Workers Solidarity Alliance (WSA) Statement on Catalonia
Independence would mean the construction of a Catalan nation-state independent of the Spanish nation-state. Since nation-states are the political institutions of rule for the local capitalist class those who benefit from independence will be the Catalan capitalists and not Catalan workers or oppressed people. On the other side of the coin, the national government seeks to repress a democratic procedure (referendum) for the interests of the Spanish capitalist class; not losing it’s most economically important region. WSA supports the struggle of the oppressed and the working class in Catalonia and Spain and opposes the national police and their repression of democracy. WSA does not call for the creation of new nation-states, but the abolition of all nation-states (including the Spanish nation-state) in favor of a world libertarian socialist order in which there is no oppression or exploitation and society is governed through the free-association of producers.
http://ideasandaction.info/2017/10/wsa-statement-catalan-independence/
This statement would be more
This statement would be more impressive as a principled stand against nationalism if it wasn't for the rather bland neutral reporting style of the two preceding paragraphs with their vague references to ''the Catalans'' and ''democracy'' that leaves much to be clarified as to what the WSA means in practice by it's ''support'' for the ''struggle of the oppressed and working class in Catalonia''?
l think everybody understands
l think everybody understands the point and appreciates principled statements at a time when there are lots of confused principles going around. But l agree with the criticism about the language; it is very cautious and vague. As for one point, about the lost of an economically important region being against the interests of capitalists, l think it is more important than that because in many states around the world, state revenues are spread and redistributed which can make the situation more complicated. For example, one comrade here argued with one Wobbly about this principle since he was arguing more or less along the line like "why should rich Catalonia have to pay money to support poor regions in Spain". l think that the reason any comrades here would have problems with argumentation like this is that, for example, the city l live in is the richest and a part of our tax revenue is sent to the poorest regions for help but there is a bourgeois movement against this type of regional redistribution. Such redistribution actually benefits things like schools, not really local capitalists. l'm aware that there are many more complicated economic issues in relation to Catalonia-Spain, but l think there are a number of economic interests, not only capitalist ones. Agreed that the capitalist classes often stand to be the main ones to benefit from national independence movements.
I passed this on to folks.
I passed this on to folks. Perhaps someone will reply to the points.