Republican Left of Catalonia

History

Led by Francesc Macià and Lluís Companys, the party had done extremely well in the municipal elections of April 1931. On the day the election results were announced, they declared Catalonia would become an independent republic within a federal state. This was not exactly what had been agreed in the Pact of San Sebastián, so later that month they negotiated with the Madrid government that Macià would become president of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

In 1934, led by Lluís Companys, the elected Catalan President, the party declared an independent Catalan Republic within the Spanish Federation proposed by Companys, following the entry of right-wing ministers of the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA) into the Government of the Spanish Republic, however the party leaders (including Companys) and all the Catalan Government (called Generalitat) were arrested and jailed for this, and special autonomy laws for Catalonia were suspended until 1936.

In 1936, at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War, ERC decided to become part of the Popular Front to contest that year's election, which it won. Esquerra became the leading force of the Popular Front in Catalonia and tried to maintain the unity of the Front in the face of growing tensions between the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) and the Communist Party of Spain (PCE).

The party was declared illegal (along with all other participants in the Popular Front) by Francisco Franco after he came to power in 1939. The former president of the Catalan Generalitat, Lluís Companys, was arrested by German agents in collaboration with Vichy France, returned to Spain and executed in 1940.

The party is also federated with parties in the Balearic Islands and in Northern Catalonia in France, as well as with Republican Left of the Valencian Country in the Valencian Community. Except for their Balearic counterpart, none of the latter currently have any parliamentary representation in their respective territories, though they do have 8 municipal councillors in the Balearic Islands and 6 councillors in the Valencian Community.

Political principles and representation

Its basic political principles are defined in the Statement of Ideology approved at the 19th National Congress in 1993. This is organised into the three areas that give the organisation its name: Esquerra (commitment to the Left's agenda in the political debate), República (commitment to the Republican form of government vs. Spain's current constitutional monarchy) and Catalunya (Catalan independentism, which, as understood by ERC, comprises the Catalan Countries).

Despite having been one of the main forces behind the movement for amendment, the party eventually opposed the 2006 changes to the Catalan Statute of Autonomy to increase Catalonia's autonomy. It did so on the grounds that it did not do enough to increase Catalan independence. This caused a government crisis with its partners (specially with the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, PSC) which led to an early election in 2006.

Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya has 21 seats in the Catalan Parliament, suffering a dramatic setback after the 2010 Catalan parliamentary election and an equally dramatic gain in 2012, and one seat in the Balearic Parliament. Until 2010, it was one of the three coalition members of the tripartite left-wing Catalan Government, together with Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) and Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV). The coalition was often uneasy due to tensions related to the new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. The snap election on November 25, 2012 saw ERC rise to a total of 21 seats in the Catalan Parliament.

Out of the Catalan countries, it has ten seats (fifth largest group by seats) in the Spanish Parliament and three seats in the European Parliament.

Presidents

1. Francesc Macià (1931-1933)
2. Lluís Companys (1933-1935)
3. Carles Pi i Sunyer (1933-1935)
4. Lluís Companys (1936-1940)
5. Heribert Barrera (1993-1995)
6. Jaume Campabadal (1995-1996)
7. Jordi Carbonell (1996-2004)
8. Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira (2004-2008)
9. Joan Puigcercós (2008-2011)
10. Oriol Junqueras (2011-)

General Secretaries

1. Joan Lluís Pujol i Font (March 1931 - April 1931)
2. Josep Tarradellas (April 1931 - March 1932)
3. Joan Tauler (March 1932 - 1938)
4. Josep Tarradellas (1938 - 1957)
5. Joan Sauret (1957 - 1976)
6. Heribert Barrera (1976-1987)
7. Joan Hortalà (1987-1989)
8. Àngel Colom Colom (1989-1996)
9. Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira (1996-2004)
10. Joan Puigcercós (2004-2008)
11. Joan Ridao i Martín (2008-2011)
12. Marta Rovira i Vergés (2011-)