The CUP accelerates its refoundation after the fiasco of 23-J and will elect the new leadership within a year
The results of 23-J have already provoked reactions in the parties that have been beaten. Or, at least, in some of those who received a severe setback. The CUP, which lost its parliamentary representation, will open a “refoundation” process to face the future. The anti-capitalist formation went from 246,971 votes to only 98,794, and its two deputies stayed at home. The leader of the list for the demarcation of Barcelona, Albert Botran, leaves the front line of politics.
The decline of the CUP is similar to that of the other pro-independence parties. ERC went from 874,859 votes to only 462,883, losing six seats along the way (remaining with seven), and Junts per Catalunya, despite losing a single representative (dropped from eight to seven), also dropped from 530,225 supports to 391,634. In these two large formations, there was no assumption of political responsibilities or any reflection on the electoral downturn.
But the CUP has always been consistent with its principles. His secretariat addressed a letter to the militancy making self-criticism. “There has not been a good reading of the situation, the climate, the moment, the exhaustion and the fatigue,” says the letter, referring to the current political climate. Therefore, “it has not been up to the task when it comes to building those spaces and structures necessary to make qualitative leaps on an organizational and political scale”. Hence, it offers “to open a process of deep strategic debate, with the complexity and the necessary spaces, which allows a process of refounding the popular unity project”.
The anti-capitalist formation had already received a certain setback in the municipal elections last May: it went from 176,474 votes to 133,403 and from 334 to 313 councilors. It was the first wake-up call that, in any case, he intended to transfer to the bases to begin a process of internal discussion on the strategy to follow. But the call for general elections cut short his calendar and forced him to postpone his plans until next fall..
The great bump in the general elections aggravated the internal situation and sounded all the alarms. The first consequence is the announcement by the leader of the list for Barcelona, Albert Botran, to leave the first political line. Botran is quite a symbol within the formation: he was a deputy in the Parliament of Catalonia and is a representative of Poble Lliure, the largest of the parties that make up the CUP. In fact, he is one of the intellectual mainstays of the party and a respected activist both inside and outside his party..
“We must focus on municipalism”
The same election night, Botran came to the fore to acknowledge that his formation had not been able to lead the way, that the results obtained were bad, but he sent a forceful message: “No one is going home here, because we have a duty to the country and your people”. Just a few days later, the head of the Barcelona list takes a step to the side. “It is not contradictory to what he said. Albert will no longer be on the front line, but he will continue working for the CUP project from within the organization,” says a source from Cuba..
They also stress that the objective at this time is “to reorganize and mobilize, because the anti-capitalist, pro-independence, feminist and environmental commitment remains intact”. Another source points out that Botran's decision is “honest and logical” and emphasizes that the anti-capitalist formation “must recover its work in municipalism, a place to which it should have dedicated itself and from which it should not have left, because it is from where it is most can influence change in the system and power structures”. The sources do not pronounce on the null assumption of responsibilities in other parties. “Let each one rule his house. The transparency and coherence of the CUP are evident with the latest initiatives announced ”, insist the sources.
It should not be forgotten that the party only ran for municipal elections until a decade ago. At the end of 2012, he decided to run for the regional elections for the first time in his history, winning three seats and 126,219 votes.. And in November 2019, he made the leap to the Congress of Deputies, achieving two representatives and 246,971 votes.
The anti-capitalist formation now has a long way to go. The start of the re-foundation will begin in mid-September, when the CUP holds its Summer School, under the slogan “Life will be better to come”, in reference to the stanza of the song “The united people will never be defeated”.. With this, he will also pay tribute to Chilean President Salvador Allende, deposed 50 years ago by the coup d'état by General Augusto Pinochet, and to singer Víctor Jara, assassinated during that military revolt..
The Political Council of the CUP must now give the green light to the refoundation process, in a period of time that is expected to last until May 2024, just in time to organize the next regional elections, which could be brought forward to the end of next year.. What has been decided in this period is a new road map, “putting on the table the new needs in view of the political situation of the country”. This process, according to the formation, must have the maximum participation of the militancy, of the territorial councils and of spaces for debate or work groups that are under the mantle of the organization, until all this leads to a national assembly.. There, “the new strategic and organizational proposal” of the training will be approved, electing a new management leadership..