The mandate of October 1 and 3 demands to proclaim the Catalan Republic immediately and take urgent measures in favor of the working people.By Corriente Roja
On October 10, the Govern de la Generalitat betrayed the popular will expressed in the referendum of October 1 and the General Strike of October 3. Instead of honoring the popular mandate, Puigdemont and Junqueras were subjected to the mandate of the representatives of the Europe of the capital (the EU,) the banks, and the bosses: a negligible minority enemy of the people’s and the working class’ rights.
The “suspension” of the Catalan Republic 8 seconds after declaring it ashames the people that earned the respect and admiration of the world by its courage and determination. The signature, at the last moment, of a declaration of independence of with no legal value and with a content, typical of the convergent right-wing serves only to sweeten the betrayal. We do not agree with the CUP deputies signature of it.
It was possible to win the referendum, the 1-0[1] was possible, because of the massive mobilization and popular self-organization. The Govern did not want to go further than a simple protest. This is why it dissolve the Sindicatura Electoral, and this is why the ANC [National Competence Authority] called to make silent silence in the electoral schools, allowing the police to take the polls. But the people did not follow this and guaranteed the referendum through an authentic popular upraise, confronting a brutal repression completely exposed. Two days later, the General Strike stopped the country in one of the biggest mobilizations of Catalonia’s History. But the Govern, instead of respecting the popular mandate and proclaiming the republic at the heat of the referendum and general strike, waited a week for the mobilization to cool down, enabling an economic and political counter-attack by the reactionary Spain, which ended up in the betrayal of October 10.
To justify its behaviour, the Govern talked about an alleged “Slovenian way,” and it did this by lying, because from the first moment it carried out and won its “illegal” referendum, Slovenia began acting like a sovereign state, taking control of the borders, the troops, the police, the taxes, and the justice. The Brioni Agreement, which delayed 3 months the effects of the formal declaration of independence, was nothing but a diplomatic maneuver because Slovenia was already a sovereign state for all purposes.
Puigdemont-Junqueras justified its capitulation by appealing to an inexistent international mediation and to an impossible dialogue with a regime inheritor of Franquismo, which does not admit anything but unconditional surrender, and that only looks for revenge and an exemplary humiliation.
At this point, to continue calling to trust the EU, like the JxS Govern does, is simply a crime. The EU and its governments closed ranks categorically with the king and Rajoy against the Catalan people and did not hesitate in justifying the brutal repression to the 1-0. But the EU is not “Europe” but an anti-democratic gear of the financial oligarchy against the European workers and peoples. That is why the EU cannot allow for a people to impose its democratic will defeating the unfair, illegitimate laws. It cannot allow risking the payment of the Spanish foreign debt to the European banks, either, nor for other European national minorities to grow and claim their rights. Our allies are the workers and the peoples of the EU. The EU and its governments are enemies of the Catalan Republic.
Right now, Rajoy, according to Sánchez[2] and with the explicit support of the EU, has set up the implementation of the article 155.[3] If the Govern does not humiliate itself, the State will suspend autonomy, intervene the Mossos [d’Esquadra, Catalan Police Force] and the education, and it will not hesitate in stopping the Govern, illegalize parties, launch a repressive escalade against activists, and call for a fraudulent election to seize power. As a bait for the Govern to humiliate itself, they offer a negotiation of an alleged “Constitutional reform” in six months from now, in which, as the PP and PSOE stated, “Spain’s unity will not be negotiated under any circumstances.” But, if the Govern humiliates itself, the perspective is not better, as this regime, heir of Franquismo, is equally determined to “reestablish constitutional normality,” end the resistance and give an exemplary lesson.
The PSOE-PSC is a necessary collaborator and main accomplice of Rajoy in his wat against the Catalan people. Together with the PP, it has shown to be one of the basic pillars of the regime. When the king called to close ranks, Sánchez aligned with this and the flourishes ended. His support for the repression, to the article 155, and the participation of the PSOE-PSC in the demonstration of October 8, hand on hand with the PP, Ciudadanos, and the Nazi extreme-right, is a graphic proof of its complete political and moral decay.
It is also necessary to say that, beyond the parliamentary protests against the repression, Podemos and the Comunes of Ada Colau are playing a nefarious role, in a desperate attempt to take the movement back to the rails of the regime in name of an “agreed referendum” that they know is impossible. They delegitimized the referendum alleging that, as it was not agreed, it had no “guarantees” and it was “not acknowledged by the EU.” Later on, they refused to acknowledge the results. Ada Colau was pathetic repeating the statements of the “main Union forces [the CCOO-UGT bureaucracy,] the business world and different entities of the civil society,” to implore to Puigdemont to not proclaim the Catalan Republic, appealing to a “dialogue” that we know that has no interlocutor.
The limit given by Rajoy to implement the article 155 expires on October 19. But, no matter what happens, the movement has not been defeated. Despite the betrayal of the Govern, the popular movement of October 1 and 3 remains strong. Now, it is about re-taking the initiative and reactivate the massive, popular mobilization to confront the repressive offensive by the State, and to impose respect to the mandate of October 1. The last word has not been spoken. We cannot lose our hope in victory.
But, for it to happen, we cannot give any trust to a Govern that has violated the mandate of the 1-0 and panics before popular mobilization. We will not hesitate for one second to defend the president and the members of the Govern of a retaliatory repression by the inheritors of Franquismo, but we will not give any political support to them. With them leading, we are doomed to a defeat. The Catalan Republic will be work of an independent struggle of the workers and people. It will be their Republic, or it will not be at all.
Now, whatever comes from this regimen heir of Franquismo, we need to organize and coordinate the resistance from the CDRs [popular committees], the alternative unionism, and the different base movements. We need to encourage popular self-organization and self-defense independent from the Govern and its drive chains (the ANC). We need to prepare the response together, including the general strike. We need to demand from and force the Govern and the Parlament to comply with the popular mandate and proclaim the Catalan Republic immediately. And, also immediately, to put the Mossos d’Esquadra to serve its defense.
The struggle for the immediate proclamation of the Republic and the one for the most urgent social demands cannot be separated: the immediate derogation of the labor reforms, dignified pensions granted by the budgets, minimum wage of 1000€, reversion of cuts, banning of evictions, and the derogation of the 3+2 and the LOMCE, among other measures. This is also the best guarantee to get active solidarity of all other Spanish and European workers that we need to win. Today, the biggest challenge is to win most of the working class to the task of proclaiming and building the Catalan Republic as an instrument to achieve bread, work, roof, equality, and sovereignty. Only this type of Republic will be able to give a categoric response to the banks and companies that move their offices out of Catalonia.
The struggle goes on, the victory is possible.
Corriente Roja.
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Translation: Sofía Ballack.
Notes:
[1] Local way to call the referendum: 1 is yes, 0 is no.
[2] Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, leader of the PSOE.
[3] The Article 155 of the 1978 Constitution states that if an Autonomous Community does not comply with the obligations of the Spanish Constitution or attempts against the Spanish State or government in any way, the centralized government can make the Constitution to be complied by force.
