There is no doubt but that if Scotland had voted yes in the recent indyref the result would have been recognized.  A slim majority has committed Britain, Ireland and the rest of Europe to the consequences of Brexit.

Yet in Catalonia a vote for independence leads to assaults by the Spanish police, almost 1000 voters injured, the storming of polling stations and charges against public representatives.

There  should  be  utter  condemnation  of  the  repression  of  the Spanish  state.  Catalonia’s right to self-determination must be respected. The crisis exposes the weakness of the post-Franco settlement in Spain and of the pretentions of Europe to guarantee democratic rights.

The latest crisis illustrates yet again the ongoing decay of the capitalist system.  Yet  support  for  self-determination  does  not mean  that  we  should  ignore  the  repression  of  workers  across Spain or that workers should fall behind "their own" capitalists, who have led the charge in local attacks on workers and have now  demonstrated  that  lip  service  to  independence  will  not lead  them  to  endanger  their  own  class  interests.  Socialists should counterpoise the balkanisation of Spain and the splintering of Europe with calls for an Iberian confederation of socialist states, for a United Socialist States of Europe.