Republican Socialists

In Weekly Worker a debate has begun over a possible future referendum on the Tory ‘Brexit’ Deal. The 2016 EU referendum has divided the UK into reactionaries and ultra lefts on one side and liberals and democrats on the other. The slogan “No to a second (or repeat) referendum and Yes to a Ratification referendum” is not only a democratic slogan but the slogan of working class democracy.

Everybody knows that a people’s referendum means universal suffrage. Hence the members of every class can vote. We also realise that the working class is by far that largest class of voters. On a level playing field working class voters would carry the day. But although the pitch is tilted massively against the working class and the referee has been bribed, working class democracy is not afraid to fight.

A ratification referendum offers the best opportunity to rebuild political unity in a working class deeply divided over Europe. This is opposed by reactionaries and ultra lefts who oppose any referendum AND the liberals who want to repeat the last referendum and overturn the result. Working class democracy does not draw an equal sign between reactionaries who want to leave and liberals who want to remain in the EU.

A second or repeat referendum would further harden the divide in the working class. The liberals are interested in the profits of the big corporations (or ‘jobs’ as they call it) and do not give a fig about working class unity. By contrast advanced workers would relish the opportunity to unite the working class against the Tory government and consign the actual dirty Brexit deal to the dustbin of history.

Hence the task facing communists and democrats is to force the Tories to concede this. The CPGB cannot provide leadership armed with a ‘principle’ of opposing every referendum. It lines up with the Tory government, UKIP and the Tory right and the wobbly Corbyn. It is worse than this. It opposes liberal calls for a second-repeat referendum with an abstract principle.

Let us return to the original debate about the theory of referenda-in-general. Jack Conrad says “Comrade Freeman begins with a bald statement: that Jack Conrad “argued that all referenda should be opposed in principle”. He says “It is certainly true that as a matter of principle the CPGB is opposed to referendums”.

Jack adds a qualification “that this general principle does not translate into one of refusing to call for a referendum under all circumstances. Nor does it translate into a general principle of always responding to a referendum organised by our enemies with a corresponding call for an active boycott”.

Jack illustrates this by reminding us that the CPGB “urged a ‘yes’ vote in Ireland’s May 2015 referendum on gay marriage; the same with Ireland’s May 2018 referendum on abortion. And, in the UK, while being critical of the Liberal Democrat proposal for reforming the parliamentary voting system, the CPGB called for a ‘yes’ in the May 5 2011 referendum”.

At first I had to admit to struggling with this flexible concept of ‘principle’. Maybe we are arguing about the meaning of principles not referenda? I needed to think again. Principles are principles and we have to stand by them on all (or virtually all) occasions.

In Left Wing Communism Lenin reminds us we can compromise our principles. “No compromises” is an ultra left slogan. If we are held up by an armed robber we may have to compromise by handing over our wallet. We live to fight another day. So Jack is right to say the CPGB were not being ultra left when they compromised their principles and handed over their wallets.

Jack confuses the issue by using the word “tactics”. Instead of principles, set aside by honest and necessary compromises, we have principles made meaningless by “tactics”. If every principle can be overthrown by the requirements of tactics we end up with opportunism.

Let us summarise the difference as follows: The CPGB opposes all referenda on principle. This is ‘strategic-programmatic’ opposition. The demand for a referendum cannot and does not appear in the CPGB minimum (or maximum) programme. On the odd occasion that the CPGB is forced to compromise it adopts tactical positions on voting ‘Yes, No, Abstain, or a Boycott’.

Hence the CPGB stood opposed an Irish referendum on gay marriage. Then the CPGB was forced to compromise and drop its opposition and decided to vote yes to gay marriage. This becomes ‘tailism’. Before adopting tactics the CPGB has to disentangle itself from a non-existent Kautskian principle.

By contrast working class democrats do not oppose referenda on principle. The demand for a referendum can appear in the minimum programme. There is no principle to be compromised. It is simply a ‘tactical question’. It is perfectly acceptable to call for a referendum before any other class has done so. It is a matter of analysing the conditions of the class struggle and making a tactical decision (Yes, No, Abstain, or Boycott’).

Let us return from principles to the present. A possible future referendum on the Tory Deal is directly connected to the 2016 referendum. In 2016 the CPGB opposed the referendum and called for a boycott. There was no mass boycott and no mood in the working class to prevent it. It was a theoretical idea based on Kautsky. I doubt if it had a single supporter who was not a member of the CPGB.

A Tory referendum designed by the Tories divided the working class. The interests of the European working class were best served if Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales voted to remain and England abstained. The following votes were cast for remain – Scotland 1.7 million, Northern Ireland 0.44 million and Wales 0.77 million. In England 10.5 million abstained.

Millions of workers voted on these lines. Unfortunately in Wales a majority voted to leave and in England not enough people abstained. Of course I do not claim that anybody read my blogs or letters in Weekly Worker. That would be ridiculous. Workers did what they thought was best in the circumstances. The case for democratic revolution was closely connected with how millions of working people were actually voting.

I did not advocate an All-UK abstention but explained that the working class in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales voting to remain was in the interests of democracy and the wider European working class. The central message was highlighting the link between the European question and the national question. Two years later, this truth shows that Ireland and Scotland (but hardly Wales) present special if not insurmountable problems for the Tory government and Labour Unionists.

Let me turn Dave Macauley’s letter in last week’s paper. He recognises my argument about the EU referendum is intimately bound up with the spectre of the national question. But he responds by standing four square with the Tories and Labour in defending what May called “our precious Union”. He has been taken in by the Anglo-British story in which English socialists defend the annexation of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

He says my argument “seems analogous to that of ‘any defeat for imperialism is a victory for the working class’ – except that Scotland and Wales have never been oppressed nations. On the contrary, they have been integral parts of the monarchical UK state for centuries”. Slaves are not free because they are happy to be fully integrated into the household of their master.

As Marx said the English working class will never be free while it backs the Anglo-British control of Ireland. This was not separatism but internationalism against the chauvinism of English Unionism. Today we have a variation on the same theme. England will not be free from its Brexit nightmare while maintaining its annexation of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The final point concerns Dave’s view of the present conditions. If England voted (marginally) to leave the EU and Scotland, Northern Ireland (and Wales) voted to remain, this would have revolutionary implications for the UK and its constitution. (Crisis of democracy, Weekly Worker – 2 August 2018). Brexit breached the constitutional walls holding reactionary English nationalism and democratic nationalism in Ireland and Scotland in check. Nobody can be sure how the Brexit ‘revolution’ will unravel.

Dave says “the first EU referendum has done nothing for the working class but sow division and stoke anti-migrant feeling”. It got rid of Cameron and Osborne. Now “a Tory Party in disarray has achieved little in talks with the EU, while Labour have been content to watch May squirm”. Both the ruling class and the working class are deeply divided.

The Tories are in chaos. There is no solution in sight. Politics is becoming more confrontational. Is Dave hoping and praying that ‘normal’ politics will be restored sometime soon? Dream on. The genie is out of the bottle. So the question posed by Dave is “How could the left use such a (referendum) vote in a revolutionary, and “not a reformist manner”?

On Monday Tory MP Justin Greening came out in favour of a second referendum. She proposed three questions and a system of prefential voting. The Labour Party is not in favour but did not rule it out. Therasa May said it would not happen under any circumstances. Politicians and parties are split between yes, no and maybe.

There will be a Tory Deal with the EU. There will be a process of ratification. The only question is who will be able to vote to ratify or reject it. It could be ratified by the Crown perhaps by the Privy Council. It could be endorsed by the Westminster parliament with its 1450 MPs and Lords having a “Meaningful Vote”. It could be ratified or rejected by 46 million people in a ‘Peoples referendum’.

Opposing a peoples vote means supporting the authority of the Crown-In-Parliament. There may be a case to oppose a ratification referendum but it is not based on general principles. This would find Weekly Worker automtically opposing the Irish referenda on gay marriage and abortion and the Scottish referendum on self determination and seperation. We cannot hide from the working class behind a big wall of ‘principles’.

We are not dealing with any old referenda at any old time but specifically in relation to the fight over the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. It is essential to distinguish “Repeat referendum” and “Ratification referendum”. The term “Second Referendum” is often used to confuse or obfuscate. We need to cut through that.

A Repeat referendum means asking the same question from 2016 – “Do you want to leave the EU”. It is claimed by the Right that leavers in the ruling elite want to overturn the result by running it again. The Irish case is cited. After the Treaty of Lisbon was voted down, the Irish government ran it again to get the result they wanted.

In principle there is no reason why a given nation should not be asked the same question again. People are then free to give the same answer or change their minds. Democracy is a process which involves learning more of the truth and thinking again. Elections every five years could be annual events. They are not “once in a life time” as Cameron described the 2014 Scottish referendum. Scotland’s IndieRef2 would be a Repeat referendum asking the same question as in 2014.

A Ratification referendum is different. It is not seeking to repeat the first EU referendum. It is asking a different question for the first time. “Do you support or reject the deal negotiated between Her Majesty’s Government and the EU?” The 1976 Common Market referendum was in effect a ratification of Ted Heath’s actual agreement to join the EU on known terms and not a decision to join in principle.

In England, Leave supporters often describe a Ratification referendum as a “second referendum” to suggest it is an attempt by anti-democratic forces to run the same event for a second time and get a different result. In January 2018 Nigel Farage mischievously called for a “second referendum”. He wanted to repeat the same question to put an end to the “moaning of politicians who had not accepted the previous vote” (Independent 11 January 2018).

Recently the University and College Union (UCU) circulated its members to consult on a ‘Second Referendum’. General Secretary Sally Hunt explained that “At its recent meeting the national executive committee (NEC) agreed to my recommendation that the union consult members on whether to support a second referendum on the final Brexit deal negotiated by the UK government”. Since there has not been a first referendum on the final deal, this displays a Faragean level of confusion.

We must be absolutely clear. Our slogan must be “No to a Second or Repeat referendum – Yes to a Ratification referendum”. Justin Greening called for a second referendum, containing both repeat and ratification type questions. It must be opposed, but not on the grounds that we oppose every referendum on principle, everywhere on every occasion.

In England there is a democratic case to oppose a Repeat referendum and support a Ratification referendum. The 2016 EU referendum divided the working class in England. A Repeat referendum would deepen that divide and play into the hands of the Tory Right, UKIP and the fascists. Corbyn is correct to rule out a Repeat referendum but wrong to oppose a Ratification referendum.

In Scotland the argument is different. A majority voted to remain, an important distinction between Leave-voting England and Remain-voting Scotland. There is no reason for Scottish Remain supporters to repeat this. Scottish Leave EU supporters may have a reason to call for a repeat, hoping Scotland may have changed its mind.

At the end of the day issue of a referendum is a tactical question in a struggle has divided the country into leave and remain. We need to locate the case for a referendum in the struggle between reactionaries and ultra lefts on side and liberals and democrats on the other.

Left Unity and the crisis of democracy

On 16 June Left Unity held its annual conference. The party has been steadily shrinking since 2016 but it still has over five hundred members. Over twenty five activists attended which tells its own story. It was a significant conference after last year’s nervous breakdown. The demand LU liquidates into the Labour Party was no longer evident in resolutions or speeches.

The main question before conference was the ‘crisis of democracy’ which grew from the politics of austerity. The EU referendum has taken this to a whole new level. It has divided England between the Anglo-British and Anglo-Europeans. An emergency resolution was tabled about the recent Anglo-British mass mobilisation in London by the supporters of Tommy Robinson, the BNP and UKIP etc.

The battle over Brexit is bringing us to the brink of a constitutional crisis in relations between the Crown, parliament and the peoples of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The shocking disaster at Grenfell Tower showed the ‘crisis of democracy’ at local as well as at national and European levels.

This fed into the main strand of the conference. What kind of party are we going to be? Was LU to carry on with its own brand of Trotskyism or recognise the centrality of the working class in the struggle for democracy and socialism? Should the Crown, parliament or people ratify the Tory Brexit deal? Should Unionism be able to impose Brexit on Northern Ireland and Scotland?

Trotskyist front

Left Unity was set up in 2013 as a Trotskyist front. All the leading activists were either in small Trotskyist organisations like Socialist Resistance, CPGB or Workers Power or were refugees from the various organisations which litter the left landscape, such as the WRP, SWP and the Militant Tendency.

The rationale was that unlike the major Trotskyist parties – the SWP and the Socialist Party – the fragments were unable to engage in mass politics. They realised they could do better by hanging together than separately. So Left Unity made sense. When it came to a programme for this new front then it was left reformism or social monarchism that could bind them together.

In 1945 the Labour government carried through its programme of social monarchy – extensive ‘cradle to grave’ social reforms on the basis of loyalty to the constitutional monarchy as embodied in George VI. The ‘spirit of 45’ ran like a red line through LU inspired by Ken Loach’s call for unity. Left Unity was designed by Trotskyists to fill the gap which the Labour left was too weak and feeble to occupy.

In 2015 Jeremy Corbyn burst onto the scene and left reformism (i.e. social monarchism) took back the ‘sprit of 45’ and raised it to new heights previously unimaginable. LU’s small groups began decanting to the Labour Party. Why build a front when you could join a mass Labour Party and try to convert it into a much bigger Trotskyist front?

Left Unity began to shrink, disorientated by the unexpected turn of events. The first version of Left Unity as embodying the ‘spirit of 45’ was as dead as a dodo. None of the current leadership refers to it and some even pretend it never happened. So the question before this conference was the politics and character of Left Unity Mark 2 version.

Left Unity Mark 2 version

The main ideological dispute between socialists in Left Unity was between republicanism and Trotskyism. It was in effect a dispute as to whether the minimum programme of LU should be social republican or social monarchist. British Trotskyism had long become a voice for Labour’s social monarchism with its demands for social reforms – on health, housing, transport and public ownership.

The matter came to a head over the new LU constitution. A resolution from South London sought to amend the statement of party aims. It proposed to insert after “environmentalist” the French word “republican”.

If passed the aims of LU would now read “Left Unity is a party of the radical left, linked to the European Left Party, working in solidarity with like-minded anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist parties internationally. We are socialist, feminist, environmentalist, republican and opposed to all forms of discrimination”.

Some comrades from South London felt this was so innocuous that it was bound to go through. But they hadn’t reckoned with the fact that republicanism is like a red rag to the Trotskyist bull. Ex-SWP ex-Militant, and ex WRP lined up to oppose republicanism. It wasn’t the crown they worried about but the threat this posed to their leadership.

The various Trotskyists declared they were totally and utterly republican. It was so obvious that there was no need to mention it. Every socialist felt the same and never mentioned it either. So too the Labour Party which never had a republican programme. Indeed avoiding republicanism was the litmus test of (pseudo)‘revolutionary’ and left reformist politics.

By the end of conference the Trotskyists secured their control of Left Unity with a new more centralist constitution. A great opportunity to rethink and discuss the strategy and programme was lost. This conference confirmed the decline of Left Unity. The ‘crisis of democracy’, which is growing in England, the UK and Europe, is showing itself in LU which is shrinking but more importantly has no answers.

Jack Conrad’s timely article in Weekly Worker came out against a Second (EU) Referendum. Last Saturday the issue was raised at the Radical Independence Conference in Edinburgh in favour of Scottish Ratification Referendum in 2018, or at least before March 2019.

The very words “ScotRatRef18” are anathema for Jack. He has no sympathy for “Scotland” because it is nationalist and not British. He fails to recognise the danger of the EU ratification process which will impose an anti-working class Tory Brexit. He claims that for communists a ‘referendum’ is beyond the pale, perhaps because he fears working class people voting on political matters will only end badly.

Scotland voted by 62% to remain in the EU. This, of course, has no political meaning for the British. Pretend it never happened and roll your British tanks over it as if it is not there. The Scottish people have no right to self determination and ‘British Exit’ reminds the forgetful. Don’t forget Northern Ireland either.

There is no Article 50 in the British Unionist constitution, as Anti-Unionists in England keep reminding everybody. As Queen Anne said in 1707, this Act of Union is forever. There is no legal way out of it. It is true Cameron gambled that he could defeat the rise of Scottish democracy by allowing the 2014 referendum. He won, only just, and kept his job. But not before he had made the present Queen more than a little anxious for her throne.

After the defeat of 2014 the idea of a second Independence Referendum (Indie Ref 2) is for the birds. I have taken to calling it IndieRef34, sadly as I am unlikely to be around in 2034 to join in. There is no way after Brexit that the British Crown will allow Scotland to have another Indie Ref for at least twenty years.

Yet Scottish self determination remains a live issue because of Brexit. Now the issue is whether Scotland can be forced out of the EU against its democratic vote to remain. Even an intelligent Unionist can realise that if Brexit ends badly there will be a permanent in-built grievance that the rights of the Scottish people were trampled underfoot by English votes combined with the political force of the British Crown.

Of course there is a ratification process for the EU treaty. There are only three candidates – the British Crown (Ministers etc) or the ‘Crown in Parliament’ (Westminster) or the people through a referendum. If Jack rules out the latter then in the real world he is choosing by default the Crown or Westminster. This is why ScotRatRef18 is not simply a Scottish issue but a UK wide RatRef issue.

I should add for clarity that I do not support the slogan of a ‘Second Referendum’ since it implies repeating the first one. It is a dangerous obfuscation, which will only benefit UKIP and the far right by alienating that section of the English and Welsh working class who were misled into voting to leave. I agree with Jack there should be no truck whatsoever with the nasty, vile and disgusting second EU referendum.

The last point refers to Jack’s principled objection to referenda, citing the ideas of Karl Kautshy. His method is to counterpoise the ideal of socialist democracy to the dirty business of bourgeoisie democracy. Once the proletariat is in power there will be no need for general elections or referenda because life will be permanent voting every day. Set against the real capitalist world we live in, socialism has no need for any kind of bourgeois voting, from dodgy elections to dickey referenda. The ‘case’ for boycotting bourgeois democracy is not confined to referenda.

Workers demand wage increases in the fight against poverty pay. Without real democracy, workers demand the right to vote on this, that, and the next thing. Nowadays when the Council decides to bulldoze your estate and build mansions for absent Russian oligarchs, it has become fashionable to demand mini-referenda on the council plans. Referenda are more prevalent than most recognise.

Why should working class people, the ignorant mob and their friends the great unwashed masses, be allowed to interfere in the royal prerogatives of Crown and Parliament? Why should they be allowed to vote for or against the Tories dirty little Brexit deal? If Cameron had taken Kautsky more seriously we wouldn’t be in this Brexit mess in the first place and he would still be Prime Minister!

The popular democratic movement in Catalonia which culminated in the declaration of the Catalan republic is not simply a Catalan or even a Spanish matter. It is part of battle for democracy across Europe and the wider world. It is a link made by author Liz Castro. She says “with the establishment of the Catalan Republic, we hope that the triumph of grassroots ……….democratic process can be precursor to a much more democratic Europe”.

The Catalan rebellion has the characteristics of a democratic revolution – the declaration of the republic, a provisional government, a process for a new constitution and rank and file ‘Committees for the Defence of the Referendum and the Republic’. But the revolution is unarmed and faces the might of the fully armed Spanish state. Already the Republic has been overthrown by a counterrevolutionary coup by the Spanish state.

The class struggle between the Spanish ruling bourgeoisie and Catalan petty bourgeois nationalism – the Kingdom versus the Republic – is vital for the development of the revolutionary democratic working class. The vanguard of the working class is neither indifferent to the Catalan rebel republic nor sitting on the fence. On the contrary the revolutionary working class takes sides with the republic against the (United) Kingdom of Spain.

Paul Demarty seems to criticise the SWP’s Alex Callinicos “for claiming that Spain retains its Francoist state core, that Rajoy’s Popular Party is the inheritor of the Franco regime”. What is wrong with that? The Spanish monarchy was put on the throne to claim the mantle of ‘democracy’ for entry into the European Union whilst retaining Franco’s police state apparatus. It only took the attempt to hold a peoples’ referendum for the Spanish state to reveal its true colours.

That the rebellion in Catalonia is not a ‘socialist revolution’ is a statement of the bleeding obvious. It is a democratic republican revolution more akin to the Dublin 1916 Easter uprising in Dublin. Lenin’s famous observation on proclamation of the Irish republic says “To imagine that social revolution is conceivable without revolts by small nations in the colonies and in Europe, without revolutionary outbursts by a section of the petty bourgeoisie with all its prejudices, without a movement of the politically non-conscious proletarian and semi-proletarian masses against oppression by the landowners, the church, and the monarchy, against national oppression, etc. – to imagine all this is to repudiate social revolution”. (Lenin- the discussion on self determination summed up July 1916)

Some leftist intellectuals wash their hands of such national rebellions, uprisings and even “revolutionary outbursts by a section of the petty bourgeoisie” on the grounds this is not “the socialist revolution”. This will not overthrow capitalism in one country!

Lenin had his own answer. “Whoever expects a “pure” social revolution will never live to see it. Such a person pays lip-service to revolution without understanding what revolution is”. (Lenin- the discussion on self determination summed up July 1916). He takes aim at the abstract revolutionism of the ultra lefts. He ridicules their ideas.

“So one army lines up in one place and says, “We are for socialism”, and another, somewhere else and says, “We are for imperialism”, and that will be a social revolution! Only those who hold such a ridiculously pedantic view could vilify the Irish rebellion by calling it a “putsch”.

Lenin saw the Irish uprising as a European event and this is how we should see the events in Catalonia. They are obviously connected to the democratic movement in Scotland and the unfinished business in Ireland. The people of Catalonia were inspired by the Scottish democratic movement expressed in the 2014 referendum. They hoped they could go one better.

The SNP government wanted to keep the British monarchy and Bank of England. The Catalan movement embraced the republic as their Unionist opponents clung to the Spanish monarchy. Cameron thought he would win easily in Scotland and got a nasty shock before being rescued by Gordon Brown. The Spanish ‘Cameron’ knew the republic would win and was determined to stop it or disrupt it by all means necessary including violence.

Paul Demarty makes a very important point (Weekly Worker 1177). He says “The long-distance left urges support for the “Catalan Republic”; but that republic exists largely in theory, and the local state apparatus is largely obeying the new direct rulers. To make the republic a reality, what is demanded is nothing less than the organisation of a militia or other armed force.”

On Paul Demarty’s demand to arm the Republic we can compare the Irish Republic in 1916 and the Kurdish referendum earlier this year. The Irish republic existed “largely in theory” but had arms. It lacked popular support. The Catalan Republic has mass support amongst Catalan workers, not least Barcelona fire-fighters, but no militia and no weapons except those in the hands of the Catalan police. The Iraqi Kurds won their referendum and are backed up by the armed Pesh Merga.

The Kingdom of Spain (or the ‘United’ Kingdom of Spain) is opposed to the Catalan Republic, has declared it illegal and is determined to crush with as much or little state violence as necessary. Without arms to defend the democratic revolution, it is, as Paul says, a very unequal contest unless the working class in the rest of Spain and Europe come to their aid. It is therefore time for every socialist and communist across Europe to come off the ‘self determination’ fence and support the Catalan republic against the United Snakes of Spain.

More than 1000 Scots gather to show support for Catalonia

Scotland First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, took a cautious line on Catalan independence. She hoped that “dialogue will replace confrontation”. She called for a way forward that “respects the rule of law” and also “respects democracy”. She refused to say if the Scottish government would recognise the result of the disputed referendum.” She told Andrew Marr “I consider myself a friend of Spain”.

Spain is nothing in this context but its ruling class exercising political power through its crowned Unionist ‘Francoist’ state. Sturgeon is giving comfort to the enemies of the Catalan people in the hope that ‘Spain’ will be more favourable to the Scottish government’s quest for independence under the Crown. The leaders of the SNP want to keep friends with the Queen of England and the King of Spain.

The parallels with the 2014 Scottish referendum are significant. The national democratic movement in Catalonia has declared in favour of a republic and this was spelt out on the ballot paper. In a Spanish context the Catalan republic is revolutionary not least because it goes back to the 1930’s when the Spanish republic overthrown by Franco. In 1934 the Catalan President Lluis Companys was jailed after declaring a Catalan Republic. Later he was captured by the Nazis and shot by one of Franco’s firing squads in 1940.

Spain is a Unionist state and constitutional monarchy like the UK. The national question is the lever for republicanism and democratic revolution. There is no right to self determination in a Unionist state like Spain. The Spanish constitution is against it. The attempt to hold a referendum was thus illegal.

Naturally the Spanish government sent in the national police to uphold the law by closing down the polling stations and beating up those trying to vote. They could have sent in the army and tanks to stop the ballot. But they chose a more moderate option. Liberal opinion was outraged but did nothing.

British Unionism is no better. The Scottish people have no right to self determination. They have no more legal right to referendum than the Catalan people. The British crown, acting through its first minister David Cameron, decided to grant a referendum because he calculated he would win it. The Queen kept a low profile whilst letting it be known what every loyal subject should do. The Spanish King was not so reticent and came openly in support of his ‘Tory’ government.

The democratic forces in Catalonia had to face the full weight of the Spanish state, the banks and major corporations, and the European Union. The threats of economic sabotage and expulsion from the EU followed the Scottish example. If Catalonia became a republic then hell fire and damnation would rain down on them.

We must support the right of the Catalan people to hold a referendum on independence. The Catalans, like the Scots, are a politically oppressed nation because the Union with Spain is not voluntary, as the violent intervention of the Spanish police showed. But supporting the right to hold a referendum does not mean supporting the republic.

The second issue is whether a Catalan republic would be a progressive democratic step forward from the Unionist monarchy. The answer is yes. A republic is a democratic and revolutionary break with the Francoist-Monarchist state. This is why all the reactionary forces in Spain and the EU are opposed to it.

British Unionists are worse than their Spanish imitators. They like to pretend that Scotland has a legal and constitutional right to self determination. It has no such right. Neither the Scottish people nor a Scottish government can hold a legal referendum. If they hold an illegal one, they have to organise the forces necessary to defend the polling stations.

In Ireland and Spain, Unionism and Republicanism are diametrically opposed, engaged alternately in hot and cold warfare. In Scotland, the national democratic movement is not republican. The SNP are moderate constitutional nationalists. They want to keep the Queen as head of state in a post independence Scotland. This is aimed at convincing the capitalist class that independence will not destabilise their hold on economic power or weaken their political influence. The Catalan republic is a reality which the Scottish republic is not.