This three As the class war intensified the workers took over WOre bourgeois papers; radio stations and requisitioned Sorries, distribution agencies. Many cordones the coordinating committees and other organisations of the people decided not to distribute their products to private commercial concerns.
Instead they distributed directly to the consumers as a means of defeating black market. Strikes sabotage by the employers met by the direct action of the masses.
In January 1973 Orlando Millas Minister of the Economy and a member of the Chilean proposed a Bill that return 123 of the factories seized by the workers in the previous October. In Santiago workers from the cordones marched through the streets opposing Millas' proposals.
The general seclelaly Socialist Party, Carlos reflecting the mood within the party ranks denounced Bill às capitulation to the class enemy. At the same time he questioned the dialogue between Popular Unity and the Christian Democrats saying that it put a brake on the forward march of the revolutionary process.
Altamirano argued revolutionary process had an uninterrupted character without stages or consolidations and that the workers must strive for total power. That was the way he said to complete the remainder of the democratic tasks and the new socialist ones.
what constitutionally The CODE which The Socialist tionally firms, per cenl.
shops sified tion. In June they offensive. The association secondary lar unions as well as the was Communist would of the Altamirano proposed that the , separate bourgeois crisis, with inflation soaring and shortages getting worse, the country went to the polls. The bourgeoisie claimed Jaucis that the elections were in the nature of a plebiscite on the government. They noped to gel a parlamentary majorils of two-thirds so that they could have impeached Allende. was an electoral coalition of the capitalist parties got 54.7 per cent, the Popular Unity got did excepwell polling 18.4 per cent whilst the Communist Party got 15.9 After this quite allazıng election result the bourgeoisie intentheir extra-parliamentary al' were again on the lorry drivers public transport stopped work. The of liberal proressiolis. university students along with some right-wing white colEl Teniente Police copper miners all went on national The courage of Chilean workers contrasts with the timidity of their leaders was that the control of the Christian Democrats launched their strike for economic demands to make it appear that the derending hunt workers' interests. Their aim was to integrate them and other workers in a bloc. The response of the government played right into the hands of the capitalists. their own control. The cordones were strengthened and the first cordones were published. bryonic militias were reinforced.
At a meeting ten cordones from Santiago set up an Area Coordination Committee which reaffirmed leading role of the working class in the struggle for the socialist revolution. Meanwhile Allende and his government looked towards the military to and re-opened talks with the Christian Democrats who demanded the inclusion of the military government. Socialist then theatened to withdraw from the government if an unacceptable compromise was made with the Christian Democracy.
But the Socialist Party capitulated on y August when three heads of the armed forces plus the Chief of the were made governell nilisters. Popular Unity new cabinet the Cabinet of National Security. This capturanon government and the support given to it by the Socialist Party and the Communist Party demobilised the masses.
The armed forces then went on the „TOr claiming they combatting extremist violence'. Across the country factories and which had headed the CHECTUSC movement calling for people's power targets for repression.
Militants were brutally treated and humiliated. Some were killed, others injured. The Socialist Party and the Communist Party had paved the way for reaction and the eventual coup. deruse. ine armed forces were using the Law of Arms Control introduced by the Christian Democrats and approved by parliament Popular Unity had not opposed the Act and had told its MPs to abstain when the vote was taken.
The arms searches had a purpose. That was to disarm al the Popular Unity was creating the conditions both psychological and political for the coup prepared. By drivers, profession went on a 'new strike of bourgeolsie em- Allende's resignation. Tortured the In late August a group of sailors told the general Socialist Party, MAPU and the MIR that their officers were preparing a coup al Ine alcanuano navy rison. savagely tortured by their officers. The Carlos Altamirano a leader on the left of the Socialist Party admitted being in contact with When the sailors were charged with sedition the Popular Unity parties including ment of solidarity committed Popuar Unity to nothing and the sailors were abandoned to their fate. The extreme right stepped up its campaign of sabotage and killings.
1972.
the people and vanguard.
which was being mid-August the lorry , shopkeepers and the liberal They demanded garThe sailors were arrested and these sailors.
Altamirano issued a statewith them. munist and Socialist leaders did not follow his example. A lot of them hid foreign embassies neither organising any resistance or firing a single shot.
skins. What resistance there was was Runbehaviour flowed logically from their politics. Right from the start Allende and the Communist Party attempted to make a deal with the 'progressive' sector of the bourgeoisie despite al pollies nothing but antagonism to any 'antioligarchic, anti-imperialist course' let alone collaborating in laying the basis for a socialist society The right wing of Popular Unity persisted with this course at the cost of paralysing the very forces that had put them in office, and whose actions had kept there for the previous three along with all those workers who supported Allende, thought that was the best way to defend and advance their left wing of the Socialist Party consistently capitulated to the right wing • of Popular Unity and thereby blocked and cut off the evolution of a revolutionary current inside the Socialist could have evolved towards revolu-
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AS THE 10th anniversary of the Chilean coup ap- proaches, a Chilean marxist takes up, in the second of articles,
happened between the elec- tions of Salvador Allende in • 1970 and his overthrow by the military in September 1973.