11th September is 40th anniversary of the Chilean Coup against Allende in 1973. Many of the Left argue that the capitalist ruling class would abolish political democracy in the event of a socilist voctory. The overthrow of the democratically-elected Allende government in Chile by a military coup in 1973 is usually cited as confirmation of this.
36.3 per cent of the voters who opted for Salvador Allende the 'Popular Unity' candidate in 1971. Allende has built up a popular front around the so-called 'Communist' and 'Socialist' parties which also takes in the Radicals and a number of smaller organisations such as 'Independent Popular Action' and an offshoot from the Christian Democrats — the 'Action Union for Popular Unity'. These movements have allied themselves on the basis of an extensive reform programme which, if carried through, will lay the foundation for a restructuring of the Chilean economy along state capitalist lines. Its broad outlines consist of nationalising the copper industry, the banks, the strategic industries and the monopolies in the distributive sector. Tied in with this, there is to be an extension of agrarian reform, measures to assure monetary stability and a plan for social security: health, work, housing. Allende had slogans such as "A half litre of milk per day for each child" or "We want our people to eat, to have work, to have homes, to have the guarantee of health." He has found a responsive audience when more than half of all children in Chile were recognised to be undernourished and hundreds of thousands lived in tenements where one or even two families jammed in a single room was considered normal. The programme did not represent an advance towards socialism as many supporters imagined. The fact was Allende's policies will not even radically alter class relations within the existing capitalist society in Chile. But it was sufficiently radical for the Chilean elite and the American government to be unsettled.
The coup in Chile has absolutely no relevance to the question of whether or not Socialism can be established peacefully and democratically. Allende and his Popular Unity were not trying to establish socialism. In the 1971 election his conservative opponent who got 35 percent while the Christian Democrat candidate got 28 percent. In other words, in a three-way contest Allende won by not much more than the minimum possible-one-third of the votes plus one. Parliament remained in the hands of its opponents who, although they did not have the two-thirds majority needed to impeach Allende himself, harassed his Ministers and delayed and altered ills proposed laws. Allende was unable to deliver on his promises. Even though elections held in March 1973 showed that the support of a third or so of the population for People's Unity still held up, discontent grew amongst the two-thirds majority which didn’t support it, the discontent exploited by the government's opponents, encouraged and helped by the CIA (in pursuit of the US strategic interest not to allow Russian state capitalism to establish another bridgehead besides Cuba in their backyard) and multinationals like ITT (who feared nationalisation without adequate compensation).
That the limited democracy that existed in Chile has been a victim of this conflict can only be a matter of regret for Socialists. For, whatever its limitations, capitalist political democracy at least allows the working class to organise to defend its everyday interests and to discuss differing political views, including those of Socialists. By September 1973 the fascist-minded leaders of the armed forces, led by General Pinochet, decided the time was ripe to stage a coup. Its suppression in Chile by a military junta represents, in this sense, a step backward for the working class. The presidential palace was bombarded and Allende killed. A reign of terror, designed to cow the third of the population who still supported Allende, was unleashed. Thousands of opponents were rounded up, tortured and killed; elective institutions were dissolved and working class organisations banned.
The Allende government was without an overall majority and was aiming to move towards state capitalism In the context of a world in which two super-powers were struggling for domination. The quite different conditions that will obtain on the eve of socialism-mass support for socialism throughout the world-will be sufficient to deter any suicidal attempt by a latter-day Pinochet to halt the progress of history. Allende was a “moderate socialist”, i.e. a mere reformist like the Labour and Social Democratic parties of Europe and Australasia, there have been plenty of other such governments, which have not been toppled in a coup; in fact, most haven’t.
In his book Democracy and Revolution: Latin America and Socialism Today D. L. Raby confirms much of our analysis when she wrote "with a president voted in by only 36 per cent of the electorate and a coalition which only briefly achieved a little more than 50 per cent (in April 1971), there was no real mandate for revolutionary change."
During the coup, Chilean Army troops attacked the university and detained staff and students, including Victor Jara, the folk singer. He was beat and tortured. During his three days of detention, Jara wrote a poem about his experience, which was later given to his wife by a survivor. Jara wrote, "How hard it is to sing when I must sing of horror. Horror which I am living, horror of which I am dying."
Pedro Pablo Barrientos Nunez , then a lieutenant in the Chilean Army put a pistol to the back Jara's head, placed a bullet in the chamber, spun the chamber and pulled the trigger — playing Russian roulette until the inevitable happened and Jara was killed. Barrientos then ordered those under his command to machine-gun the corpse. His body was dumped only to be later identified by a morgue attendant. Barrientos, his murderer, moved to the U.S. in 1989 and lives in Deltona, central Florida, unmolested by the American authorities.
36.3 per cent of the voters who opted for Salvador Allende the 'Popular Unity' candidate in 1971. Allende has built up a popular front around the so-called 'Communist' and 'Socialist' parties which also takes in the Radicals and a number of smaller organisations such as 'Independent Popular Action' and an offshoot from the Christian Democrats — the 'Action Union for Popular Unity'. These movements have allied themselves on the basis of an extensive reform programme which, if carried through, will lay the foundation for a restructuring of the Chilean economy along state capitalist lines. Its broad outlines consist of nationalising the copper industry, the banks, the strategic industries and the monopolies in the distributive sector. Tied in with this, there is to be an extension of agrarian reform, measures to assure monetary stability and a plan for social security: health, work, housing. Allende had slogans such as "A half litre of milk per day for each child" or "We want our people to eat, to have work, to have homes, to have the guarantee of health." He has found a responsive audience when more than half of all children in Chile were recognised to be undernourished and hundreds of thousands lived in tenements where one or even two families jammed in a single room was considered normal. The programme did not represent an advance towards socialism as many supporters imagined. The fact was Allende's policies will not even radically alter class relations within the existing capitalist society in Chile. But it was sufficiently radical for the Chilean elite and the American government to be unsettled.
The coup in Chile has absolutely no relevance to the question of whether or not Socialism can be established peacefully and democratically. Allende and his Popular Unity were not trying to establish socialism. In the 1971 election his conservative opponent who got 35 percent while the Christian Democrat candidate got 28 percent. In other words, in a three-way contest Allende won by not much more than the minimum possible-one-third of the votes plus one. Parliament remained in the hands of its opponents who, although they did not have the two-thirds majority needed to impeach Allende himself, harassed his Ministers and delayed and altered ills proposed laws. Allende was unable to deliver on his promises. Even though elections held in March 1973 showed that the support of a third or so of the population for People's Unity still held up, discontent grew amongst the two-thirds majority which didn’t support it, the discontent exploited by the government's opponents, encouraged and helped by the CIA (in pursuit of the US strategic interest not to allow Russian state capitalism to establish another bridgehead besides Cuba in their backyard) and multinationals like ITT (who feared nationalisation without adequate compensation).
That the limited democracy that existed in Chile has been a victim of this conflict can only be a matter of regret for Socialists. For, whatever its limitations, capitalist political democracy at least allows the working class to organise to defend its everyday interests and to discuss differing political views, including those of Socialists. By September 1973 the fascist-minded leaders of the armed forces, led by General Pinochet, decided the time was ripe to stage a coup. Its suppression in Chile by a military junta represents, in this sense, a step backward for the working class. The presidential palace was bombarded and Allende killed. A reign of terror, designed to cow the third of the population who still supported Allende, was unleashed. Thousands of opponents were rounded up, tortured and killed; elective institutions were dissolved and working class organisations banned.
The Allende government was without an overall majority and was aiming to move towards state capitalism In the context of a world in which two super-powers were struggling for domination. The quite different conditions that will obtain on the eve of socialism-mass support for socialism throughout the world-will be sufficient to deter any suicidal attempt by a latter-day Pinochet to halt the progress of history. Allende was a “moderate socialist”, i.e. a mere reformist like the Labour and Social Democratic parties of Europe and Australasia, there have been plenty of other such governments, which have not been toppled in a coup; in fact, most haven’t.
In his book Democracy and Revolution: Latin America and Socialism Today D. L. Raby confirms much of our analysis when she wrote "with a president voted in by only 36 per cent of the electorate and a coalition which only briefly achieved a little more than 50 per cent (in April 1971), there was no real mandate for revolutionary change."
During the coup, Chilean Army troops attacked the university and detained staff and students, including Victor Jara, the folk singer. He was beat and tortured. During his three days of detention, Jara wrote a poem about his experience, which was later given to his wife by a survivor. Jara wrote, "How hard it is to sing when I must sing of horror. Horror which I am living, horror of which I am dying."
Pedro Pablo Barrientos Nunez , then a lieutenant in the Chilean Army put a pistol to the back Jara's head, placed a bullet in the chamber, spun the chamber and pulled the trigger — playing Russian roulette until the inevitable happened and Jara was killed. Barrientos then ordered those under his command to machine-gun the corpse. His body was dumped only to be later identified by a morgue attendant. Barrientos, his murderer, moved to the U.S. in 1989 and lives in Deltona, central Florida, unmolested by the American authorities.
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