The movement for independence has a cross-class, heterogeneous character, but it is currently led by cynical, petty bourgeois politicians, headed by right-winger Puigdemont, and the Catalan government's base of support and its activist core is to a great degree composed of middle class, small town people, who hardly make a stable basis for a durable, successful struggle against the Spanish state. Illustratively, the sea of Catalan flags in the main demonstration was peppered with EU flags. At the same time though, despite its illusions, prejudices, and confusions, and despite the presence of regressive, narrow-minded attitudes among some layers, it is a left-leaning mass that aspires towards the creation of a socially-advanced Catalan republic against the rottenness of old Spain, under the banners of the ERC, the Catalan Republican Left, the most popular force in the movement.

At the same time, the tendency represented by the CUP, which has an important echo among many young people (whereas the average age in the Podemos and in the central march was about 50 or even 60, in the CUP rally it must have been 22 or so), is much further to the left, at least verbally, than any other political force in Spain. Today, its keynote speaker, firebrand Anna Gabriel, started by quoting Marx with "the workers have no country", spoke of the need of combining the battle for self-determination with the struggle for socialism, affirming that no real self-determination is possible under capitalism, and speaking of the need to win over the working class with an anti-capitalist programme, making honest self-criticism about their support for the budget of the Catalan government, but also attacking Podemos for forcing them to side with the bourgeois nationalists by not supporting self-determination consistently. The rally ended with a rendering of the Internationale by the circa 12,000 people that attended - a very powerful experience.

Truth be told, the Spanish left, and namely Podemos, have regrettably helped give strength to the Catalan bourgeois nationalists by refusing to support a unilteral referendum, and giving a pretext to ERC and, by extension, to the CUP, to join a cross-class front with the reactionary PDeCAT - a bloc that has understandably repelled an important sector of the working class of Catalonia, which could have been won over to the conquest of Catalonia's democratic rights by giving the struggle a progressive, class character against austerity, corruption, inequality, and for social justice, and that took the creation of the Catalan republic as the first step towards the Spanish republic. This position has also produced a bitter debate in Podemos, with its Catalan section, which supports the referendum, frontally clashing with the national leadership and with Barcelona's left-wing mayor Ada Colau. Today they organised separate rallies in different parts of the city, and the secretary of Podemos in Catalonia overtly attacked the national leadership for their "embarrassing" (sic) capitulation over their initial promises to offer a bold, democratic solution to the Catalan question.

The movement for self-determination undoubtedly has a demagogic, self-interested, and cowardly leadership, which leans heavily on the petty bourgeois and small-town masses. As things stand, however, it could have revolutionary implications. Millions of people are determined to have a vote on their relationship with Spain, and the Catalan government has promised a vote. This puts them on a collision course with the brutal repressive apparatus of the Spanish state. It is very possible that the nationalist bloc will back off before the first serious battle has begun and that the referendum will not happen. This will depend on the level of repression by the Spanish state (and by the subtler pressures of the big Catalan capitalists) on the one hand, and by the degree of mass mobilisation in favour of the referendum on the other, which in turn depends a lot on the political appeal of its leadership and on the type of political rhetoric that surrounds it. Ultimately however, in the unlikely scenario the referendum was held, and if independence won, secession means a national liberation war against the Spanish state, and it seems impossible that a bourgeois like Puigdemont will ever embark on such an endeavour. The way to unlock the situation, giving the referendum a mass base and ensuring it will be carried through to the end (i.e., through revolutionary means), is the unity of the left, of Podemos and its allies, the CUP, and ERC, and to take a progressive Catalan republic as a springboard for the revolution in Spain.

Finally, I would say it is impressive to see how the crisis of capitalism is bringing to the fore all the latent problems of society, how it is shaking up all social sectors, awakening all classes and all layers to political life, displaying various levels of consciousness and political maturity, gropingly trying to resolve their problems, raising a kaleidoscope of demands and aspirations, being drawn into active combat, how the movement interrupted and then begins anew with redoubled strength.