Catalunya- October 18th, 2019

Catalonia- October 18, 2019 Out with the occupation forces of the Bourbons from Catalonia, with their judges and repressive forces! Immediate freedom for all Catalan political prisoners!   Down with the Monarchy and its regime! For the right to self-determination of the Catalan, the Basque peoples and all oppressed nations! Make way to the Republic of the indignant!   Enough with union bureaucracy, collaborationist with the Bourbons and the IBEX 35 employers! The struggle of the Catalan people for their independence is the same struggle of the entire Spanish working class against the Crown, for work, pensions, education and housing For a general strike throughout the Spanish State!   Neither vassal of the Crown, nor at the feet of imperialist Europe... For an independent, workers’, socialist Catalonia! For a Federation of Socialist Republics of the Iberian Peninsula! Since Monday October 14, the day the Supreme Court ruled against sovereign leaders came to light, the Catalan people have not left the streets. With barricades every night in Barcelona, ​​and other Catalan cities, with mass demonstrations and columns from different points of Catalonia and a general strike, they have stood up to the monarchical regime and its justice that has not only condemned politicians, but has wanted to condemn the struggle of the Catalan people for their independence. This sentence of years of jail that seeks to be exemplary for the independence movement is also a monstrous violation of the slightest democratic freedoms. We witness a new attack against the Catalan people and their right to demonstrate and fight for independence, which is being carried out by the Bourbon monarchy, first with the PP of Rajoy and now with the PSOE of Sánchez, with the endorsement of all bourgeois parties, the left of the crown (Podemos and the PCE-United Left) and the regime unions (CCOO and UGT). The sentence and the repression of the state against the Catalan working class, students and independence fighters is continuity of the coup against the democratic rights that the PP and the PSOE imposed with article 155 and with thousands of police, civil guards and Mossos de Esquadra beating the Catalan people last October 1st, 2017. Today, workers, students and the Catalan people have been on the streets for days of independent actions that have made the Mossos de Esquadra and the national police crazy. The general strike has begun with pickets on several roads throughout Catalonia and the arrival of the five columns of the so-called "marches of freedom" that departed from Girona, Vic, Berga, Tàrrega and Tarragona on Wednesday to culminate in Barcelona. Against all odds, the workers and the Catalan people have shown in the streets that they are willing to fight with all their forces against the repression of the central government and for its independence. If the regime of 78 with the Monarchy, its repressive forces and its caste of judges is strengthened in Catalonia, then it will come for all the workers of the Spanish state to finish taking off all our conquests. The tripartite of rights of the PP, C’s and Vox wants the crushing without concessions and the absolute defeat of the Catalan independence movement. Meanwhile, the PSOE clarifies that all violent (referring to the Catalan people) will be brought to justice, and that will not apply for the moment Article 155 but that does not rule out anything. The PSOE, servant of the monarchy, as the other bourgeois parties, and at the service of IBEX 35 will not hesitate to launch an even more brutal repression if the Catalan people persist in their struggle. Out with the occupation forces of the Bourbons of Catalonia, with their judges and repressive forces! Immediate freedom for all Catalan political prisoners! No more staging and criminalization! The fight for their freedom is the same fight for the freedom of the more than 400 Basque prisoners and all the political prisoners of the Spanish state. There is no other way to fight for the right to independence of Catalonia, other than the struggle to defeat the monarchy, the infamous regime of 78 and its government that, with its judges, condemns the independence movement and tomorrow unions will be intervened and the rights to workers throughout the Iberian Peninsula abolished. As we, Trotskyists, say "You cannot lose sight of for a moment that Spain and Catalonia, as a constituent part of that country, are currently governed, not by Catalan national democrats, but by Spanish imperialist bourgeois, allied to the big landowners, to the old bureaucrats and the generals, with the support of the national socialists. All this brotherhood intends to maintain, on the one hand, the servitude of the Spanish colonies, and, on the other, to ensure maximum bureaucratic centralization of the metropolis; that is to say, it wants the crushing of the Basques, the Catalans and the other nationalities by the Spanish bourgeoisie”. (Leon Trotsky - summer 1934)   The left of the Crown is aligned with the monarchy and its parties, against the Catalan workers All the bourgeois parties as soon as the sentence was known made statements claiming that it had to be complied with. The left of the crown was not far behind: Pablo Iglesias called to abide by the "procés" sentence and initiate reconciliation. He is in the opposite trench from the fight for the independence of the Catalan people and at the feet of his majesty. Unidos Podemos betrayed the movement of the indignant, those who they said they were heirs of, and now they have also sold out the independence struggle of the Catalan people guaranteeing their open support to the monarchy to defeat the Catalans. The Anticapitalist group, which is part of Podemos, despite some lukewarm statements about self-determination and by amnesty to prisoners, does not break up with Podemos. They are also responsible for what their preferred partners and political allies do, isolating the working class, the students and the Catalan people from the rest of the workers in the Spanish state. This policy pursues the objective of giving up and renouncing their struggle to crush the Monarchy in Catalonia and the rest of the state. The honest fighters of Anticapitalists must break with this policy of their leadership and unite their struggle with the Catalan people for their independence. On the other hand, the Catalan CUP has turned left taking steps to stop being the crutch of the bourgeoisie (PDeCat) and petty bourgeoisie (ERC) and begin to denounce the serious autonomist and connivance of the latter with the monarchical regime. In that sense, the CUP has decided to stand for general elections to wear out and block the Parliament of the regime by separating themselves from the policy of the lesser evil by which they will not support a PSOE government along with the rest of the regime's left. And it will base its campaign on program axes focused on amnesty and the end of repression, and the withdrawal of the occupation forces from the country. This is progressive. For this reason, the Trotskyist revolutionaries of Democracia Obrera, in the next general elections of 10-N, ask for a critical vote for the CUP, warning at all times that the CUP still maintains the hope that its action is aimed at forcing the State to a table of negotiation, as if that had not been proven it is impossible.   The Catalan bourgeois parties have already proven their total inconsistency in the struggle for independence, for which the workers and the Catalan people do fight decisively The Catalan bourgeoisie has already shown that it does not fight consistently for the independence of Catalonia. If the Catalan bourgeoisie has taken over this national struggle, it is not because of its “goodness” but because of the betrayal of the UGT, CCOO and the left of the Crown (Podemos and the PCE-United Left), which bind the working class of all the peninsula and prevent it from joining his struggle and leading it along with the Catalan working class. The entire movement of workers, students and the Catalan people who have been enduring brutal repression from the state and their justice for three years, has already made its experience with the Catalan bourgeois parties such as PdeCat and ERC. They have seen how after a huge fight these parties refused to declare independence and preferred to go into exile or go to jail rather than fight for independence. This is not something either they want or not, they can't. This Catalan bourgeoisie is a partner of the Spanish bourgeoisie and imperialism in their business and atrocity in the banks of Wall Street and in the plundering of oppressed peoples. The struggle for national independence that directly clashes with imperialism and the national bourgeoisie can only be carried out by the working class that has no business that binds them, only chains to break. It has been more than demonstrated that the right to national independence is not going to be achieved by the Catalan bourgeoisie. That is why they preferred to exile themselves or let themselves be imprisoned, before carrying out any serious struggle against the PP government. This bourgeoisie, represented by PDeCat and ERC, always wanted to beg for a larger slice of business and taxes. The Catalan bourgeoisie knew that, if the workers led this fight with their methods such as the expropriation without payment and under workers' control of the banks, companies etc., they were not going to expropriate only the Spanish companies but also the Catalan ones that are partners in the Bourbon and PP businesses. Since that bourgeoisie, as well as the Basque, are only infamous partners who share the banquet that the looters of the Spanish monarchy enjoy over the oppressing peoples. Therefore, the right to self-determination of Catalonia, including independence, can only be guaranteed by the Catalan working class along with that of the rest of the Spanish state and Europe. To get the minimum right to decide, as life has already corroborated, it was necessary to defeat the monarchy and its Court. We had to confront bosses' parties such as the PP, PSOE and Cs that guaranteed the application of article 155, while the left of the Crown of Podemos, the PCE-IU and the Comunes covered the left flank of the ‘78 regime.   The struggle of the Catalan people is the struggle of the working class of the entire Spanish State, against the Bourbons and their oppression It is the monarchy and its regime who oppress, in a true prison of nations, the Catalan, Basque and Galician people. It is also the Bourbons who, together with the parties of the PP, PSOE and Cs, representatives of the Spanish imperialist bourgeoisie, exploit the working class of the entire Iberian Peninsula and plunder the wealth in the semi-colonies. To defend the right to decide of the Catalans is to fight for the demands of all those exploited against precariousness, unemployment and repression, for pensions and decent housing, and against the prison of Spanish nations. That is why the struggle of the Catalan people for their independence is the best ally of the fight of the entire working class of the state against the monarchy and its regime, on condition that it breaks with the collaborationist bureaucracy and its fight in a general strike throughout the state. The bureaucracy of CCOO and UGT already acted as strike-breakers in the Catalan strikes on October 3, 2017 and February 21, 2019 of the Catalan combative unionism and today it does so again with the general strike called in Catalonia by the alternative trade unionism of CSC and IAC, supported by other combative unions such as SOC and Solidaridad Obrera, which has been a success for the workers and the Catalan people. This collaborationist bureaucracy separates the struggle of the Catalan working class from that of the rest of the state. We must throw the collaborationist bureaucracy out of our unions! We must re-found the workers' movement from the bottom up and resume the great tradition of the Comisiones Obreras of the 70s. For a pact of the working class and the exploited sectors of the entire Spanish state for the capitalists to pay for the crisis, the bankers, Wall Street partners and all imperialist parasites! There is no way to fight for the right to independence of Catalonia separate from the struggle of all the workers of the Spanish state to defeat the monarchy, dissolve their courts, and stand up to recover wages, employment, pensions and housing that were stolen.   Against the repression of the state and the fascist gangs: Self-defence committees of the working class and students! During these last days the workers and the Catalan people have suffered a brutal repression of the national police and the Mossos de Esquadra. There are dozens of young independentists detained and hundreds injured by rubber bullets and repression. A young man was hit by the van of the Mossos that almost run overs him. After the seven members of the CDR detained, in a police and judicial assembly, to which the anti-terrorism law has been applied, preventive detention has been issued for five new imprisoned fighters. To this we must add the fascist gangs that, with the approval of the police and the Francoist flag, took to the streets to “hunt for independence”, as they said. We need to strengthen the CDR, so that they definitely overflow as they are doing the control of the bourgeoisie and small bourgeoisie of the PDeCat and ERC, and organize from the unions, workers and student organizations, self-defense committees against the attack of the state and fascist gangs. We must crush the fascists! Dissolution of the Civil Guard and all repressive forces! Self-defence committees, labor unions and organizations and private soldiers to disarm the fascist gangs, the monarchy and their murderous officer caste! This is how Trotskyism raised the issue in the 1930s: “…agitation in favor of the proclamation of an independent Catalan republic, and they must demand, to guarantee it, the immediate armament of the entire people. The government should not be expected to arm them: they must immediately form workers' militias that will not only demand the best equipment from the government, but will also obtain it by disarming the reactionaries and the fascists. The proletariat must demonstrate to the Catalan masses that it has a sincere interest in the defense of Catalan independence. It is here where the decisive step towards the conquest of leadership in the struggle of all social layers will reside, prepared by the defense of both the city and the countryside. The armament of the town has to become the center of our agitation in the coming weeks, around the following slogans: “No salary cuts! The government and employers must bear the cost of equipment and reserves”. Existing military forces must be used as instructors in the formation of militias, and officers must be elected by militias. The militia base is the factory. The workers of the big industry, the railroads, etc. and of all public services must be part of this militia. You have to call the majority of the people to join. Each regiment chooses its committee, which sends a representative to the central committee of all the militia units of Catalonia. The central committee, that is to say the central Soviet, functions as a political state, but above all as a control body and later as a central authority for the reserves and equipment of the armed forces. In carrying out this task, it will become an agency next to the government, the government itself. It is the form, the concrete development of the Soviet in the current situation in Catalonia”. (Our bold)   For an independent, workers’ and socialist Catalonia! The national struggle of the Catalan people puts the overthrow of the monarchical regime on top of the agenda. In the era of imperialist capitalism, no independent nation can emerge, the world has already been divided. Catalonia is an oppressed nationality within an imperialist country, which in turn oppresses other peoples. Financial capital is also associated with the Catalan bourgeoisie for thousands of business ties. The cowardly begging policy of the Catalan bourgeoisie separates the workers of Catalonia from the unity and solidarity with the Catalan national struggle with all the workers of the Spanish state and of Europe. The full and effective resolution of the national question can only be conceived through the dictatorship of the proletariat, wielding power as the leader of the oppressed nation and, above all, of its peasant masses. The Bourbons do not cease to plunder the oppressed peoples of Latin America by looting their oil with Repsol as they did in Argentina or with Telefónica. The workers must show that we have in our hands the power to expropriate the expropriators and that task belongs to the working class of the entire Spanish state. The expropriation without payment and under workers' control of banks and companies is the first step to launch a Catalonia in struggle for the socialist revolution that quickly arouses the enthusiasm of the majority of the European working class. These measures of expropriating the banks, disarming the police, arming workers’ militias, calling to set up soldiers' committees, calling to break with NATO and the imperialist Maastricht, etc. they would transform the struggle for self-determination into a struggle sustained by millions of workers in Europe and the world because they would see in Catalonia a trench to fight against the exploiters and all the oppressors. It is the same struggle against the monarchy and its puppet courts, but also against this imperialist Maastricht that enslaves thousands of nations throughout the world. Only the triumph of the socialist revolution can fully and effectively solve the democratic-revolutionary tasks that the decadent bourgeoisie can no longer fulfill in this imperialist era, such as national liberation. In the same way, only the working class in power can effectively grant the full right to national self-determination - including the right to separation - to oppressed nationalities that did not become a nation state before the advent of imperialism. The national question was, is and will be, then, a fundamental engine of the international proletarian revolution. The resolution of this national question through the right of the Catalans to their Independence is a necessary requirement towards the Free Federation of Socialist Republics of the Iberian Peninsula that will only have a future on the ruins of Maastricht's Europe in union with the European working class that build the Socialist United States of Europe. In order for the Catalan people to have the right to decide, the parasitic monarchy of the Bourbons and the regime of the constitution of 78, inherited from Franco, must be pulled down. Down with the Monarchy and its regime! Make way to the republic of the indignant! For an independent, workers’ and socialist Catalonia! For a Federation of Socialist Republics of the Iberian Peninsula!   Democracia Obrera - Spanish State