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The Spanish Revolution 1931-39: The National Question in the 1930s

Marxist Theory · 2026-05-13

Core Argument

The article argues that the national question in the Spanish state during the 1930s cannot be understood as a struggle between oppressed nationalities and a centralist state, but must be analysed as a class question. The Basque and Catalan bourgeoisies deployed nationalism as a weapon to maintain their class dominance over the working class, while simultaneously collaborating with the Spanish oligarchy to protect their shared economic interests. The central thesis is that neither the Basque nor the Catalan bourgeoisie ever genuinely sought independence — they used nationalist sentiment to divert class struggle, extract concessions from Madrid, and, when the revolutionary movement threatened their property, they threw themselves into the arms of reaction. The article claims that the workers' organisations (PSOE, CNT, PCE) fatally compounded this by failing to offer a class-based alternative on the national question, instead oscillating between Spanish centralism and tailing bourgeois nationalism. The result was that the bourgeoisie retained control of the anti-fascist struggle and used it to crush the revolutionary potential of the Spanish proletariat.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis is firmly rooted in the Marxist tradition on the national question as developed by Lenin and Trotsky, particularly the distinction between the nationalism of oppressed nations (which can be progressive) and the nationalism of oppressor nations (which is reactionary). The article draws on Trotsky's theory of uneven and combined development to explain Spain's peculiar economic structure — a backward agrarian interior coexisting with advanced industrial enclaves in Catalonia and the Basque Country. This unevenness, the article argues, produced a bourgeoisie that was simultaneously modern in its economic base and parasitic in its political orientation, incapable of completing the democratic-bourgeois revolution of national unification. The concept of Bonapartism is implicit in the analysis of the Republican-Socialist coalition's oscillation between concessions to the masses and repression. The article also deploys the Marxist understanding of the state as an instrument of class rule, arguing that autonomy statutes were used not to empower oppressed nationalities but to hand state power to sections of the bourgeoisie who would use it to suppress revolution. The critique of the Popular Front strategy — that it subordinated working-class independence to alliance with "progressive" bourgeois forces — is central to the theoretical framework.

Conjunctural Relevance

The article was published in 2005, but its analysis speaks directly to the contemporary conjuncture in the Spanish state. The fragmentation of the right into regionalist parties (Valencian Unity, Canary Coalition, etc.) and the persistence of strong nationalisms in Euskadi, Catalonia, and Galicia are presented as direct continuations of the historical pattern identified in the 1930s. The article explicitly connects the collaboration between the Popular Party, Convergència i Unió (CiU), and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) in the early 2000s to the class collaboration of the 1930s — "their common class interests, opposed to the working class and the majority of society." The reference to the "Balkanization" of the Spanish state and the warning against separatism as a solution draws on the recent experience of the Yugoslav wars, which would have been fresh in readers' minds in 2005. The article's insistence that the democratic rights of nationalities can only be guaranteed through socialist revolution and an Iberian Socialist Federation remains a direct polemic against both the reformist autonomism of the PSOE and the bourgeois nationalism of the PNV and ERC. The internal crisis of capitalism — mass unemployment, cuts to social programmes, precarious employment — is presented as the contemporary backdrop against which the national question must be understood.

Where the Argument Continues

This article is part of a broader body of work by the Revolutionary Communist International on the Spanish Revolution. The argument continues in several directions:

  • Other IDOM articles on the Spanish Revolution: The same author and others have written extensively on the military aspects of the Civil War, the role of the POUM, the Stalinist counter-revolution, and the May Days of 1937 in Barcelona. These articles develop the critique of the Popular Front strategy in greater detail.
  • Against the Stream episodes: The RCI's podcast has covered the national question in Spain in the context of the Catalan independence crisis of 2017 and the subsequent repression, applying the same analytical framework to the contemporary situation.
  • Trotsky's writings on Spain: The article explicitly references Trotsky's letters to the Communist Left in Catalonia, particularly his 1931 letter to Andreu Nin warning against the Catalan proletariat being dragged into a premature national struggle before uniting with the Spanish working class. These texts are the theoretical foundation for the article's position.
  • The broader Marxist tradition on the national question: The article sits within the tradition of Lenin's The Right of Nations to Self-Determination and Stalin's Marxism and the National Question, but applies it critically to the specific conditions of Spain.

Connections

  • Trotsky, The Spanish Revolution (1931-39): The collected writings of Trotsky on Spain are the essential companion text, particularly his letters to the Spanish Left Opposition.
  • Felix Morrow, Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Spain: A classic Trotskyist account of the Civil War that develops the same analysis of the Popular Front's betrayal.
  • Pierre Broué and Émile Témime, The Revolution and the Civil War in Spain: A comprehensive history from a Marxist perspective.
  • Lenin, The Right of Nations to Self-Determination: The theoretical foundation for the article's position on the national question.
  • Ronald Fraser, Blood of Spain: The article draws on Fraser's oral history for specific testimony from Basque and Catalan workers and militants, particularly the accounts of disillusionment with bourgeois nationalism.

Key Quotes

  1. "The Basque and Catalan bourgeoisie, from the beginning, used the wave of nationalism to unite for themselves in turn the same sections of society that they were exploiting and draining in connivance with the Spanish oligarchy. Neither the Basque nor the Catalan bourgeoisie had ever had the intention of becoming independent from the Spanish State, not so long as they continued to gain benefits."

  2. "The democratic rights of the historic nationalities, like the solution to the land problem, the standstill, and the living conditions of the vast majority of society, could only be resolved by the seizure of power by the proletariat in the entire state, sweeping the bourgeoisie and their representatives out of Madrid, Barcelona or Bilbao."

  3. "The Basque bourgeoisie feared revolution much more than fascism, which could bring 'order' and respect for the newly-private property. The nationalism of Franco on one side and the Statute of autonomy on the other allowed the bourgeoisie to explain their support of the Republican Government to the masses in terms of defense of democratic rights. Still, their first priority above all was their class interests."

  4. "It is necessary to distinguish between the nationalism of the bourgeoisie (both Basque and Catalan), which is particularly egotistical, voracious, and reactionary, and the nationalism felt by the masses, which represented above all hatred for the corruption, extravagance, backwardness, exploitation, and the repression of their own languages and cultures. The latter thus has a distinctly progressive and revolutionary nature."

  5. "The liberation of the historic nationalities from centralist oppression will be achieved by uniting the democratic-national recoveries with the struggle of the working class of the entire State by the socialist transformation of society. For this, the organic union of the proletariat is vital, disregarding any consideration of nationality, language, race, or religion."

  6. "From the Marxist point of view, there is no contradiction in defending the right of self-determination of the historic nationalities (including the right of independence if the majority of Catalans, Basques, or Galicians so decide democratically) and defending at the same time the organic unity of the working class surpassing national boundaries."