The role of the Socialists

I'm not talking about the role of the PSC. I'm talking about the role of the Socialists in Catalonia's independence process. And I do so because they are fundamental, because we cannot construct a victorious coalition without the presence of what has been one of the key parties in this country, without its people and without its way of understanding Catalanism. And I also do so in order to note that we can rest easy. The initials, the machine, they're against us because they are held hostage by a few. But each day there are more and more Socialists, card-carrying or otherwise, who are done with the party line and who side with the majority. Where they always intended to be.

A year ago, I wrote an editorial in which I claimed that though the PSC didn't know it yet, they were turning independentist. I said it in reference to the vote in which they had voted differently than the PSOE [their affiliated party] in the Spanish Congress: 'The left will inevitably be ever more broad, exactly the same way it happened years ago in the whole of society. No matter what they do, no matter what they say, the left will grow because the paradigm has shifted. When you stop thinking about the others and begin to think about yourself, freedom is imminent. And it's really hard to go back to the way things were before.'

Clearly, given the perspective of last year, I was wrong about the initials. I didn't take into account to what extent the PSC is a party under the thumb of its very meager internal, premanufactured democracy such that it is possible for a minority to control the patrimony of the whole and enjoy usufruct. But, seen with the perspective of the past year, I think no one can dispute that the truth is that the Socialists—not the initials but the people—are turning independentist, if they are not so already.

We see it in the towns where their councilors, without fractures, vote systematically in favor of the referendum and against the orders of Pere Navarro [president of the PSC]. We see it as important names in the Socialist party take public positions that manage to leverage their political weight in the service of the process. From Quim Nadal to Manuel Royes, who preside over local entities, to Ernest Maragall, who heads a new party, a kind of refuge from which to begin to rebuild Catalan socialdemocracy. We see it in the intellectual expression of a good portion of the Socialist opinion makers, analysts, and strategists who don't hide for a moment the direction that the country is going in.

Yesterday, José Antonio Donaire, one of the most interesting Socialist voices in the last decade, published a brilliant analysis on his blog explaining the reasons why Catalonia's independence will become a reality. It is an explanation that I recommend to you most highly. He doesn't make any personal declarations, but the analysis doesn't leave a lot of doubt about the country's future, and therefore, how a party who wants to win majorities and respect social opinion should see things.

director@vilaweb.cat

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The initials are against us because they have been hijacked. But each day there are more Socialists who side with the majority.