The Bankruptcy of the Chilean Road

In large part the success of the fascist coup in Chile can be laid at the feet of the Communist Party of Chile which played the key role within the UP coalition in arguing against distrust of the military, against arming the workers, against working class initiatives (such as taking over factories and farms as well as organising community associations which distributed food and defended working class areas from rightist attacks) and against thorough destruction of the bourgeois state in Chile and its replacement by the dictatorship of the proletariat. Instead they preached faith in "Chilean democracy" and the "Chilean road to socialism". While the fascists organised openly the working class was increasingly disarmed and demoralised by the UP Government. Without the leadership of a genuine marxist party the Chilean working class was led up to the gallows by social democracy.

The CP's attitude to the army, which was shared by Allende, was suicidal. While praising the army for its "loyalty" to democracy it prohibited left organisation within the army. This had two effects. Firstly, the right was by default given a free hand to organise for the coup within the army and to purge those opposed to a coup. Secondly, workers were prohibited from developing militias and self-defence forces.

After an attempted coup on June 29, 1973 the Secretary-General of the Chilean Communist Party, Luis Corvalan declared in favour of the military being the only armed force in the country: "Because the workers took some immediate security measures (in response to appeals they had occupied factories and taken to the streets — to oppose the attempted coup unarmed - JM) against the recent attempted coup, and maintained those precautionary measures, some reactionaries have begun to raise a storm, in the belief that they have found a new issue to drive a wedge between the people and the armed forces. They are claiming that we have a policy of replacing the professional army. No sir! We continue and will continue to support keeping our armed institutions strictly professional. "

In the pre-coup period Allende personally cozied up to the military in the hope of avoiding civil war. At the time the CP newspaper carried headlines piously declaiming "No to civil war". In response to political crises he invited the military onto his cabinet — giving the plotters increased confidence as well as details of his anticoup plans. When 100 sailors and workers were arrested in Valparaiso one month before the coup on charges of "dereliction of military duty" because they had noticed coup preparations and registered their opposition Allende supported the military at first accusing them of mutiny. Later when even his own party opposed the arrests Allende was silent. Earlier he had supported a clamp down on organisation within the armed forces by a left group (the MIR) even though it involved the arrest of his own nephew. Just before the coup when torture of anti-coup members of the armed forces was widespread and discussion of the coup was quite open within the navy, Allende refused to act for fear of alienating the armed forces. The final irony is that when rightist pressure forced out a pro-Allende Chief of Staff, General Prats, Allende accepted his resignation and consented to the appointment of Pinochet, the leader of the coup, as his replacement!

The CP's disastrous policies were the result of following Soviet theories of peaceful transition to socialism. Their effect was that every time fascism advanced the working class retreated. The power and militancy of the working class had been shown in October 1972 when the bosses went on strike. Fine! said the workers who calmly took over the running of the economy. But the CP and Allende feared to use the power of the working class for fear of prejudicing the chances of the "peaceful road". Today that power has been crushed.

The lesson of Chile is important for all people dedicated to fascism's defeat. It shows that fascism cannot be compromised, with, it cannot be bought off by concessions and promises of being "peaceful" and "legal" it cannot be toyed with in any way at all. It can only be defeated by resolute struggle from the very beginning.

James Morgan