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From Socialist Worker, No. 92, 12 October 1968, p. 2.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
CHRIS GRAY and Gery Lawless take you to task (Letters, September 28) for criticising the Basque i nationalists (ETA). They see the leaders of the terrorist wing of ETA as latter day James Connollys.
True, one section of the ETA has declared itself in favour of the socialist revolution. But it is difficult nowadays to find a nationalist movement that does not.
Before socialists decide whether a movement is worthy of their support, they should examine its social composition and the content of its actions.
The social base of Basque nationalism is in the rural petty bourgeoisie, particularly the village priests, although it does find support among workers in the larger towns, many of than immigrants from other parts of Spain, do not speak Basque and are disinterested in nationalism.
Basque nationalism is nourished, not only by the genuine oppression which the Basques suffer and also by the general discontent with the present Spanish government, but is also rooted in the narrow chauvinism and provincial snobbery which makes many people regard the immigrants from other parts of Spain in the same way as Enoch Powell does coloured immigrants here.
True, a Maoist faction on the left of the ETA calls for the unity of native Basque and immigrant workers, but the attempt to unite the proletarian struggle with an essentially reactionary movement is just as silly as the similar antics in Wales and Scotland.
The Basque country was never a colony in the marxist sense. On the contrary, it is the most prosperous area in Spain and an integral part of Spanish capitalism.
Even if we were to join comrades Gray and Lawless in their attempt to find an exploited colony in Spain, the Basque country would be the last place to look.
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