James Petras

The Working-Class Vote in Chile: Christian Democracy versus Marxism

There is abundant comparative evidence that political parties differ substantially in the support they receive from different social classes, whether or not their appeals manifestly have class content. In particular, Socialist and Communist parties, for reasons inherent in their theoretical position and political programmes, have focused their organizational efforts and agitational appeals on urban industrial workers. And, wherever such parties have gained mass followings, their predominant core resides in the working classes. No other party, as Seymour Martin Lipset puts it, has been as thoroughly and completely the party of the working class as the Communist Party. Chile is the only country in Latin America (Cuba excepted) in which the organized working class in politically and socially significant and is led by Marxian socialists and communists. The socialist movement has had a political base in the working class for many decades, especially among miners, and in the fifties, based on growing working class support, it began to become a serious contender for political power. Between 1952 and 1956, the working-class movement became increasingly unified; on the trade union level, a central labour organization, Central Unica de Trabajadores (C.U.T.) was formed; and in the political arena a broad electoral bloc emerged uniting the major parties of the left, the socialists and communists, and several splinter parties, in a coalition called the Popular Action Front (Frente de Accion Popular-F.R.A.P.). While the organized strength of the labour movement declined under the quasi-caudillo Ibafiez regime, 1952-8, working-class militancy and combativeness rose. The number of strikes, the number of workers affected and of man-days lost were all far higher during this period than the preceding post-war years.2 From F.R.A.P.s formation in 1956 to the present, its electoral strength has risen rapidly. In the presidential elections

Chile's Poor in the Struggle for Democracy

In response to the drastic socioeconomic transformations executed by the military regime over the last decade, new forms of social resistance have appeared in Chile. As a result, the shantytown has eclipsed the factory and neighborhood organizations have displaced trade unions as the locus of political action. Along with similar social movements unfolding in South Africa and more recently in Haiti, the mass struggles of Chiles unemployed and urban poor raise important questions about the nature of class conflict and the forms of social organization most relevant for understanding social transformation. As social and political activity becomes increasingly rooted in the place of residence (thereby bridging the distance between family and political life), a new dramatis personae-shantytown women and youth-have taken center stage in the social struggles now taking place in Chile. Both as organizers and participants in the social mobilizations of the poor, shantytown women and youth are breathing a new life into social movements and, in the process, are profoundly affecting the direction of contemporary struggles in Chile. Through their ability to develop new types of organizations, actions, and mobilizations, the chronically unemployed and urban poorwomen, men and youth-have been at the forefront of the popular struggle challenging authoritarian rule, transforming themselves from victims to protagonists, from social outcasts to social actors. Given their specific weight in the overall social mobilizations against military rule, the actions of the urban poor and the unemployed are emerging as an important factor shaping the conditions under which the military dictatorship will come to an end.

Chile: New Urban Movements and the Transition to Democracy

Given that our problems are really the same, it is not hard for us to come together. Our particular ideological or religious tendencies pose no problem because when one really looks at it, we find each other everywhere. We find each other at the clinic, at school, at the PEM or POHJ. We experience the same misery; we are equally persecuted; we are equally repressed. Therefore, when you get to the bottom of it, the only power we have lies in our unity. We have no resources, nor do we have a trade union. But we do have our misery and the strength which it gives us. Its a paradox. - Rene Tapia, leader if the United Slum dwellers Committee, imprisoned under the state if seige. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Chile: The Authoritarian Transition to Electoral Politics

September and early October 1986 marked the culmination of a decisive shift in Chilean politics that has enormous significance for the future evolution of the country. In a rapid redefinition of positions, the Alianza Democratica (Democratic Alliance, or AD),1 a conglomeration of seven opposition parties grouping centrist, rightist, and social democrats, broke decisively with the left-wing coalition, the Movimento Democratica Popular (Democratic Popular Movement, or MDP),2 and quickly moved toward a restatement of its tactics and relationship with the Pinochet dictatorship and his 1980 Constitution. The new line adopted by the party elite of the AD transfers the axis of opposition struggle from the streets to downtown meeting rooms and replaces the actions of hundreds of thousands of shantytown dwellers, trade unionists, women, professionals, and students with the negotiating talent of a handful of party officials. The new tactics of the AD displaces social mobilization of the masses in favor of politicalelectoral maneuvers of Chiles political class. Thus, to meet the conditions for fruitful dialogue with the armed forces, the AD has ended up renouncing past alliances with the MDP, denouncing the self-defense activity of the popular movement, disarticulating mass protests, promoting peaceful petitioning, and accepting Pinochets 1980 Constitution and his time schedule for a plebiscite in 1989.3 What is central to the political shifts among the Chilean opposition are not merely tactical issues but basic questions about the nature and

Shantytown Protest in Pinochet's Chile.

Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgments Acronyms 1. Introduction 2. The Making of the Chilean Left 3. Repression and the Consolidation of Authoritarian Rule 4. The Roots of Resistance 5. The Protests in the Poblaciones 6. The Transition to Democracy Bibliography Index