@Joan Barrera

English:

The heirs of the transition: the pro-independence parties that have lived off Spanish charity and betrayed national freedom

The Spanish Transition of 1978, this supposed democratic miracle that some still venerate as an altar, was in reality a pact of silence about the closed wounds of Francoism. In the midst of that theater of reconciliation, parties that called themselves pro-independence were legalized, such as the Socialist Party of National Liberation (PSAN) on September 10, 1977, or precursors such as the National Front of Catalonia (FNC), which had already been operating clandestinely since the 1960s and helped to articulate the pro-independence space during the transition. These parties, or their direct heirs—the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), which was refounded in 1977 after its ban during Francoism and was officially legalized in August of that year despite its historical existence since the Second Republic; Together for Catalonia (heir of Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya, which embraced independence in 2012), and the Candidatura d'Unitat Popular (CUP)—were born or refounded under the shadow of the 1978 Constitution, accepting the rules of the Spanish game in exchange for public salaries, privileges and warm seats in Parliament. But all of this cannot be explained without the prophetic denunciation of Lluís Maria Xirinacs, who from the Assembly of Catalonia and as an independent senator cried out against the betrayal of the Catalan leaders, who abandoned the path of rupture for the reform agreed with Madrid, renouncing self-determination for a few alleys in the sun. Today, forty-seven years later, time has shown what Xirinacs already suspected: they are a gang of lifers who have parasitized the independence movement without advancing one step in national freedom. They should fold, and make way for new forces like Aliança Catalana, which, despite the hasty criticism, at least deserve a chance to demonstrate their commitment. Let's remember the facts more precisely. ERC, founded in 1931 during the Second Republic, was banned and dissolved after the Civil War, but survived in exile and underground. PSAN, legalized shortly before the Constitution, was a reference point for the Marxist independence left, with roots in the underground struggle against Franco since 1968. It inspired coalitions like Independentistes dels Països Catalans and influenced the sovereignty space, but ERC was not a direct heir; However, in 1977 it resolved its internal division and was officially legalized in August of that year, after being unable to run in the June elections due to its defense of the Republic and self-determination—it went into coalition as Esquerra de Catalunya and obtained one deputy. The FNC, another pillar, had already been active since 1960 and collaborated in the Conference of Independentist Organizations of November 1977, attempting to reorganize the sovereignty space. The CUP, for its part, was born much later, in 2001, as a synthesis of former far-left pro-independence groups, indirect heirs of those years of forced legalization: it is the culmination of the Popular Unity, a movement that dates back to the 1990s with the Vinaròs Process and the Assembly of Independentist Left Municipalities (AMEI), inspired by the radical left of the PSAN and the Moviment de Defensa de la Terra, but which did not become a structured party until the 2003 municipal elections. And Junts? It is the direct son of CiU, which Jordi Pujol refounded in 1974 as Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC), but which only jumped on the pro-independence bandwagon when it was convenient, after decades of managing autonomy as a family business. All of them, legalized or refounded under the 1978 regime, accepted the constitutional framework that denies self-determination, in exchange for public funding and immunity. They were the "good guys" of the State: money for campaigns, deputies with millionaire salaries and licenses to talk about sovereignty without doing it. And in this context, as Xirinacs points out in La traïció dels líders (1993-1997), the Catalan leaders —from Pujol to the Socialists— betrayed the popular hope of the Assembly of Catalonia, opting for integration into the State instead of the sovereignty-based rupture.Time, however, is a relentless judge. Since 2012, when the independence movement exploded with the Montjuïc referendum and the human chain of the Via Catalana, these parties promised paradise. They filled squares with millions of people, won absolute majorities in 2015 with Junts pel Sí, and proclaimed the republic in 2017. But what have we gained? Nothing, except a pile of ruins. On October 1, 2017, the referendum that should have been the definitive step, was a scandal of collective cowardice. While the Spanish police beat up pedestrians and volunteers —with 1,066 documented injuries—, the leaders of ERC and Junts looked at each other's fingers from their offices. Puigdemont, instead of firmly defending the ballot boxes, fled to Brussels, leaving behind a paralyzed government. ERC, with Oriol Junqueras at the helm, opted for "disobedience in dialogue", a euphemism for "agreed surrender". The CUP, which called itself the radical alternative, ended up voting in favour of Spanish budgets and making an agreement with the PSC on local issues. That day was not just a tactical defeat; it was the revelation of a political elite that prefers salaries to risks, exactly as Xirinacs denounced that the transition parties had abandoned the popular struggle for seats of power. And then? Even worse. The following years were a festival of betrayals. The 2023 amnesty, negotiated by Junqueras and Aragonès with Pedro Sánchez, released prisoners, yes, but in exchange for silence on independence. ERC entered the Spanish Government with ministries and commissions, placing its own in public companies of the State - a scandal that reveals how they have exchanged the republic for wallets. Together, since Puigdemont's symbolic exile, he has spent more time blackmailing Madrid than building a real alternative; his "leadership" of the pro-independence bloc in 2024 was a mirage, with only 35 seats and a growing dependence on the PSC. The CUP, diluted in its verbal anti-capitalism, has even lost its radicalism, ending up with 4 deputies and pacts with the local right to not disappear. Today, in 2025, the pro-independence bloc is a minority in Parliament —59 seats compared to the 86 of the PSC, PP and Vox—, and support for independence has fallen to 55% among its potential voters, according to the CEO. Where are we in terms of national freedom? Backwards, with a Spanish State that injects millions into surveillance against us and a Catalan Government that talks about "new Catalanism" instead of a republic. This action is not accidental; it is the fruit of a structural dependence. These parties live off public salaries: MPs with 80,000 euros a year, parties financed with millions from the State, and privileges such as official cars and advisors. They are lifers who criticize the "regime of 1978" while sucking its blood. And now, when Aliança Catalana appears —a new party, founded in 2020, that defends unilateral independence with firm policies against uncontrolled immigration and insecurity—, it attacks them without giving them time. "Extreme right!", they shout, as if they had not been the first to make a pact with the Spanish extreme right to stay in power. Aliança won Ripoll in 2023 with 30% of the vote and entered Parliament with 2 seats in 2024, defending a sovereign Catalonia that prioritizes Catalans. Personally, I have no idea how they will do it if they come to power — they may fail, like everyone else — but at least they haven't lived through decades of empty promises. What I do know is how this gang has done it: with inflammatory speeches to win votes and lukewarm negotiations to avoid losing privileges. They have left the process in a cul-de-sac, with independence movements in Quebec and Scotland advancing towards real referendums while we get entangled in dialogue tables that only serve to make a fool of ourselves. It's time for them to fold. The heirs of the transition have shown that their freedom is subordinate to salaries and pacts with Madrid, just as Xirinacs prophesied when he denounced that the transition was a scam that robbed Catalonia fiscally and culturally. They are leaving behind an exhausted movement, with a disillusioned young generation and a country still a prisoner. If they want coherence, they should hand over the baton to forces that, like Aliança Catalana, at least try to break the cycle. Otherwise, history will judge them not as leaders, but as opportunists who sold the national soul for a comfortable chair. Catalonia deserves more than this: it deserves action, not excuses.