Shortly after noon Aliende arives at the Presidential palace and y 1.00pm he announces that the evolt has been put down. overnment will use 'all means to each. the real culprits Iways they will try to disguise their esponsibility'.
Fewer than 150 of the 900 coops in the regiment took part in he coup which was headed by Colnel Roberto Souper. Later it was eported that the tanks had to stop a petrol station and the soldiers orced the attendants to provide etrol.
Later on it would be learned nat this was to be one of a number if risings throughout the country, nimated and supported by arties of the Right. Immediatel ter it was known that the attemped coup had failed five leaders, of he fascist Fatherland and Freedom ok refuge in the Ecuador emassy asked for sylum. They bitterly denounced ther sections of the armed forces chich, they claimed, had agreed to apport the coup, only to withdraw the last moment. The president f the National Party, Onofre Jarpa, was at the airport to ee them off.
Militia Shortly after the revolt had een quelled, one million suporters of the left marched through streets to the alace in solidarity with overnment. A heavy cordon of pyal troops surrounded the area.
united.- left will never efeated', 'Allende the ile are defending you', reate popular power, CECaLc popular demonstrators chanted.
Instinctively The as close contact soldiers they murderers'.
had an external "strict professionalism'.
Spotlight the the bullet-scarred to the balcony to workers.
enthusiasm.
Senator They thought that now hand against them.
were demanding Parliament, the Presidential armed forces, the demanded be portunity was peo'Create, 'Create, the messy Workers demonstrate against the plotters and demand a 'firm hand' against the government militia', the the workers understood the vital necessity to fraternise with the soldiers. When groups of demonstrators came in with groups of chanted "soldier, friend the people are with you', 'the soldiers have only one choice: to be with the people or be their Some soldiers waved their arms to the demonstrators as a friendly way of salute but most appearance of Later in the evening more and more people were gathering around Presidential Palace waiting for Allende to come speak to the When he came out at around 8.00pm people roared in They felt victorious, the plotters in the armed forces and in the right wing parties had been weakened and put on the defensive.
that the right had openly broken 'the rules' — now was the time to use a strong At this stage the demonstrators the closing of holding of elections for a Popular Assembly, the dismissal of all plotters from the and above all they a firm hand, a firm hand! To the peasants and workers of the whole country the golden op- were there. At last Popular Unity would have the upper hand after having gone through convoluted legal system. In their own way they sayıng: 'Dear companero Presidente give us the lead and we'll storm Heaven' It was terribly demoralising for them to see Allende appear at the Fascists of the Fatherland and Freedom movement supported the coup balcony accompanied by the three Chiefs of Staff of the army, navy and air force. He spoke to them in a business-as-usual praised the loyalty of the armed forces and turned in a conciliatory
SURENCHTO HUGS THIR
mood Heaven dustries, for course, Popular manner. He Dr LiNG MES JUNTOFL towards the Christian Democrats seeking a compromise In the same vein he relied heavily on the armed forces to restore 'law and order' and thus he declared a state of emergency in more than 20 provinces, during which the armed forces of every province would be in total control. This would be the beginning of the end.
Most Popular Unity supporters could not understand such conciliatory moves. To them it was inexplicable, after all their response to stop the tancazo as the 29 June coup came to be called, had been determined and speedy. More than five hundred factories were occupied, different forms of workers' control had spread through all inthe workers co-ordinations in the factories and shanty towns had been greatly strengthened numerically and politically, embryonic forms of arming were taking place, the working class was on the offensive and was more united and highly mobilised in the aftermath of the coup ... just waiting the revolutionary lead that would never come.
With the tancazo there would be no turning back. The attempted coup showed the certainty of, and brought forward the final confrontation. I put a spotlight on the political terms of the total victory or defeat of the Chilean revolution. Everyone understood it except of the utopian reformist Unity leadership who stubbornly clung to the disastrous 'peaceful road'. Reformism once again proved to be merely a violent path to historic defeat.
Socialist Action 1 July 1983
Socialist Action 1 July 1983 ACTiON THE DEBATE on Labour's future is taking place around motions for the Labour In contrast to the ambivalence or lne Labour manifesto, soclalists neca lo pul Labour's future — this isn't the answer