page_title: Tomàs Caylà i Grau
section_title: Catalan question
hierarchical_section_title: Tomàs Caylà i Grau / Catalan question
caption_attribution_description: English: Demonstration in Spain against the Catalan Statute of Autonomy (1932) Occitan&#160;: Manifestacion en Espanha contra l'Estatut d'Autonomia de Núria (1932)
context_page_description: Tomàs Caylà i Grau was a Spanish publisher and a Carlist politician.
context_section_description: The national question remained one of key threads of Caylà's writings, perhaps second only to his fierce defense of the Catholic faith. Throughout all public career he vehemently supported Catalan cultural and political ambitions, yet always combined with the Spanish raison d’etat.
  In the 1919 declaration Caylà listed his Catalan identity as third in terms of importance, put after the Catholic and Spanish ones; the statement clearly implied that being Catalan and being Spanish were complimentary selves. Supporting various cultural initiatives he also acknowledged Catalan political ambitions, best embodied in the autonomous project; for Caylà, separate regional establishments were rooted in the Carlist vision. His concept embraced Catalonia federated with Castile, the Madrid king ruling as Comte de Barcelona provided he swears to the local fueros. The regional diet was supposed to have decisive say on administrative, fiscal and economic issues, with diputación forming the Catalan executive and municipalities allowed large degree of their own autonomy. Though all Catalans were obliged to defend the country, according to Caylà Madrid was not allowed conscription.
  During dictatorship Caylà kept supporting Catalan ambitions, highly sympathetic to Macia and highly critical towards governmental measures applied against him after the Prats de Molló affair. He retained his juvenile autonomous vision later on, presented in a series of articles published in Joventut in 1930. A contemporary scholar compared it to the radical La Habana version and another one claimed that it was not far from endorsing political independence. Also in present-day Catalanist publications his articles from that period are quoted when referring to unity of Spain as “a parody”, however this particular phrase was intended not to question the Spanish integrity as such but rather to mock the inefficient and propaganda-embroidered late primoderiverista version. It is not clear to what extent Caylà contributed to the official Carlist autonomy project revealed in 1930; it was founded on similar highly federative concept, elaborated in more detail and embracing organic elections to the local diet. Following the advent of the Republic Carlism backtracked, prompting defection of some of its most pro-Catalanist members; Caylà was not among them.
  The turn of Catalan case during the Republic left Caylà hugely disappointed. Enthusiastically supportive about the ongoing talks on autonomous statute, he refused to join the militant anti-Spanish Catalanization wave and opposed separatism, at best lukewarm about the ultimately prevailing, allegedly integral vision of the Republic. He believed that in the autonomous agreement the Catalan rights should have taken precedence instead of having been subordinated to the Spanish constitution. Last but not least, Caylà was profoundly unhappy about secular character of the autonomy and accepted the statute not as an ultimate solution but rather as a stepping stone towards his vision. Disappointed about final shape assumed by the accepted statute, Caylà was desperate about its practical embodiment and political stance assumed by the Generalitat. Always sympathetic to the conservative Lliga, he was alarmed by militancy of Companys and the Catalan Left, denouncing “el feixisme esquerrá” and what he considered potentially barbarian course of October 1934, though he opposed suspension of the autonomy.
caption: anti-statute meeting
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