[lbo-talk] Catalonia the latest flashpoint in the Euro crisis

[Wojtek S]

Marv: "> The French-speaking Quebecois and the Basques have gained
some benefits by securing more autonomy within the Canadian and
Spanish federations respectively - in particular, more control over
taxation, resources, and language rights, the latter specifically in
regard to the language of work. To be sure, these gains have not
fundamentally altered power and property relations between the
classes, but they're seen as somewhat more than merely "symbolic"
acquisitions, and the national minorities which have secured them have
shown no inclination whatsoever to cede them back to the federal
state."

[WS:]  I see your point, but by your own admission, separatism does
not alter power relations between the classes.  It often ties the
interests of the working class to those of the elite, which is in
essence reactionary, cf. South Africa, Ireland, Israel or post Soviet
states.  Whatever one may think of the x-USSR, the communist central
government was a *significant* improvement to the Islamist, feudal,
tribal, or gangster statelets.

As I see it, the working class has a better chance of gaining power
(and economic benefits) in large centrally governed "empires"  than in
small national states.

-- 
Wojtek

"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."