Full editorial published as it is today a The Voice of Catalonia (22-VII-1931), newspaper of the Regionalist League party (Catalan League from 1932). The director of the newspaper was then Joaquim Pellicena (Valladolid, 1871-Paris, 1938), a trusted journalist of Francesc Cambó (Verges, 1876-Buenos Aires, 1947), leader of that conservative, possibilist, contemporary party, which accepted the Republic The League supported the president Francesc Macià (Vilanova i la Geltrú, 1859-Barcelona, 1933) for what he did to the autonomist demands.
Catalonia is preparing to solemnly vote on the draft Statute which is already, for us, the law of the autonomy of our land, where the yearnings of a century of renaissance, and of thirty years of political action are realized of Catalanism. Our people hope that the Statute of Catalonia will be accepted and approved by the Constituent Courts, with the same spirit of cordiality and brotherhood with which it was conceived in our land. After the Pact of San Sebastián (agreement of 17 August 1930 between Spanish republican formations of all tendencies), we do not believe that anything else is possible. It seems, however, that among some intellectual elements in Madrid – and Mr. Unamuno’s statements may be an indication of this – there is a kind of suspicion that Catalonia, once its freedom has been achieved, will withdraw into itself and be ignorant of the destinies of the other Hispanic peoples. So good. We want to say, very clearly and very concretely, that it is quite the opposite. Catalonia wants its freedom for the free development of its culture and its wealth, of everything that represents and means its collective personality and its spiritual heritage. But precisely he asks for all this, and wants all this, in order to be able to contribute more effectively and with complete freedom to the greatness of the Hispanic whole with his own accent, with his peculiar characteristics, with his genuine ways. And it is for this very reason that in the Statute of its autonomy, alongside all those guarantees it asks for to ensure the free development of its spirituality and its own being, it gives the living group of the Spanish peoples the other guarantees of a brotherly and fruitful coexistence. It is therefore necessary that the Castilian intellectuals who might feel some misgivings about the freedom of Catalonia, see their doubts dispelled, with the certainty that our autonomy, far from representing an abstention or a reluctance, will be the liveliest pledge of peninsular collaboration and solidarity.
Source: www.ara.cat
