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The Ghost of Salvador Allende
One of the first elected socialist leaders in Latin America, he was overthrown by the American-backed General Augusto Pinochet who would establish an authoritarian dictatorship. Even though he only ruled for three years, his legacy serves as an important lesson and inspiration to left-wing movements to this day.
By Hector Miranda Plaza, September 11, 2021
Image Credit: Boris Burgueño Rivas
11 of September, 1973 - It is 9 AM in Santiago, and what should have been a quiet morning is being interrupted by the first bloody disruption to Chilean democracy in its history.
Shots rang in the surrounding streets, and artillery smoke pierced the air. The sound of fighter jets flying sorties above the presidential palace filled the building with a roar every few minutes. Outside, troops loyal to the Chilean government fiercely resisted the traitor general Augusto Pinochet’s forces to buy the President what precious time they could afford.
In his office, Salvador Allende was addressing the nation one last time through the only radio tower not shut down by the putschists. “My words are not filled with bitterness, but rather with disappointment”, he said between the cracking of bullets, “and being in the midst of these events, I have but one thing that is fitting to say to the workers: I will not resign!”.
Moments later, as he concluded his speech, Pinochet loyalists entered the room and shot him multiple times while still broadcasting. The first democratically elected socialist leader of Latin America laid dead on the floor, and with him went the hope for a new Chile.
During the Chilean presidential election of 1970, Allende squeaked the plurality of the vote in a three way race, with around 37% of all votes cast. A democratic socialist during the Cold War, he faced not just domestic opposition, but that of the US.
El Mercurio, a CIA-influenced Chilean newspaper, often published articles with mentions of Allende alongside pejorative mentions of “Soviet and Communist Threats”. The news clipping above says: Infiltration of the Armed Forces - The Communist Party’s Secret Mission. El Mercurio
During the campaign season, the CIA funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions accounting for inflation, into slanderous anti-Allende propaganda and American companies willing to donate to opposition candidates. In the media, they helped create the narrative that an Allende victory would spiral Chile into a violent communist dictatorship, helping in the creation of many articles which would be published throughout Chile’s press. Despite this opposition, he still won the popular vote.
The Chilean constitution, however, required a winner to have an absolute majority of the votes. Since no candidate had this majority, the legislature had to choose between them. It came down to two candidates: Allende and the center-right Jorge Alessandri, who had won around 35% of the vote.
During this time, the CIA intensified their campaign, with more resources being poured into anti-leftist media. Despite these efforts, Allende secured a victory in the congressional vote, becoming the 28th president of Chile after signing an oath to not undermine the constitution.
Already, however, nefarious actors were plotting his downfall. The United States government sought to prevent left-wing ideology from spreading to the Americas, by hook or by crook. As then President Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger put it, "It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup."
To this end, the US government covertly authorized the use of millions of more dollars to depose him. Opponents of Allende, stroked by American support, called on a coup to depose him. Abroad, the Chilean ambassador in Washington, D.C. was directed to influence the Chilean armed forces to this end. Only one man in the military stood to prevent this, however: General Rene Schneider, Commander in Chief of the Chilean Army.
A believer in “constitutionalism”, he pioneered the Shneider doctrine, which set the military as an exclusively apolitical service. Given Allende’s status as a Marxist, many of the more reactionary elements in the armed forces would have attempted a coup if it were not for Schneider.
Seeing this challenge, General Roberto Viaux led a group of armed men who kidnapped and later shot him to death with the support of the CIA; following the assassination, they paid Viaux and his men $35,000 in “humanitarian aid”. With the greatest defense protecting Chilean democracy having been removed, a coup being attempted was not a matter of if, but when.
With the gates of reaction open, the CIA worked to create as much social unrest as possible in the hopes of prompting regime change. When Allende took power, American corporations controlled a large share of the country’s infrastructure and natural resources, with telephone companies, copper mines, and other key sectors being captive to foreign capital. Seeing their status threatened by a socialist presidency, they worked in conjunction with American intelligence to cause chaos.
Massive strikes were funded with American and corporate money, significantly denting the Chilean economy. The largest of these was the truck driver’s strike, which started in 1972 after the CIA paid truck company owners $2 million and led to most economic activity grinding to a halt. Lastly, high ranking officers were contacted by the CIA to help trigger a coup when the conditions were best. This state of affairs dragged on until 1973, when General Augusto Pinochet and a cadre of his officers overthrew the government this day 48 years ago.
Despite the massive opposition from the capital class, domestic and foreign, the Allende Presidency still saw massive victories; the fact that he was even able to secure a victory with such odds stacked against him was a feat on its own. Under his term, the state began what Allende dubbed the “Chilean Path to Socialism”, in which key industries would be brought into public and cooperative control and which would begin the process of a greater class correction throughout the country.
Allende drew his largest base of supporters from a diverse coalition of workers, whose militant unions oftentimes took independent action when the government was constrained by opposition. Library of Congress
During his first year of presidency, before the consequences of the American campaign to cripple the Chilean economy came to be in earnest, purchasing power rose by 28%, and real wages rose by 22%. All estates greater than 200 acres were expropriated and peasant councils were created to mobilize countryside efforts. As a result, these large farming haciendas, were abolished in less than two years. Illiteracy campaigns were expanded to the countryside and intensified in the cities, and enrollment in school increased at all levels.
Healthcare was nationalized and made cheaply accessible to all, and food distribution schemes such as the National Supplementary Food Program and National Milk Plan helped child malnourishment drop by 17%. He also helped pioneer a decentralized economic planning model through the creation of Project Cybersyn, a computer network which was capable of undertaking many of the economic calculations necessary for distribution of goods.
However, he was oftentimes constrained by his own government’s opposition and a decline in copper prices, Chile’s largest export. This resulted in material conditions worsening during the Allende Presidency’s later years and his government’s inability to deal with crises precipitated by foreign intervention.
Today, even though he was overthrown by the CIA, it seems that their efforts to halt the progress of socialism have been in vain. Pinochet’s dictatorship ended in 1990 following a plebiscite, and the following decades would mark a resurgence of the Chilean left wing.
Currently, the front runner for the 2021 presidential elections is the socialist Gabriel Boric. If trends continue, he is slated to win the election. And, with the Cold War over and by extension less US pressure, there is a good chance that Boric’s policies will go much further than Allende’s ever could.
In his last speech, Salvador Allende said among his last words: “I have faith in Chile and its destiny. … Know this, that much sooner than later, the great avenues through which free men walk shall be open once again, to build a better world”. It has been 48 years since he was brutally murdered by the forces of reaction, but his words still stand.
The ghost of Salvador Allende, through his words and his works, still lives as an inspiration, and as hope for the great people that shall rise to build a better tomorrow.