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order. This led to a growing belief that
Catalonia – the most industrialised and
prosperous part of Spain – was being
stymied by governments that represent-
ed the economically backwards centre
of Spain. It was in this context that a
Catalan nationalist movement emerged
at the end of the 1880s.Refocusing on independence
Nevertheless, right through to the 20th
century, the majority wing within this
movement wanted political autonomy
rather than outright independence. This
was based on the fact that the collective
adversary of early Catalan nationalism
was perceived as ‘the Castilians’ (identi-
fied with central Spain), not Spaniards
as a whole. Moreover, Catalan industry
was dependent on the internal Spanish
market, so independence would have led
to an economic crisis. Indeed, between
1916 and 1918 the leader of the major
Catalan nationalist party, FrancescCambó, launched a failed bid to
construct a ‘Catalan Spain’ – that is,
a country that would decentralise its
political system to accommodate Catalan
demands, and industrialise along Cat-
alan lines. In Cambó’s view this would
herald a new, harmonious relationship
between Spain’s nations and regions.
From the outset, Catalan national-
ism aroused the extreme hostility of the
Spanish right, with the result that under
Spain’s two 20th-century dictatorships –
the Primo de Rivera and Franco regimes- the Catalan language and what were
viewed as political manifestations of
Catalan identity were suppressed. How-
ever, the Catalan nationalist movement
was able to reach compromises with
more liberal and left-wing Spanish-wide
political forces, which proved willing
to give Catalonia a measure of polit-
ical autonomy. This was true of the
Second Republic (1931–39) and of the
post-Francoist democracy, which laid
the basis for the establishment of a de-
centralised political system in the 1978
constitution. In Catalonia, pro-inde-
pendence sentiment grew slowly from
the 1990s, but the major shift took place
from 2010 when increasing numbers
mobilised in favour of independence.
This then led Convergence and Union,
the major political representative of
Catalan nationalism, to shift its own
position in 2012.
A number of factors were involved.
One, certainly, was the rise of a new,
more assertive generation of Catalan
politicians. At the same time, there were
growing complaints at high levels about
fiscal transfer by the central state from
Catalonia to Spain’s poorer regions, and
lack of investment in Catalan infrastruc-
ture. This hit home when the economic
crisis exploded in 2008, resulting in big
budget cuts. Furthermore, attempts to
achieve greater autonomy were, to a large
extent, stymied in 2010 when the Con-
stitutional Court rejected several articles
of a new Catalan autonomy statute.
There was also another overarching
issue. When Spain joined the EEC (as
it was then) in 1986, it had important
implications. For Catalan nationalists,
it conjured up the possibilit y of an inde-
pendent Catalonia fully integrated intoStreet liberty
Protesters march through the
streets of Barcelona during a
rally in November 2017.
Pro-independence sentiment in
Catalonia has surged since 2010Catalan nationalism aroused the
extreme hostility of the Spanish right
under Primo de Rivera and Franco