Catalonia: Here's how the industrial heartland of Spain became a hotbed of separatism

CHENNAI: On Sunday, the people of Catalonia voted in a referendum that was banned by the Spanish government. They voted 'yes' or 'no' to the question of independence from Spain, of which Catalonia has been a part since the 15th century. 

A region in northeastern Spain, Catalonia is home to over seven million people. However, almost any Catalan would resent it if described as Spanish. So it was no surprise that 90 percent of Catalonians voted 'yes.'

If during your last trip to Barcelona, you thought that people around you were talking Spanish, you probably got it wrong. Chances are you heard Catalan, a language that was brutally repressed during the 35-year reign of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. It survived because Catalans, for whom their language is a sign of their distinctiveness, preserved it with great tenacity. 

Ask any Catalan about their mother tongue and how it differs from Spanish, and you would probably get an hour-long lecture during which some would also tell you how much they loathe the Spaniards. “Spanish people are very racist. Stay away from them,” this author was warned by a Catalan while in London. His use of the word “them” to describe the people of Spain speaks volumes about the gap that exists between Catalonia and Spain. 

Catalans have had a difficult time co-existing with the Spanish although they have fought wars together, notably the Franco-Spanish war in 1808. Yet for a sizeable number Catalans, Spaniards are untrustworthy. 

They have for long complained that Madrid does not give back as much as they take from Catalonia in the form of taxes. Only a few Catalans were happy about Madrid sucking their wealth and pumping it into the poorer agrarian regions of Spain. 

However, the present-day talk of secession has its roots in the Spanish Constitutional Court’s 2010 decision to annul the special privileges granted to Catalonia in 1979.  

Coming of machines and the rise of Catalan nationalism

The rise of modern Catalan nationalism dates back to the 19th century. Unlike the rest of Europe, Spain was slow to catch up with industrialisation. When it did in the second half of the 19th century, the industry was mostly confined to the principality of Catalonia. Unlike their counterparts in Andalusia and Castile, Catalonia’s middle class embraced the industrial age and within a few years, Catalonia became an economic powerhouse as textile production boomed. At one point, Catalonia was a match for England, which was then the leading cotton producer of the time.  Soon, the region became a vital pillar of the Spanish economy. Even today, it is. 

Industrialisation and the emergence of a wealthy middle class during the second half of the 19th century had major consequences. First, it touched off a cultural revival. Catalonia was the most modern region in Spain at that time. While the rest of the country was still agrarian, Catalonia’s textile mills were producing clothes that were highly sought-after not just in Spain, but also in other parts of Europe. This boosted the Catalans’ self-confidence and a feeling that they are better than Spaniards took shape.“Catalonia was growing in economic power and rediscovered its language and culture. It was only a question of time before the principality would once again seek to express itself again politically,” wrote Simon Harris, a Catalan historian.

The cultural revival threw light on Catalan literature, which had remained more or less obscure. The newly self-confident Catalans also began eulogising their homeland. Heard of Oda a la Pàtria? When a Catalan worker in Madrid missed his home, he penned an ode to it. And it was an instant hit among his people.  

By the end of the 19th century, the contrast between Catalonia and the rest of Spain was glaringly evident: one a prosperous region with factories and mills and the other with farms that stretched to the horizon.

According to Simon Harris, “Divergent economic priorities could only widen the social and political gap between Catalonia and the rest of Spain.” 

Cultural revival leads to political activism
 
By the end of the 19th century, Catalan political activism emerged from the obscurity of mid-century. It was led most by industrialists who wanted to protect their industries from Madrid’s influence. The Unio Catalanista, formed in 1891, was among the earliest Catalan political groups. Demands for a federal polity in which Catalonia would enjoy more privileges were raised in the Spanish parliament in Madrid, which was not very receptive.

In fact, Madrid was wary of the Catalans’ growing ambitions. The 1890s were a decade when Catalans began reaching out to foreign governments. In 1898, Unio Catalanista sent a message to the king of Greece extending support to his struggle against Turkey over Cyprus. A decade earlier, in 1888, a group of Catalan nationalists declared their support to Irish nationalists led by Charles Stewart Parnell. 

“Madrid could not tolerate an external involvement of Catalanism and its response was brutal: a wave of repression struck Catalonia, with closure of newspapers, proscription of meetings, search of houses,” wrote Martí de Riquer, a Spanish historian. 

Catalans get what they want

In 1931, Spain became a republic again when King Alfonso XIII abdicated. The next year, Catalans voted in a referendum on the question of autonomy from Spain. Nearly 99 per cent of Catalans said  ‘yes’. Thus, Catalonia became an autonomous state within the Spanish republic. 

However, their victory was short-lived. Within four years, a civil war broke out in Spain. The nationalist military leader Francisco Franco, with the backing of  Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, challenged the democratically elected leadership in Madrid. During the three-year-long civil war, Catalonia, particularly Barcelona, was a stronghold of Franco’s opponents, the Anarchists and the Communists. As a result,  the region witnessed much more bloodshed than the rest of Spain. In 1938, when Franco's forces marched on Catalonia, they engaged in looting, rape and pillage. Catalans were forced to flee their homes in droves. 

After his victory, Franco ruled Spain for 35 years until 1975, and his brutal regime crushed any sign of Catalan nationalism. 

In short, Catalans surrendered all that they had achieved in the 19th century. Their language, or even any display of Catalan culture, was banned. For the generation that came of age during the last decade of the 19th century, this was too much to stomach. Although crushed, Catalans’ sense of identity did not die down. It was probably during this period that it got sharpened.  

With the death of Francisco Franco in 1975, democracy bloomed once again in Spain. Three years later, in 1978, a Constitution was adopted. The same year, elections were held for the first time since the demise of the dictator. Socialists, who had been supporting Catalonia’s independence bid, won power. 

What did Spain's return to democracy mean for Catalans? 

In 1979, Madrid approved the statute of autonomy for Catalonia which declared that the region is an autonomous community. It provided for the establishment of the Catalan Parliament, which has exclusive authority to legislate on Catalan civil law, culture and welfare. Further, the statute recognised Catalan as the official language of Catalonia. 

Catalans welcomed these developments with open hands, and for the next couple of decades, secessionist tendencies lay dormant. 

However, the 1979 document, did not solve the Catalan issue once and for all. As years passed, the people of Catalonia began demanding more rights and privileges from Madrid. In 2005, the Catalan government set itself to the task of drafting ammendments to the Catalan constitution seeking more rights. If the 1979 document gave recognition to Catalan as the official language of Catalonia, the newly drafted constitution called on Madrid to recognise Catalonia as a nation. The Spanish parliament approved the draft, but only after several amendments. Catalans' demand that they be called a “nation” was unacceptable to Madrid. 

Later, in June 2006, 26 years after Catalonia won back its autonomy, another referendum was held. This time Catalans voted 'yes' to “reforms” to the 1979 document. The improvements included recognition of Catalans as a “nation” as well as a bigger share in Spain's tax revenue. Not surprisingly, nearly 80 per cent voted in favour of reforms. 

Four years later June 28, 2010, a Spanish constitutional court upheld most of Catalan demands, including that they be called a “nation”. However, the court struck down Catalan as the prefered language for administrative purposes in Catalonia. It was not just an assault on the 1979 document, which recognised Catalan and also gave Catalan parliament the right to legislate on local culture, but also a hit on Catalans’ pride. 

The present-day movement for secession traces its roots back to that day in June.