Page images
PDF
EPUB

Third International and changed its name." The PSO was dominated by the Soviet oriented, pro-Stalinist South American Secretariat but in 1931 a split resulted in the formation of a Trotskyite faction called the Communist Party, Chilean Section. The official Communist Party (PSO) remained loyal to the Moscow line.58 Under the banner of Socialist Revolutionary Action, the Trotskyite wing of the Party backed the candidacy of Colonel Marmaduque Grove in the election campaign of late 1932. The official Communists nominated their own candidate, charging that Grove defended imperialism because he would not advocate the expropriation of all foreign-owned enterprises without indemnification. The Grove forces were the precursors of the Socialist Party which was formed in early 1933. The Trotskyite wing, known as the Left Communist Party after 1933, merged with the Socialist Party in 1937.

50

The Communists were an important part of the Popular Front coalition of most of the leftist parties which elected moderate Radical Party candidate Pedro Aguirre Cerda in 1938. The Communists, however, chose not to participate in Aguirre's government."

The Socialist Party withdrew from the Popular Front when the organization refused to expel the Communists for their failure to back the allies in the early months of World War II. The Socialists participated in the Aguirre government while the Communists were outlawed by a bill pushed through Congress by the opposition Liberal Party. The Communists however, running under the name of the Proletarian Party, received more votes than ever before in the byelections of March 1941 and surpassed the Socialist Party representation in Congress. The Communists gained strength during this period as internal dissension wracked the Socialists over the question of participation in the faltering Aguirre government.

61

A major split in Socialist Party ranks occurred in 1944 when Marmaduque Grove formed the Authentic Socialist Party (PSA); the majority of the party, however, remained under Secretary General Salvador Allende who was also Secretary General of the major labor organization, the Chilean Labor Federation (CTC). Allende refused to allow a merger of the Communist and Socialist parties which was advocated by Grove, suspected by some of being sympathetic to the Communists if not a member himself." This dispute carried over to the ranks of labor because of Allende's position. Grove's party, the PSA, subsequently disappeared. After the war, the CTC split into Socialist and Communist factions, with the Communists finally winning the upper hand.

The Communists backed the successful candidacy of Gonzalez Videla in 1946 and were rewarded with three cabinet posts, the first time that they entered a government in Chile and the first time in Latin America that they held ministerial posts with portfolio. As a result, the Communists were able to make great strides in the labor movement during this period.

01

63

Rivalry between the Communists and Socialists broke into the open as the Communists, almost as if they had official sanction from the government, began to use terrorist tactics against Socialists and Anarchists, resulting in bloody street clashes. Pressure was brought to bear on Gonzalez Videla and he ousted the Communists from his government. Many Communists were arrested, Communist strikes were broken with the use of Socialist workers, and finally the Communist Party was outlawed in 1948, through the passage of the controversial "Law for the Permanent Defense of Democracy."

[ocr errors]

The passage of this law and repression against the Communists was responsible for another split in Socialist Party ranks just when they were becoming united again. The anti-government faction of the Party broke away to form the Popular Socialist Party (PSP) under the leadership of Raul Ampuero and Senator Salvador Allende in 1948. As the 1952 elections approached, however, the PSP decided to support former dictator Ibanez. Allende, in opposition, switched to the rival Socialist Party of Chile, announced his candidacy, and actively sought support from his former bitter enemies, the Communists. The Communists and dissident factions of the moderate Radical and Democratic Parties

[blocks in formation]

joined with Allende's Socialist Party of Chile to form the People's Front." Sincere Communist support of Allende, however, is questioned because of the low Allende vote and the Communist's mild behavior toward Ibanez.

The Communists under the Ibanez administration worked to regain strength in the labor movement and headed off an attempt by both Socialist parties to unite all non-Communist unions in one confederation. The result was Communist participation in the formation of the Workers' Single Central Union (Central Unica de Trabajadores de Chile--CUTCh) in January 1953, along with the Socialist Party of Chile (Allende), the Popular Socialist Party, the Anarchists, the Social Catholics, and the Radical Party. After a great deal of maneuvering and horse-trading, an executive committee was selected which was composed of four Communists, four representatives of the PSP, four of the PSCh, three Anarchists, one Radical, four Social Catholics, and one independent. The Communists controlled only a few smaller unions but they controlled many of the regional organizations of the CUTCh."

Meanwhile, by 1956, the PSP had joined the opposition to Ibanez and the way to Socialist unity was paved. Prior to the 1957 elections, the parties of the left entered into another alliance, the Popular Action Front (FRAP), with the Communists included. In July 1957, the PSP and the PSCh held a Congress of Unity and the parties were again merged under the Socialist Party.

In the 1958 presidential election, Allende running for the second time came in a close second to conservative-backed Jorge Alessandri. Allende might very well have won the election if an independent candidate from a town near Santiago had not run. The Independent received over 41,000 votes from poor farmers and slum dwellers; if Allende had received these votes, he would have been 8,000 votes ahead of Alessandri."

The Communists supported Allende's unsuccessful bid for the presidency in the election of 1964 against Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei and their votes were instrumental in Allende's victory in the election of 1970.

The ideology of the Chilean Communist Party is based on the MarxistLeninist philosophy and closely parallels that of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Chilean Communists consider their struggle for power as part of the world revolution of the proletariat using the Russian Revolution as their inspiration. Their program is anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist and includes broad reforms designed to give more power to the people. This program includes full state participation in all economic activities through agrarian reform, nationalization of banks and insurance companies, and strict control of foreign trade. Electoral reforms advocated by the Communist Party include the extension of suffrage to members of the armed forces and police."

The Communists advocate the creation of a unicameral legislature which would have the power to elect the President of the nation, cabinet members, and judges of the courts. They also advocate the establishment of provincial assemblies which were actually provided for in the Constitution of 1925 but never implemented."

The Chilean Communists, never numerically powerful although tremendously important in the labor movement and consequently politics, have concentrated on forming alliances with parties of the Chilean left in their attempt to create a "people's democratic revolution" which would evolve into a full socialist revolution and result in the disappearance of capitalism." As a loyal member of the party directed from Moscow the Communist Party believes that the revolution can take place through peaceful means. The Communist Party's participation in and support of President Allende's Popular Unity is in line with this philosophy. Some elements of the Socialist Party, the party of President Allende and the dominant party in the Popular Unity government, represent a philosophy and ideology to the left of the Communists. Allende, and the Party in general, espouse the Marxist philosophy without the Communists' Moscow orientation. The Socialist Party is more nationalistic and less doctrinaire, leaving itself great flexibility to adapt to Chile's political climate. As noted above, the Socalist Party in its earlier years included Trotskyite elements and today the Party labels itself

7 Ibid., p. 205.

es Ibid., pp. 207-208.

Gil, Op. cit., p. 81.

70 Ibid., p. 278. Taken from Pizarro, Jorge Jiles. Partido Comunista de Chile. Santiago, Academia de Ciencias Politicas, 1957, p. 21.

7 Ibid., pp. 278-279.

72 Ibid., pp. 279–280.

Marxist which to its rank and file means revolutionary, anti-capitalist, and antiimperialist.

The Socialist Party program is similar to that of the Communist Party in that it seeks to radically change the existing economic and social order through agrarian reform, improvement of the educational system, and various electoral changes. In the economic field the Socialist Party advocates the nationalization of the foreign owned mineral companies and government control of credit institutions, foreign trade, insurance companies, and public utilities. The Socialists believe that they can only achieve this Socialist revolution through an alliance between the working class and the lower middle class.

President Allende represents the moderate wing of the party and thus far his policies represent that philosophy. Earlier in 1971 the Socialist Party elected as their Secretary General, Carlos Altamirano, the leader of the radical wing of the Party. Altamirano, who had the quiet backing of the President, is described as a revolutionary ideologist strongly influenced by Cuba. Altamirano was jailed under Chile's internal security law, for making statements favoring revolutionary action when Che Guevara began his revolutionary operations in Bolivia. It has been reported that Altamirano has maintained close relations with revolutionary action groups." Allende however, has pledged that his government will continue the road to change through political action instead of violence. Both the Communist Party and the Socialist Party, at times bitter protagonists for the sympathy and support of the Chilean masses, find themselves aligned in a government seeking peaceful revolution through politics.

Thus far the Communists have been direct participants in the Allende administration, holding the economic positions in the Cabinet: Labor, Public Works, and Finance. The Minister of Economy, Pedro Vuskovic, is a former Communist who calls himself an independent Marxist." The Socialists cabinet members hold the Ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, and Housing, in addition to the secretary-generalship of the Cabinet. The Minister of Agriculture, Jacques Chonchol, is a former Christian Democrat who left the party because of its moderation regarding agrarian reform. Until recently he belonged to the MAPU splinter group of the Christian Democrats but has recently formed a new political organization, the Movement of the Christian Left (MIC). The MIC also holds the Ministry of Health post by virtue of the resignation of the Social Democratic representative in the Cabinet. Independent Popular Action and the moderate Radical parties hold the remaining Cabinet posts.

76

By virtue of election results, the Communist Party was for a time the largest party in the Popular Unity coalition. Elections held in April, 1971, however, gave the Socialists 22 percent of the total vote, an increase of ten percent over the 1969 congressional elections. The Communists became the second party, receiving 17 percent of the vote, up one percent from 1969. The moderate Radical Party received eight percent, a decrease of five percent."

The Secretary General of the Chilean Communist Party, Luis Corvalan, gave interesting insight to the Communist Party's participation in the Chilean government in an article entitled, "Chile: The People Take Over," in the World Marxist Review. He stated that the Popular Unity coalition gained power through mass support and that it must carry on”... firmly convinced that a people united can crush its enemy, surmount the obstacles and build a new society. In achieving this, the Communist leader realizes that nationalization and changes in the political structure have the support of parliament and therefore there must be cooperation with the Christian Democrats, recognizing that their program coincided with many of the issues stated by the Popular Unity coalition. Corvalan, however, added,

"As we see it, even the present political framework offers some opportunities for progress. But the institutions will have to be repatterned to make them serviceable for the policy of revolutionary change in the interest of the majority. Should a conflict arise between the executive and legislature, the Constitution permits the former to dissolve Congress once during its term of office on the

73 Ibid., pp. 285-287.

74 New York Times, February 2, 1971.

7 Sanders, Thomas G. Allende's First Months. American Universitles Field Staff Reports, South America, April 1971. p. 3.

78 Washington Post, August 7, 1971.

77 Sanders, Op. cit., pp. 1-2.

Corvalan, Luis, Chile: The People Take Over, World Marxist Review December, 1970, p. 12.

basis of a referendum, and it is quite likely that this prerogative will have to be invoked at some point." "

82

80

Coalition with the Socialists does not mean agreement on all issues. For example, Volodia Teitelboim, one of the leading economic figures in the Communist Party, stresses the need to come to terms with western capital and the local bourgeosie, and he criticized the Miristas (members of the extremist Leftist Revolutionary Movement MIR), and radical socialists like Altamirano because they "... failed to self-criticize . . . after the election victory. The Economist, in an excellent article on April 10, 1971 pointed out that "the theory of 'popular spontaniety' has little appeal to the ageing [sic] provincial Stalinists who are convinced of the need for tight central control and have an almost compulsive urge to tidy things up." One area where the Communists disagree with the Allende administration is the government's soft-line against land seizures undertaken by the Mapuche Indians in southern Chile. The government does not advocate land seizures but Agriculture Minister Chonchol does not want to take measures against the land invaders. Interestingly, many political groups in Chile-some within the Popular Unity coalition, the MIR, and segments of the Christian Democrats-want to be associated with the cause of the peasants and therefore support the land seizures. The Communists, however, are against the practice. Allende's relations with the Communists were further strained when the President cabled a protest to Moscow against the Soviets' harsh treatment of Leningrad Jews accused of hijacking. The relationship between the Communists and Socialists within the Popular Unity coalition will be the key to the success of the Allende government. Both parties are practicing the politics of convenience with their political goals overcoming traditional animosities. Although they have been cooperating successfully for the past 14 years, their relationship is at best tenuous because of their traditional rivalry. While it lasts, however, the Popular Unity government continues to represent the great majority of Chile's working class.

83

Some of the government's policies have been drastic and all encompassing: this includes the nationalization of the copper industry and the move to take over the nation's private banks. Policies such as these, however, are the culmination of efforts by Chile's leftist parties of the past few years, and did not originate with the Allende administration. The copper nationalization, for example, was begun by Christian Democratic President Eduardo Frei. The Christian Democrats, in fact, ran a campaign in the 1970 presidential elections as radical as Allende's in a battle for the workers' votes. The Christian Democratic vote along with that of the Popular Unity coalition totaled nearly 65 percent of the total vote cast. The announced leftist policies of Allende's administration therefore have the support of the majority of Chile's voters. Some of Allende's controversial policies and measures are discussed below.

The government has been criticized by the Inter-American Press Association as a threat to the freedom of the press mainly, because of measures taken against the country's major independent newspaper, El Mercurio. The Santiago Daily owned by Augustin Edwards Eastman, took a very anti-Allende stance during the election campaign-an unusual measure for a newspaper of its stature. After the new government took office the federal tax office said that El Mercurio was in arrears in payment of income taxes due the previous year. Furthermore, government bank inspectors discovered "irregularities" with regard to loans the Edwards'-owned bank made. The general manager of the bank was imprisoned and the bank taken over. The new executive director of El Mercurio was convinced that the Communists within the government wanted to discredit and damage the paper and its owner. Consequently, El Mercurio was almost crippled by the loss of advertising and the paper now has only about half the 48 pages it has in 1970.85

84

The government bought out Zig Zag, Chile's largest publishing house, which was the parent of the news review Ercilla, after the company could not afford the demands for increased wages and benefits placed upon it by Communistled labor unions. The Company estimated that the cost of the benefits would

[blocks in formation]

increase expenses by 140 percent. When talks failed, a government appointed arbiter sided with the unions and the sale resulted from management's discussions with President Allende. The ability of Ercilla to maintain its independent line now using government-owned presses is in question.

86

The Economist reports that Allende's strategy to build up the pro-government press and to sponsor the formation of Popular Unity cells in unions of journalists and printing staff, which together with adverse economic factors would bring down some of the opposition papers and drive them off the market.

According to the same publication, government intervention has been most noticeable in broadcasting. Discussion programs have been ended and critical broadcasters claim they have been driven off the air. One of the three TV channels is state-owned and the other two are university stations which lean to MAPU and the Communist Party respectively. One observer states that a Communist Party spokesman admitted that there has been pressure on radio stations to hire party members.

88

The Chilean government's educational policy has been cause for concern because Radio Havana announced early in 1971 that 19 Cuban educators have been borrowed by Chile's Ministry of Education to help in “orienting" the nation's educational system. One of the constitutional guarantees that President Allende granted to the Christian Democrats prior to taking office was a provision for an educational system free from tampering by the new administration.90

In the face of strong opposition from the Christian Democrats, President Allende withdrew his proposal to establish neighborhood courts to deal with minor misdemeanors. He still advocates the establishment of an Assembly of the People which would be a unicameral Congress. This assembly, according to Allende's program, would elect members of the Supreme Tribunal."

Information on President Allende's program with regard to the police and the armed forces is incomplete but certain observers have expressed concern over some moves that the President reportedly has made. For example, the Sunday Star (Washington), November 22, 1970 reported that the government is setting up an internal security service which will basically serve as a counterespionage organization backed by thousands of local action committees within the Popular Unity coalition. These are block, neighborhood and housing project committees similar to the CDR created in Cuba by Castro. The same article says that there are ten Cuban DGI (General Directorate of Intelligence) officials in the 50-man Cuban delegation to Chile and that one of them is Ferdnandez-Ona who ran the Havana end of the Che Guevara's ill-fated revolution in Bolivia in 1967.** Various newspapers have reported that Fernandez-Ona is engaged to Allende's daughter.

An article in the Washington Star in March 1971 reported that Allende has created a new security agency, the Dispositivo de Seguridad de AllendeDSA-and has placed two members of the militant Marxist MIR (Leftist Revolutionary Movement) in charge, according to "well informed diplomatic sources." According to the article, the DSA reports directly to President Allende. Its leader is reported to be a former army special forces lieutenant who was retired from the army because of activities with the MIR. His assistant had been in Cuba for two years."

President Allende has been taking measures to gain the loyalty of the armed forces, all but ignored by previous administrations. The general pay increase of 35 percent which President Allende declared for all workers was made retroactive for the armed forces. The President has expanded the defense budget and has promised to buy new equipment for the armed forces. The President feels that the Chilean armed forces and police must involve themselves in the nation's development process using the Peruvian military as a model.

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

89 Gall, Norman. The Chileans have Elected a Revolution. New York Times Magazine, November 1, 1970, p. 106.

PO USIA, February 1971.

1 Goure, Leon and Jaime Suchlicki. The Allende Regime: Actions and Reactions. Problems of Communism (USIA), May-June, 1971, p. 53.

02 Sunday Star (Washington), November 22, 1970.

83 Washington Post, November 13, 1970.

94 Evening Star (Washington), March 1, 1971.

Economist, April 10, 1971.

« PreviousContinue »