Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T07:25:36.076Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hypermobilization in Chile, 1970-1973

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

Henry A. Landsberger  and
Tim McDaniel
Henry A. Landsberger
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Tim McDaniel
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Get access

Extract

The accelerating mobilization of Chile's working class from 1965 onward appears to support Huntington's cautious evaluation of the effects of that process rather than Deutsch's more optimistic one. Instead of resulting in more massive support for Dr. Allende's minority-based UP government (which, needing support, stimulated even further a process that had been noticeable from at least 1965), increased mobilization resulted in (a) heightened but unattainable economic demands; (b) increased support for the extreme left (a severe threat to the regime's policies and even existence, as Allende recognized); (c) increased support for the opposition Christian Democrats; (d) a general de-authorization of all institutions, including those tailored specifically to working-class needs. In some situations, mobilization may sweep away the remnants of an old regime. But where that is not possible or not the real issue, it may overwhelm rather than aid an already weak government, even if it is change-oriented.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , July 1976 , pp. 502 - 541
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Reputedly, this ominous parallel was recognized by Chilean intellectuals of the left months before the coup. Largo Caballero's role in pulling the Spanish Socialists away from a moderate stand toward left extremism, thereby helping to polarize the political situation, was played, in Chile, by Carlos Altamirano, General Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS). The unnecessary alienation of small landholding peasants in Spain (see Malefakis, Edward, Agrarian Reform and Peasant Revolution in Spain [New Haven: Yale University Press 1970]) had a direct parallel in Chile. It also had a broader one in the sense that in Chile the entire bourgeoisie was alienated at a time when, according to Marxist analysis, the working class did not yet have enough power by itself to implement Dr. Allende's program. For a frank appraisal of the errors of “petit bourgeoisie ultra leftism,” see the analysis by Rene Castillo (the nom de plume of a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Chile), “Chile: Ensenanzas y Perspectivas de la Revolución” (Prague: Editorial Internacional Paz y Socialismo 1974)Google Scholar.

2 Unidad Popular could be translated, awkwardly, as “Popular Unity.” The more graceful “Popular Front” cannot be used because in 1938, a coalition with that exact name came to power. In both 1970 and 1938 the Socialist and Communist Parties were key elements in these coalitions. But in 1938 they were overshadowed by the Radical Party, whereas in 1970 the much-diminished Radical Party was but one of several minor members of the coalition. The doctrinal position of the Socialist Party in 1970, although it covered a wide range, was on the whole distinctly to the left of the Communist Party (PC). Dr. Allende, a Socialist, was for the most part right-of-center of his party, i.e., relatively close to the Communists; he was accepted as a presidential candidate with considerable reluctance by his own party, and with much greater alacrity by the PC.

3 This phrase and others similar to it were frequently used by high officials of the government. An example may be found in Martner, Gonzalo, ed., El pensamiento del gobierno de Allende (Santiago: Editorial Universitario 1971), 119Google Scholar.

4 Frei, , Mensaje del Presidente, 05 21, 1961, Presidencia de la Republica, Santiago, Chile; translations here and elsewhere in this article are the authors'Google Scholar.

5 Deutsch, , “Social Mobilization and Political Development,” American Political Science Review, Vol. 55 (09 1961), 493–511; quote from p. 494CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 Huntington, , Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven: Yale University Press 1968)Google Scholar.

7 Castro, , “Plan for the Advancement of Latin America” in Sigmund, Paul E., ed., The Ideologies of the Developing Nations (New York: Praeger 1963), 262–66; quote from p. 263Google Scholar.

8 This has been done admirably by Angell, Alan in his Politics and the Labour Movement in Chile (London: Oxford University Press 1972)Google Scholar.

9 Ibid., 45-47.

10 Typically, Chilean parties with a labor constituency had a trade-union department that served as a two-way contact point between the party and the union officials “out there” who were party members.

11 This is a summary statement by James W. Prothro and Patricio Chaparro of the position of Maurice Zeitlin and James Petras, who have written extensively on the Chilean working class. See Prothro, and Chaparro, , “Public Opinion and the Movement of Chilean Governments to the Left, 1952-1972,” Journal of Politics, XXXVI (02 1974), 2–43CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 Rodriguez, José Luis and Brian Smith, S.J., “Political Attitudes and Behavior of the Chilean Working Class, 1958-1968” mimeo (Dept. of Sociology, Yale University 1973). P. 6Google Scholar.

13 Landsberger, Henry A., Barrera, Manuel and Toro, Abel, “The Chilean Labor Union Leader,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, XVII (04 1964), 399–420CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 Landsberger, , “Do Ideological Differences Have Personal Correlates?” Economic Development and Cultural Change, XVI (01 1968), 219–42Google Scholar.

15 Goldrich, Daniel, Pratt, Raymond B. and Schuller, C. R., “The Political Integration of Lower-Class Urban Settlements in Chile and Peru,” in Horowitz, Irving L., ed., Masses in Latin America (New York: Oxford University Press 1970), 175–214Google Scholar.

16 Petras, James, Politics and Social Forces in Chilean Development (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press 1970), 272ffGoogle Scholar.

17 Calculations by the authors based on figures from the official Direccion del Registro Electoral.

18 Ercilla, 09 13, 1972, p. 10Google Scholar.

19 It was widely accepted, by members of the UP as well as by its enemies, that detailed plans were far less worked out in 1970 than they had been in 1964—partly because there was less expectation that the election would be won, partly because the parties could agree neither on general principles nor, therefore, on specific plans.

20 Allende, Salvador, Su pensamiento politico (Santiago: Editorial Nacional Quimantu 1972), 98Google Scholar.

21 The ambiguity was a source of conflict within the UP: the PC wanted the unions to be agents of the workers as a participant; a large faction of the PS wanted to build up participation mechanisms separate from and independent of the established trade unions.

22 El Mercurio, 05 13, 1973, p. 13Google Scholar.

23 Year-by-year statistics show a drop to 1·99 million man-days in 1967, but a surge to 3·65 million man-days in 1968 before another drop to ·97 million man-days in 1969.

24 La Natión, 05 17, 1971, p. 15Google Scholar.

25 See Banks, J. A., Marxist Sociology in Action (London: Faber and Faber 1970), chap. 4, pp. 47–55. Footnotes lead to the relevant writings of Marx and Lenin, and to secondary analysts such as Lozovsky and HammondGoogle Scholar.

26 Puro Chile, 12 5, 1971, supplement, p. 20Google Scholar.

27 El Mercurio, 04 1, 1971, p. 11Google Scholar.

28 La Natión, 03 1, 1972, p. 6Google Scholar.

29 La Natión, 10 30, 1972, p. 16Google Scholar.

30 Ercilla, 05 30, 1973, No. 1976, p. 8Google Scholar.

31 Latin America, VII (04 27, 1973), 133Google Scholar.

32 Petras, James, “Chile: Nationalization, Socioeconomic Change, and Popular Participation,” in Petras, , ed., Latin America: From Dependence to Revolution (New York: Wiley 1973), 47Google Scholar.

33 The government's announcement, a month later, that workers in the socialized sector would no longer be paid in kind ran into strong and vocal opposition. Ercilla, 02 14, 1973, No. 1961, p. 16Google Scholar.

34 Ercilla, 06 14, 1972, No. 1926, p. 15Google Scholar.

35 Latin America, VII (01 26, 1973), 29Google Scholar.

36 Ercilla, 01 24, 1973, No. 1958, p. 8Google Scholar.

37 Ercilla, 06 26, 1972, No. 1933, p. 27Google Scholar.

38 Ampuero, Raul, “Politica y sindicatos: la huelga de El Teniente,” Panorama Eco-notnico, No. 279 (08 1973), 2–4Google Scholar.

39 Vuskovic, Pedro, “The Economic Policy of the Popular Unity Government,” in Zammit, J. Ann, ed., The Chilean Road to Socialism (Austin: University of Texas Press 1973), 50Google Scholar.

40 Allende, (fn. 20), 398Google Scholar.

41 The Economist, 02 24, 1973, pp. 14–15Google Scholar.

42 Central Unica de Trabajadores (CUT), Depto. de Educatión y Cultural Normas Básicas de Participation de los Trabajadores en la Direction de las Empresas de las Areas Social y Mixta (Santiago: Central tJnica de Trabajadores 1972)Google Scholar.

43 Several studies have been completed or are in the process of being written about the participation experience. Peter Winn (Princeton); José Luis Rodriguez (Yale); James Wilson (Cornell); and Andy Zimbalist (Harvard) are among those working on manuscripts.

44 Petras (fn. 30), pp. 9-60, passim.

45 Ercilla, 05 24, 1972, No. 1973, p. 13Google Scholar.

46 Zimbalist, Andy and Stallings, Barbara, “Showdown in Chile,” Monthly Review, xxv (10 1973)Google Scholar.

47 El Siglo, Supplement, 04 9, 1972, pp. 8–9Google Scholar.

48 El Siglo, 04 22, 1973, p. 7Google Scholar.

49 Allende (fn. 20), p. 361.

50 Barrera, Manuel, Complementary material to: “El cambio social en una empresa del APS,” mimeo (Institute of Economics, University of Chile, Santiago 1973), 7Google Scholar.

51 We put this and similar phrases in quotation marks to indicate that they were widely used at the time to describe the process. N o value judgment on our part is to be read into them.

52 Ercilla, 06 6–12, 1973, No. 1977Google Scholar.

53 Dismissal of PD C trade union leaders, activists, and sympathizers was repeatedly charged—e.g., at the Sumar textile plant in September 1971, and after a strike of bank employees (as part of the “general strike of bosses”) in October 1972. Th e firing of PDC civil servants from the agrarian reform agency was also an issue. Wh o exactly was to blame is not possible to determine: it was a sign of increasing polarization.

54 El Siglo, 04 I, 1971, p. 9Google Scholar.

55 Chile Hoy, 08 4–10, 1972, pp. 16-17Google Scholar.

56 Ercilla, 12 22, 1971, No. 1901, p. 11Google Scholar.

57 Gall, Norman, “Copper is the Wages of Chile,” American Universities Field Staff, West Coast, South America Series, XIX, No. 3 (08 1972), 1-12, pp. 7–10Google Scholar.

58 Ercilla, 08 2, 1972, No. 1933, p. 21Google Scholar.

59 This handicap bedeviled the entire UP regime, especially at the level of cabinet, ministerial, and subministerial appointments. It was known as the cuoteo (quota system).

60 The basic approach to what participation should be, and to the larger issue of how industries were to be administered, was the subject of heated debate between various parties and different ideological groups. (Their perspectives are well summarized by Rodriguez). This debate did not help the system to function at the grassroots level, where the various groups were contending. Thus, the PDC wanted the state to play a small role in running industry, and placed emphasis on worker ownership as well as joint control with management (and private owners). The left feared that worker ownership would lead to converting workers into bourgeois conservatives (as would small ownership in the countryside). There was, moreover, a distinction between the more extreme left, which also did not want the state to have too much of a role (fearing incipient bureaucratization and a failure to mobilize working-class consciousness fully), and the more orthodox PC, which felt that for reasons of rational economic planning, plant autonomy would have to be severely limited.

61 El Siglo, 02 25, 1971, p. 5Google Scholar.

62 Punto Final, 11 9, 1971, p. 2Google Scholar.

63 Hugo Blanco and others, in Evans, Les, ed., Disaster in Chile (New York: Pathfinders Press 1974), 250Google Scholar.

64 Latin America, VII (04 13, 1973), 116Google Scholar.

65 Ibid.

66 Tribuna, 12 8, 1971, p. 6Google Scholar.

67 See, for example, El Rebelde, 02 8, 1972, p. 4Google Scholar.

68 Tercera de la Hora, 12 12, 1971, p. 13Google Scholar.

69 Chile Hoy, No. 1, 06 16-22, 1972, p. 8Google Scholar.

70 El Siglo, 12 13, 1971, p. 3Google Scholar.

71 La Prensa, 12 12, 1971, p. 5Google Scholar.

72 Ercilla, 05 16, 1973, No. 1973, p. 8Google Scholar.

73 Ercilla, 12 6, 1972, No. 1951, p. 13Google Scholar.

74 Ercilla, 03 29, 1973, No. 1967, p. 24Google Scholar.

75 Ercilla, 03 22, 1972, No. 1923, p. 13Google Scholar.

70 Ercilla, 08 23, 1972, No. 1936, p. 8Google Scholar.

77 El Siglo, 06 15, 1973, p. 3Google Scholar.