Catalonia: the national question and labor’s strategic dilemmas

The history of Catalonia has involved a complex articulation between the national and the social questions. The history of Catalonia must be understood in terms of the complex divorces and marriages between Catalanism and the labor movement that has presented major strategic crossroads and struggles for the political leadership of the country, that overlap with the internal fights inside the labor movement and Catalanism. The currents of the labor movement that has best dealt with the national question in the history of Catalonia have been those that have understood its political and strategic dimension and the need not leave it in the hands of the bourgeoisie and the middle classes, while seeking to develop an independent approach to the question. This article explores the link between the national and the social question in the history of Catalonia since late 19th Century till the rise of contemporary independence movement, through the strategic debates of the labor movement. First, it begins by formulating an overview of how the both issues have been linked. Second, it presents a historical overview in several phases: from the end of the 19th century to the Second Republic; the Republican period (1931–1939) and the Franco dictatorship (1939–1975). Finally, it briefly looks at the post-Franco period, culminating with an analysis of the phase that began in 2012 with the rise of the independence movement.