] a “white-brand,” bureaucratically controlled by and politically subjected to the ANC-Òmnium. On the contrary, the CDRs have to be the motor of reaggroupation of the ones that want to struggle; democratic base Rank-and-file bodies with self-initiative, and now also a base of the campaign for boycott to the 155 elections.
There is no Catalan Republic nor Right to Decide without defeating the 155 and boycotting Rajoy’s and the Monarchy’s elections
The first to do is to deny any political trust to Puigdemont-Junqueras and its chains of transmission, the ANC-Òmnium. We will not hesitate to defend them unconditionally from a vengeful repression by the inheritors of Franquismo, but we will not support them politically. With them leading, the defeat is certain.
The bsymbolic actions to “build the Republic” only make sense if they are part of a popular campaign for boycott. They should not serve to cover up for the electoral campaign of oficial independentism, which already gave up the fight fotr the Republic. In the same way, it makes no sense to loose energies by encouraging a fake constitutional process that is not viable unless we defeat the 155, expell the occupation forces and “raise” the Republic, what at this pont means to fight for boycott.
The great current task is to encourage boycott to the 155 elections. It is necessary for the CDRs, independentists, and consequent councills, as much as the labor movement, students, and left and political organizations, to organize a popular campaign for the boycott.
October 1 and 3 proved that only through popular mobilization and self-organization we can move forward, just as we need to move forward with collective self-defense. Together with the organization of boycott, we need to unify the different sectors for ressist the implementation of the 155 and prepare demonstrations, including strikes in the perspective of a General Strike.
The sovereignist process failed because of its separation from the workers’ and popular demands. But it is impossible to triumph if the struggle for the Republic is separated from the struggle for a social emergency program: immediate derogation of the labor reforms, end of precariousness, dignified pensions guaranteed by the budgets, minimum wage of 1000€, withdrawal of the cuts and privatizations, banning of evictions, and derogation of the 3+2 and the LOMCE, among other measures.
The Catalan Republic will be a workers’ republic or it will not be
We call the more consciouss and struggling sectors of the workigng class, the ones that participated of the 1-0 and strike don 3-0, to give a step forward and head the struggle. Because, once again in History, it has been proven that the Catalan Republic will be a workers’ republic or it will not be. The Catalan bourgeoisie has proven that its flag is the wallet.
The unity we need, imperiously and before everything else, to defend bread, work, roof, and the right to decide, cannot be achieved supporting the 155, passively or actively. To allow this intervention is to commit suicide.
Let’s forget the Catalan Republic for a minute: what would happen if a Govern of the Generalitat decided that the pensions would be fully paid by the public Budget, or that in Catalonia the labor reforms will no longer be valid? We already know the response of the central government: the 155 and repression.
The struggle to proclaim and build the Republic has to be an instrument to achieve bread, work, roof, equality, and sovereignty. It has to be spearhead to end, together with the Spanish State workers, the monarchic regime, inheritor of Franquismo and puppet of the European Union and the Troika.
Only like this we can win decisive sectors of the working class to the struggle and achieve active solidarity of workers from the rest of the state and Europe. Life has proven that the Catalan Republic will be the result of workers’ and people’s struggle or it will not be. It will be their republic or it will not be. And so, it will also be the base of unity of free republics.
