Contributors Pau Llonch ( PL ) Alberto Garzón ( AG )

The October 1 independence referendum in Catalonia has prompted much discussion and debate on the Spanish left. Lacking international recognition and a legal basis under the constitution, the vote will be an act of mass civil disobedience against the conservative central government of Mariano Rajoy. But it will not be endorsed by the leading forces of the Spanish left, Podemos and Izquierda Unida, despite their defense of the Catalan people’s right to self-determination and opposition to the repression of the Spanish state.

Instead, these parties, and their joint Unidos-Podemos slate, have tried to carve out a middle road in the confrontation, recognizing the vote as a legitimate form of political mobilization, but one which is designed more as a show of strength by pro-independence forces than a genuine referendum.

In contrast to the October 1 vote, a recent article by Pablo Iglesias and Xavier Domènech, head of Podemos’s regional ally Catalunya en Comú, reaffirmed their commitment to a legally binding referendum as part of a wider constitutional process. This would aim at instituting a plurinational, federal Spain; an option they say is excluded by a simple in-out referendum.

But these proposed changes seem a long way off, especially considering that any reform of the Spanish constitution requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the parliament. Faced with criminalization by the Spanish state and a campaign of denunciation from the country’s political establishment, the pro-independence left in Catalonia has vociferously backed the referendum.

The upsurge in support for independence can be traced back to the 2006 Statute of Autonomy for Catalonia which, after being watered down by the Spanish parliament, was finally rejected by the Constitutional Court in 2010. In the wake of this controversy, and under the effects of austerity, those backing independence more than doubled (from below 20 percent to over 45 percent), while two left-wing independence parties, the social-democratic Esquerra Republicana (ERC) and the radical Candidatura d’Unitat Popular (CUP), gained ground electorally. Having backed a broad pro-separatist regional government led by the right-wing Partit Demòcrata Europeu (PDeCAT) in 2016, ERC and the CUP have promised independence within eighteen months if there is a yes vote in October.

As tensions increase ahead of the vote, economist and CUP activist Pau Llonch and Izquierda Unida MP Alberto Garzón discuss how the Left should approach the question of Catalan self-determination.