Significació política de Solidaritat Catalana

Abstract

This article tries to revise the history of Solidaritat Catalana, one of the most important civic and political movements at the beginning of the twentieth century in Catalonia. In these pages we will study its creation in detail, along with its development and subsequent crisis. The short lifespan of Solidaritat Catalana (1906-1909) doesnt hide the importance of the phenomenon as a reference point for future attempts of union amongst different sectors of Catalan politicians. Furthermore, we are confronted with the first transverse movement of political catalanism. A type of catalanism which, like Solidaritat, demonstrated that it could no longer be monopolised by any party. If Solidaritat Catalana had been merely an alliance of parties up against an imminent political consultation, the result of a common act of protest in opposition to acts that try to attack civil liberties, its duration would have been something without explanation. If it lasted for three years it was because it had a will to last, with aspirations and incentives to become permanent in Catalan politics. Apart from the internal crisis, the real dimension of the movement is explained by the way in which it helped catalanism to become more deep rooted in the collective soul of the Catalans.