Chile: Detouring the Road to Socialism, 1970-1973

As with most of my bibliographies, this list has two constraints: books, in English. I have included titles that deal with periods both before and after the coup, as well as works of political economy and specialized topics (e.g., human rights, transitional justice) related in one way or another to the effects and consequences of the military coup that replaced Salvador Allende's democratic government with authoritarian rule. Allende, a physician and Marxist, was elected president of Chile on the strength of the Unidad Popular (an alliance of much of the

The article demonstrates that the project of the Chilean left, crystallized in the process that led the government to the Popular Unity in 1970, was the struggle for the radical equality. Such emphasis is offered realize what the theory mentioned such as humanism and the emancipation of the society. A review of the theoretical sources and of the press of the socialist and communist parties, between 1960-1973, give account of the existence of an understanding of equality, to the interior of the Chilean left as a concept that allowed them to criticize the capitalism at that time and lift radical alternatives for human emancipation, in a particular society as the Chilean.

Leftist Governments in Latin America

Latin American Research Review, 2022

Chilean politics and society have often puzzled scholars of Latin America. Why has Chile historically developed a continental-style multiparty system? Why was the first democratically elected socialist president Chilean (Salvador Allende in 1970)? Why did Chile adopt neoliberalism so early? Why did Chile experience a massive social uprising in late 2019, despite leading Latin American rankings of human development? How could thirty-fiveyear-old Gabriel Boric, who was leading student protests a decade ago, win the presidency of Chile in late 2021?

1991

Global Dialogue ISA, 2019

Hahr-hispanic American Historical Review, 1989

2011

Chilean democracy has grown beyond what General Augusto Pinochet had in mind when the 1980 Constitution was drafted. Democracy today is more consolidated and inclusive than in the past. Yet, the 1973 coup and the Pinochet dictatorship remain defining moments since democracy is built on the foundations set in place by the 1980 Constitution. Although amended several times, the Constitution reminds us that Pinochet is the father of today's Chile, and the Concertación coalition has been a deserving stepfather, helping heal deep social and political wounds and presiding over a successful period of economic growth, social inclusion, and democratic progress. 1 The election of Salvador Allende (1970), who promised a-Chilean road to socialism,‖ reflected the fact that the old democratic system was not functioning well. From 1960-1970, Chile's economic growth averaged 4.1 percent (1.7 percent per capita). Inflation averaged 27 percent in the 1960s. Chile was a profoundly unequal society in 1967: the poorest 20 percent received 3.7 percent of national income whereas the richest 20 percent received 56.5 percent (Navia 2010). The dictatorship dramatically transformed the country after 1973, and the economic model put in place remains the basis of economic policies. The constitutional order designed to keep the military in power also provided space for democracy. After an economic crisis in 1982 forced the government to accommodate the opposition, and protests threatened the regime, political 1 The Concertación has been one of the longest-lasting and most successful coalitions in Latin American history. The success of the Concertación, which governed Chile since its return to democracy in 1990, was due to its ability to devise a formula for governing based on consensus among the disparate collection of center-left political parties that opposed the military government of Augusto Pinochet. Read more:

The Pinochet dictatorship is generally considered the ‘laboratory’ of neoliberal policy experimentation and remains to date one of its most orthodox and iconic exemplars. The conventional portrayal of the military regime, which informs the mainstream political and intellectual debate between 'radical' and 'pragmatic' neoliberals, is of a counterrevolutionary neoliberal rollback of the decades of creeping statism that had culminated in the presidency of Salvador Allende. Building upon the work of more critical and class-based analyses, this paper will contend that the Pinochet dictatorship is best understood not as a neoliberal counterrevolution but rather as a state-led capitalist revolution that radically reconstructed state and society and institutionalized a contradictory and yet profound capitalist hegemony.

Latin American Politics and Society, 2003

1997

Radical Americas

This article examines the questioning indicated by some historians at the beginning of the twenty-first century regarding that they would be in debt to the study of the Allende government and the Popular Unity (UP) in Chile (1970–3). Although historians have investigated the diverse issues and problems of that period in varying depth, there are topics that have not been fully addressed: for example, the relationship between socialists, communists and President Allende, and the participation of left-wing women, native people and youth in the referred historical process. However, this work addresses the contributions on the subject made mainly by Chilean authors in books and articles on UP, namely: general studies on the period, works concerning Allende and some of his close collaborators, the economic changes that affected national and international private interests, some of the forces of the Left and Right (parties and movements), popular social sectors, the state coup, the militar...

It is now over a quarter of a century since the fall of the 17-year Pinochet dictatorship and the return of democracy in Chile. Yet the impact of this period remains profoundly felt in contemporary Chilean life. This is not only a result of the now well-known heinous crimes committed by the dictatorship: the more than 3000 Chileans murdered, the widespread use of brutal torture, the quarter of a million arbitrary arrests and the massive campaign of internal and external exile of political opponents. It is also a result of the ongoing damage inflicted by a series of radical economic, political and constitutional measures imposed during the dictatorship, many of which have proven almost impossible to unravel. These measures implemented in the late 1970s and early 1980s included the mass privatisation of public assets, the slashing of all state expenditure (aside from that of the military), outlawing of organised labour and the sudden removal of price controls and trade restrictions. As a consequence, Chile today has the highest level of income inequity and the lowest public investment in education in the OECD, as well as being one of the most privatised economies in the world. Significantly, these outcomes are a testament to the extreme free-market theories of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics, who—under the benign tutelage of dictatorship—were able to undertake their first 'real life' experimentation without fear of social consequences. And now in Chile, we are able to clearly observe the profound social and economic implications of four decades of neo-liberalist economic policy. So how did this disastrous social experiment emerge and what implications has it had for a generation of Chileans? As is the case with so much of the recent history of Latin America, what happened in Chile has deep roots in the obsessive desire of the United States to maintain its political and economic hegemony in the region. We know from declassified documents from the Nixon-era White House that the real prospect of the election of socialist Salvador Allende in the 1970 Chilean Presidential election was something the US refused to accept. Indeed, the now infamous Henry Kissinger (who was Nixon's Secretary of State at the time) argued to that 'the election of Allende as president of Chile poses for us one of the most serious challenges ever faced in this hemisphere'. The threat (and inspiration) of a democratic socialist who may threaten the interests of US capital was too much for the White House to bear. This was the catalyst for the commencement of a CIA-led covert campaign in Chile, which was to involve the funding of Allende's opponents and increased contact with the Chilean military forces. However, despite their best efforts—including an attempt to stop Allende's inauguration through the assassination of the Chilean Chief of the Armed Forces days before—the covert campaign failed and Allende became president in November 1970. Refusing to accept the democratic outcome and enraged by Allende's popular early moves to nationalise foreign capital and moves toward agrarian reform, the Nixon administration further stepped up its covert operations to bring the Allende government down. This involved 'making the economy scream' through an economic blockade and such things as funding truck drivers to strike and encouraging the stockpiling of goods to create shortages. More insidiously, the