Politics of Catalonia
During these years, the struggle between the Barcelona conservative industrial bourgeoisie and the working class dominated Catalan politics, as it did elsewhere in Europe during the industrialisation process.
[citation needed] In Catalonia, this situation was nuanced by the fact that immigrants from the rest of Spain were an increasing portion of the workers, since the local workforce was not large enough to cover the demands of a rising economy.
[citation needed] Catalan nationalist and federalist movements arose in the nineteenth century, and when the Second Republic was declared in 1931, Catalonia became an autonomous region.
Following the fall of the Second Republic after the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39, the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco annulled Catalonia's autonomy statute and prohibited any public usage, official promotion or recognition of the Catalan language.
[citation needed] During the last decade of Franco's rule, there was a resurgence of nationalist sentiment in Catalonia and other 'historic' regions of Spain, such as the Basque Country.
When it comes to the nationalist question, one of the 'fault-lines' in contemporary Catalan politics arises from the fact that Barcelona, with its strong metropolitan economy, continues to attract migrants from all over the world.
On the other side, Catalan remains the predominant language in middle-class and upper-class urban areas, as well as in the region's rural and small cities.
In any case, Catalan has undoubtedly experienced a spectacular revival since the death of Franco; it has become the language of the autonomous government and enjoys a prominence and widespread use.
At the 2003 regional elections (for which Pujol did not run) CiU could not renew its absolute majority and PSC's Pasqual Maragall became President of the Generalitat by means of a left-wing tripartite coalition.
Maragall's socialists kept being the main opposition party, but actually lost seats: the bigger winners were the independentist Republican Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), and the ecosocialists.
While PSC maintained the post of President of the Generalitat (Maragall), ERC nominated the First Minister (Conseller Primer) — Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira and, later on, Josep Bargalló.
There was a significant political controversy as a result of the Catalan parliament's proposed draft of a replacement Autonomy Statute which sought to define Catalonia as a 'nation'.
Besides, the advent in the 2006 regional elections of a new party whose main ideology is countering Catalan nationalism, Ciutadans - Partido de la Ciudadanía, all make the independence issue a far from univocal question.
