This year marks the 50th anniversary of the US-backed Chilean coup d’état of 11 September 1973 which led to the death and torture of thousands, the overthrow of Chile’s elected Popular Unity government, the rise of Augusto Pinochet, and, the subsequent years of continuous human rights abuse.
Upon hearing ‘9/11’ we instinctively find ourselves thinking of the infamous terror attack at the World Trade Center in New York City during the year 2001. Although, there exists an obscure and the first 9 ’11 which happened to kill far more people than the terror attack in 2001 and led to the establishment of Pinochet, one of the most genocidal dictators in contemporary history. The CIA had a considerable share of support for the illegal overthrow of Allende’s democratic government and the setting up of Chile’s former notorious dictator, Augusto Pinochet.
Nonetheless, stemming from vulgar anti- imperialism, there is a tendency in the modern left to glorify Allende’s Chile as an impressive example of a socialist state based on the scientific principles of Marxism-Leninism but, on the contrary, it was nowhere close to being a socialist economy and manifested itself as a revisionist state which eventually deceived the workers it initially relied on for its electoral rise.
Allende’s Rise & the Chilean Path to Socialism
For the first time in the history of Latin America’s tradition of Liberal Democracy (Read; Bourgeois Democracy), a left-wing leader, Salvador Allende, rose to power through democratic elections held in 1970. Right after his electoral rise, Allende went on to implement a few radical socialist policies to bring about his ultimate aim of “La vía chilena al socialismo” (the Chilean Path to Socialism). We’ll discuss and critique the fallacy of this ‘Chilean Path to Socialism’ and the general idea of ‘Democratic Socialism’ later in this article.
Allende sought to build a socialist economy by nationalizing large-scale industries like the copper and chemical sector that too, without providing anycompensation in return, expanding the public healthcare system, and revolutionizing the education system. The process of land seizure and redistribution, which were initiated earlier by his predecessor Eduardo Montalva, caught momentum under Allende’s presidency. In pursuit to include indigenous kids in the educational structure, The Popular Unity government initiated scholarships in November 1970 for children belonging to the Mapuche community. At the same time, new peasant councils meant that the peasant population was to be integrated into the decision-making process on rural development. Participation in the political process was thereby opened up in a country where access to political power had been limited to a small elite (1). Progressive decisions were taken in the arena of gender equality through various means of extending maternity leave from 6 to 12 weeks, public laundry system, day- care centers, and, women’s health centers. As a result of these progressive policies, the rate of inflation fell from 36.1% in 1970 to 22.1% in 1971, while average real wages rose by 22.3% during 1971. Within a few months, unemployment dropped to below 4% (2).
Soon, cordial relations with revolutionary Cuba were also formed. Although, despite Fidel Castro’s solidarity with reforms undergoing in Chile, he was critical of Allende’s idea of socialism. (3)
Now, a very obvious question arises from this appraisal of Allende’s policies;Was Chile under Allende’s Presidency an example of a Socialist State? The only straightforward answer is; No! Allende’s Chile wasn’t a socialist state and didn’t principally adhere to Marxism. The Chilean State wasn’t a Dictatorship of the Proletariat and the class character of the government wasn’t proletarian either. Instead, it transformed Chile into a particular variety of State-Capitalism. Initially, basic industries were indeed nationalized but the reform process left the remaining derivative industries in the hands of private domination. The portion of sectors in which there was a strong government intervention, were essentially less. The rest of the sectors were at the mercy of private capital’s help. Furthermore, nationalization did not lead to any significant increase in the control of workers over their workspace. Though, in many instances, the factories were spontaneously seized by the revolting workers which later compelled Allende into taking the seized factories under state control (4). The Unidad Popular(PU) government was a coalition of different parties ranging from Christian Democrats to the Parliamentary left and worked under the framework of Bourgeois democracy until its very end and having complete faith in the existing constitutional institutions.
Albeit, Chile under Salvador’s tenure could be best described as a radical form of “social democracy” considering its state capitalism.
The Inevitable Fall & Betrayed Working Class Allende’s step of nationalizing the US Copper companies, that too, without giving any compensation in return, and his supposedly radical steps at restructuring Chile’s economy led to the intensification of anxiety in the Nixon Administration and accelerated the tension between the US and Chile. This anxiety regarding the rise of socialism in Latin America led to US Intervention in the politics of 1970 to spread and aid the anti-Allende propaganda(5). Nevertheless, Popular Unity managed to win the elections of 1970 successfully. Right after the victory of the PU government, Nixon commanded CIA officials to create pressure on the Chilean Government. Soon, the US started by aiding Allende’s opposition in the Chilean Congress. In no time, the Nixon administration began exerting pressure on the Chilean state through the means of multilateral organizations and declared an economic war on the Chilean economy under the slogan “Make the economy scream”.
Soon, owing to the economic pressure exerted by The US, constant efforts of
the CIA to destabilize Chile, and consistent resistance from various sections of the bourgeoisie through the means of strikes and fostering the black market, the inflation grew rapidly and created a vulnerable situation of chaos in the country. Eventually, the chaos culminated in a coup attempt by the US- aided Army Of Chile in June 1973 which failed miserably. The failed coup didn’t manage to prepare Allende to protect his government from an impending upheaval. Finally, on 11 September 1973, the inevitable end of Allende arrived and the PU government was overthrown by some Military Officials headed by Augusto Pinochet. The coup resulted in the immediate formation of the Junta Government and later by the end of 1974, Augusto Pinochet was declared to be the president of Chile In 1973, Upon sensing an organized reactionary upsurge in Chile, the self-organized working class movement of Chile and specifically the
“cordones industriales” spontaneously came down to the streets in order to defend themselves and proceeded to urge President Salvador Allende through a letter to provide them with arms so that they could militantly defend themselves against an upcoming military coup (6). Allende turned down their request at sight, used repressive force to brutally suppress the militant workers, and termed them as ‘agents of right’. Surprisingly, it was Allende himself, who appointed Augusto Pinochet as the Commander-in-chief of the Military. Despite constant conspiracies to plot a coup by the military and the organized right, failed coup attempt of June 1973, prolonged condition of chaos in the country, explicit intervention by the US, and urges from the working class to be provided with arms, Allende couldn’t assess and save Chile from an inevitable overthrow of his dialogue-loving government. Chilean Road To Socialism came to an end with its ultimate deception of the working class and the beginning of the genocidal dictatorship under Pinochet.
Allende’s Revisionism – A Petty Bourgeois Product ” The liberal bourgeoisie grant reforms with one hand, and with the other always take them back, reduce them to nought, use them to enslave the workers, to divide them into separate groups and perpetuate wage-slavery. For that reason reformism, even when quite sincere, in practice becomes a weapon by means of which the bourgeoisie corrupt and weaken the workers. The experience of all countries shows that the workers who put their trust in the reformists are always fooled ” ~ Vladimir Lenin(7)
Despite Allende’s radical policies yielding some results, he couldn’t sustain the progress and the economic reconstruction as planned by him, let alone achieve his utopian aim of a socialist Chile. There were several reasons instrumental in his abrupt and inevitable fall which can be used efficiently to draw lessons for the modern-day “parliamentary communists”. The case of Chilean Struggle brings to us a peculiar demonstration of Bourgeois Democracy’s grave limitations and how the program for humanity’s liberation from the shackles of capitalism is impossible under the framework of bogus bourgeois democracy.
Moreover, Allende’s example perfectly depicts the function of Petty-bourgeois ideology which leads us to reformism and ultimately to the betrayal of the working class. Reformists, like Allende, stem from the social base of Petty-bourgeoisie, which is inherently averse to the idea of revolution as it abruptly yet radically turns the world upside down. Reformism works against the cause of workers in the sense that it de-revolutionizes the proletarian masses by not letting them see beyond petty futile reforms and hence, preventing them ideological shortcomings manifesting as revisionism, class-collaborationism, and its undying faith in the framework of bourgeois democracy. Allende’s pro- worker policies were limited to only the plane of legal decrees. As soon as the workers rose with their revolutionary consciousness to fight off the approaching reactionary offensive, he saw no difference between fascists and them, rather, used repressive military measures to break the workers’ resistance. Allende had ample opportunities to prevent Chile’s working class from the ravages of bourgeois violent reaction but he instead continued with his naive assessments and futile reformism.
