A-Infos (en) FdCA: Statement on Chile (it)

[FdCA <internazionale@fdca.it>]

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29 years ago, following the coup in Chile, Italian anarchist
communists wrote the following which we now present in order to
remember the thousands of women and men who over the decades
have fought and tried to resist against the Chilean
dictatorship, paying for it with their lives and their freedom.
"On the 11th September 1973 the Allende government was
overthrown and a fascist dictatorship was installed!!!
The united left in Chile, Unidad Popular, was carrying out a
reformist project, a first experiment on the nation's road to
socialism; the historical importance of this experience is
immense as it allows us to make an analysis from which valuable
lessons can be learnt regarding revolutionary strategy.

For some time now, Chile has become an epicentre of imperialist
contradictions in Latin America, and over recent years the clash
between the two basic classes, the bourgoisie and the
proletariat, has become more and more radical.

Unidad Popular's project foresaw a change in the living
conditions of the workers through reformist, civilizing,
democratic action from within the framework of the bourgeois
institutions. To help them in this work they sought and obtained
an alliance with progressive bourgeois elements and with the
national bourgeoisie who approved of a process of economic and
political independence for Chile. It was with the support of
these elements that Unidad Popular were able to take power in
government. The electoral victory and the first nationalizations
set in motion a movement which was to depart from the path of
reformism - land and factory occupations created new power
relations in the class struggle which was to become more and
more marked.

The process could no longer restrain itself within the bounds of
reformism and would have had to continue until such times as the
bourgeois State would be destroyed and the proletariat would
take over all the vital points of the country's economy.

The inability of reformism to manage and push forward such a
process to the final clash marked the defeat of the Chilean
proletariat.

The progressive bourgeoisie, having understood that the workers
were a threat to their class interests, soon returned to that
instrument which they have always used to defend themselves from
the proletariat's attacks - a coup d'etat on the part of the
fascists or the military. This same bourgeoisie which had at
first supported Allende, was now siding with the other half of
its own class and, united with them, would prepare the bloody
defeat of the proletariat. While the workers went on pushing
forward their interests, occupying factories and creating organs
of direct democracy, the bourgeoisie was working towards
stopping this whole process. Unidad Popular was unable to do
anything - intent as they were on trying to conquer the
progressive bourgeoisie and on observing the boundaries of
constitutionality, restricted by their theoretical and strategic
limitations, they could not understand the clash that was taking
place by reasons of its very nature. The interests of the
classes had emerged clearly with no mystification, so any
indecision would mean sending the exploited classes to certain
defeat, which then of course happened. The attempt to reconcile
with the bourgeoisie instead of attacking it and engaging in an
armed battle leading to the proletariat's victory was a grave
error which will weigh hard on the entire South American
continent for a long time to come.

The coup d'etat on the part of the national bourgeoisie with the
support of American imperialism took the defenceless movement of
the exploited by surprise. The heoic resistance of the Chilean
comrades was not enough to defeat the bourgeoisie and the
criminals who were the executors of the restoration which saw
the unity of the national bourgeoisie and the imperialists, who
have unleashed their anti-communism, killing and torturing and
highlighting once again the real face of the bourgeoisie and the
fact that there can be no compromise or conciliation between the
classes of the exploiters and the exploited ." (1974)

And it was Pinochet's Chile which, flayed by one of the
bloodiest counter-revolutions in memory, was used by the United
States as an experimental laboratory for the capitalist
strategies which we know so well today: social control, the
security syndrome, privatization of the economy, dismantlement
of state pensions and the temporarization of labour. That is why
the heritage of mass struggle, self-organization and
anti-fascism must still today feed our historical memory which
is indispensable for the anti-capitalist struggles of today and
tomorrow.

Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici

http://www.fdca.it


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