Dangerous friends. The left wing and catalan and basque nationalist movements (1975-2008).

Abstract

This article examines the political relationship between the Spanish left and the regional nationalists of Catalonia and the Basque Country in the period 1975-2008. Beyond political parties’ electoral reckonings, the paper argues that the key to understand this political liaison lies in the socialists’ and communists’ changing and fragmented idea of the Spanish nation-state. In the last years of Francoism, both the PSOE and the PCE acknowledged the right of self-determination of the Spanish peoples. However, in the following years, the left conveyed a variety of postulates, ranging from asymmetric federalism to the defence of the current constitutional system. The article explores how these different tendencies competed among themselves, while, at the same time, interacted with regional nationalists. The conclusion shows the sharp contrast between the regional nationalists’ shared historical memory and the inability of the left to renew the symbols, rituals and memory of progressive Spanish nationalism in the current democratic era.