Bases de Manresa
[2] In 1887 the Centre Català underwent an acute crisis as a result of the split between the two currents that made it up, one more left-wing and federalist, led by Valentí Almirall, and the other more Catalanist and conservative, grouped around the newspaper La Renaixensa.
The conservative nature of the work is evident, for example, in Article 51, which states that "only citizens who are heads of families have the right to appoint and be appointed" to the popular arm, since the Cortes will be of a statal nature, or in Article 39, which states: "Since the religion of the Catalans is Catholic, apostolic and Roman, it is not licit for any layman to discuss publicly or privately about its dogmas".
After denying the legitimacy of the Spanish constituent processes initiated in the Cortes of Cadiz, Coroleu and Pella concluded that Spain must repair "the imprescriptible rights of its peoples" oppressed by "the despotism of foreign dynasties [sic]" and the "Jacobinism of infamous politicians".
[5] The members of the conservative tendency left the Centre Catalá in November 1887 to found the Lliga de Catalunya, which was joined by the Centre Escolar Catalanista, an association of university students that included the future leaders of Catalan nationalism: Enric Prat de la Riba, Francesc Cambó and Josep Puig i Cadafalch.
[6] In 1891 the Lliga de Catalunya proposed the formation of the Unió Catalanista, which immediately gained the support of Catalanist organisations and newspapers, and also of individuals —unlike what had happened four years earlier with the failed Gran Consell Regional Català proposed by Bernat Torroja, President of the Associació Catalanista de Reus, which was intended to bring together the presidents of Catalanist organisations and the editors of related newspapers—.
The presidency was held by Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Enric Prat de la Riba acted as secretary.
[9] From the regional power, formed by a Cortes that would meet once a year in different parts of the territory, would come an executive made up of five or seven high-ranking officials who would be in charge of the country's administration.
The territorial organisation was divided into comarques and municipalities, elements that clearly contradicted a Spanish state that was at that time centralist and uniformising.
According to historians José Luis de la Granja, Justo Beramendi and Pere Anguera, "the Bases are an autonomist project, in no way pro-independence, of a traditional and corporatist nature.
Structured in seventeen articles, they advocate the possibility of modernising civil law, the exclusive official status of Catalan, the reservation of public posts, including military posts, the comarca as the basic administrative entity, exclusive internal sovereignty, corporately elected courts, a higher court of last resort, the extension of municipal powers, voluntary military service, a body of public order and its own currency, and education sensitive to Catalan specificity".
Only Catalans, whether by birth or by naturalisation, may hold public office in Catalonia, including governmental and administrative posts which depend on the central government.
The territorial division of the hierarchy of governmental, administrative and judicial powers shall be based on the natural region and the municipality.
Catalonia shall be the sole sovereign of its internal government, and therefore shall freely dictate its organic laws; it shall be responsible for its civil, criminal, mercantile, administrative and procedural legislation; the establishment and collection of taxes; the minting of coins; and it shall have all other powers inherent to sovereignty and which do not correspond to the central power in accordance with Base 1.
The Cortes shall be formed by suffrage of all heads of families, grouped by classes based on manual labour, ability or professional careers and on property, industry and commerce through the corresponding corporation organisation where possible.
The judiciary shall be organised by re-establishing the former Audiència de Catalunya; its President and Vice-President, appointed by the Cortes, shall constitute the supreme judicial authority of the region, and such lower courts as may be necessary shall be established, and all lawsuits and cases shall be decided within a specific period of time and in the final instance within Catalonia.
The preservation of public order and internal security in Catalonia shall be entrusted to the Sometent, and for permanent active service a corps similar to that of the Mossos d'Esquadra or the Guardia Civil shall be created.
