SUPPLEMENT as & ZEUS 3 4 13 September 1973

·t~~ X·523 Smash the Reactionary Junto-­ For Workers Revolution in Chile! SEPTEMBER 12-Yesterday's rightist The seductive claims of the dominant coup in Chile put a bloody end to the workers parties that socialism could three-year-old Popular Unity govern­ be won through elections and parlia­ ment headed by President Salvador mentary action and in collaboration Allende. This seizure of power by the with "progressive" sections of the military is a serious defeat for the in­ bourgeoisie have again proven to be ternational working class, leading to a Simply the formula for defeat. The so­ naked assault against the workers' or­ called "Chilean road to socialism" was ganizations and to the massacre ofpos­ lauded the world over by prO-MOSCOW sibly thousands of proletarian mili­ Communist Parties as the model of tants. It is not yet clear to what extent revolution through peaceful coexist­ the Chilean workers and peasants will ence; and the Chilean capitalists-tout­ forcibly resist the putschists; their ed as the most "democratic"bourgeoi­ heroic will to defend their organizations sie of Latin America, with the most is not in doubt, but the Allende govern­ "non-political" mil ita r y-were sup­ ment conSistently refused to arm the posed to passively acquiesce to the workers. It is the duty of all U.S. transition to socialism! w 0 r kin g - cia s s organizations, both trade unions and parties, to launch an But only the independent class mo­ immediate, united-front protest against bilization of the proletariat to seize the counterrevolutionary coup. Smash state power in its own name can open the reactionary junta-For workers the road to socialism. A popular front revolution in Chile! is by its very nature-its alliance The events of the last two days with a section of the ruling class­ t rag i call y confirm the Spartacist confined within the bounds of capi­ League's warnings that the Chilean talism. It can never prepare the way Chilean armed forces chiefs witness Allende-Castro reunion, Jlfovember 1971. working people would pay in blood for for workers power. It can succeed only in frightening the forces of bour­ the treachery of their leaders. The tri­ Party and left Christian Democrats. most of the factories were operated umph of bourgeois reaction after three geois reaction to the point that they undertake a concerted and brutal as­ Since the 1970 elections both the Radi­ under workers control. In Chile, Al­ years of the Allende government was cals and left Christian Democrats have lende signed an agreement in 1970 not no accident! It was prepared by the sault eJll the workers. in alienating and had splits, with pro-UP sections mOving to permit the formation of workers very nature of the Unidad Popular [UP­ driving into the arms of the reaction leftward and even claiming to support militias nor to promote officers from Popular Unity coalition. sec t ion s of the petty bourgeoisie J socialism. But the essence of the Pop­ As the Spartacist League insisted in wtfich would have split if faced with outside the graduates of the military a leaflet issued on September 4: a clear proletarian pole. and in dis­ ular Unity as a bloc with a section of academies. thus guaranteeing that the the bourgeoisie was not changed. The "The government of the Unidad Popular orienting the workers through class­ army would remain firmly under the is not a workers government. It is a collaborationist illusions so that they UP government from the beginning control of the professional military coalition of workers and capitalist par­ cannot mobilize an organized and united rested on a tacit agreement with the elite. The Spa n ish workers were ties. The presence of the 'radical' self-defense against 'the rightist reac­ dominant bourgeois party, the Christian armed; for the most part, Chilean bourgeoisie and the 'democratic' gen­ tion.. The lesson of Chile today is the Democrats, without whose votes Al­ workers are not. erals is a guarantee that the Allende lesson of the Spanish Civil War of the lende could not get a single one of his But a popular front is a popular government will not step beyond the 1930's: if the workers do not learn in reforms passed by Congress. MOl'e front. The Spanish workers were de­ bounds of capitalism. Their prjlsence time that popular fronts, parliamentar­ recently as the rightist attack on the feated by Franco because they did not is a guarantee that the workers and government sharpened, the role of have a revolutionary leaderShip which peasants will be left disarmed and ism and peaceful coexistence lead to atomized in the face of the impending defeat, they will pay with their lives. chief guarantor of the interests of the struggled to overthrow capitalism. in­ rightist coup. Rather than pressuring bourgeoisie within the government was stead the workers and peasants were Allende .•• we must instead calIon the taken over by the military ministers. constrained by the Stalinist Communist workers to break sharply with the bour­ What Was the Popular Unity? The government adopted a policy of Party and the Assault Guards to re­ geOis popular front and the government appeasing the rightists and increaSing main within the bounds of bourgeois parties, to fight for a workers and The Popular Unity coalition was repression of the workers. Thus after democracy. In their more honest mo­ peasants government based on a revolu­ made up of the dominant workers par­ the "bosses' work stoppage" by the ments the Stalinists would justify this tionary program of expropriation of the ties, the reformist Communists and truck owners and shopkeepers during in terms of not "scaring the bour­ agrarian and industrial bourgeoisie." SoCialists, together with the Radical November 1972. Allende invited the geOiSie, n but they also had a theory to military leaders into the government justify it. While Lenin had made the and promulgated a law which permits slogan "All Power to the Soviets" unannounced raids by the military in world-famous as the call for a workers search of arms. This law, though os­ revolution, Stalin" discovered" in 1924 tensibly directed against both rig h t­ that before the stage of soviets there and left-wing extremists, has in fact had to come an intermediate "demo­ been used exclusively a g a ins t the cratic" stage. In essence this was iden­ unions, the occupied factories and the tical to the position of the reformist workers parties, while fascist groups social democrats, who called for win­ such as Patria y Libertad built up ning power through parliamentary elec­ sizeable arms stockpiles. Then during tions as a "step" in the gradual trans­ May and June the government provoked formation of capitalism. Now in the a copper miners' strike at the El 1970's this theory was resurrected by Teniente mine by attempting to do away Allende's UP: with the sliding scale of wages (cost­ Members of the junta: From left, General Gustavo Leigh, General Augusto "Since the National Congress is based of-living escalator), and turned ma­ on the people's vote, there is nothing Pinochet, Admiral Jose Toribia Merino. chine guns on the workers during the in its nature which prevents it from ~ course of the strike (see WV No. 23, changing itself in order to become, in 22 June 1973). fact, the Parliament of the People. The Chilean Armed Forces 'and the Cara­ SL!RCY FORUM bineros, faithful to their duty and to Popular Front and their tradition of non- intervention in Parliamentary Cretinism the political process, will support a social organization which corresponds Although the reformists have con­ to the will of the people .... " Counterrevolution stantly attempted to portray Chile as -So Allende, "First Message to the most radical popular-front govern­ Congress," December 1970 Washington Square Methodist Church ment in history (compared to Spain Historical experience again disproved in Chile 135 West 4th Street 1936-39, France 1934-36 or Chile at this reformist fairy tale yesterday for NEW YORK CITY 1:30 p,m. different times from 1936 to 1948), the the nth time! myth is far from reality. Thus in Spain The Chilean CP has throughout lived Friday 21 September the industrial centers were entirely up to its Stalinist mission of reformist in the hands of workers militias for betrayal. Thus, in line with the Stalin­ much of the period after July 1936 and ists' call to broaden the Popular Unity to include the Christian Demo c:tats , discovery of leftist cells in the navy ministers. These reSignations repre­ defeat for the Chilean working people they also opposed an extensive program in early August. The September 11 sented a vote of no confiden<7 in the when domestic reaction, abetted by of nationalizations. In order to "regu­ coup is their answer. This coup was no government by all wings of the general international imperialism, is ready." larize the economy" CP minister Or­ fascist plot or the work of a few mil­ staff of the armed forces. From that -Spartacist, November­ lando Mill a s introduced legislation itary "ultras." It represents the deci­ time on, the coup was simply a ques­ December 1970 which would restrict nationalizations to cis ion by the key sectors of the bour­ tion of timing and personnel. By way of contrast, the opportunist certain specific sectors and return geoisie to smash the inc rea sin g 1 Y Nor was it Simply a military matter. Workers League wrote that "the work~ factories occupied by the workers to militant workers movement. Every im­ The atmosphere for the military take­ ers must hold Allende to his prom­ their "legal" owners! portant section of the Chilean capitalist over was provided by the economic ises ••• " (Bulletin, 21 September 1970) The CP not only oppose'd the forma­ class, inclUding the "mOderate" Chris­ chaos resulting from the truck owners', while the ex-Trotskyist Socialist Work­ tion of workers militias, but Luis Cor­ tian Democrats and the "constitution­ shopkeepers' and professionals' work ers Party's initial evaluation of the valan, secretary-general of the party, alist" officers, is involved in one way stoppage which had continued for more All end eel e c t ion (Intercontinental rejected any form of arming the work­ or another. than a· month and a half. This was Press, 5 October 1970) amounted to de ers since such proposals "are equiva­ That its real aim is to smash the a clearly political effort designed to facto critical support: " ••• failing to lent to showing distrust in the army." workers movement was amply proven bring down the government, as was the recognize the positive elements in'it, (This is, of course, true. And the Stal­ on the first day of military rule. The similar work stoppage last year. The condemning it in toto out of some sec­ inists, of course, never show distrust fall of the government itself was quick­ truck owners' confederation is closely tarian dogmatism, would mean suicidal in the bourgeois army. Thus even after ly, almost surgically, accomplished by tied to the National Party, while most isolation." It w 0 u 1 d certainly have yesterday's coup, the Daily World [12 a classic pronunciamento by the heads of the other professional associations meant isolation in the early months of SeptemberJ claimed only "a section" of are linked to the Christian Democrats. the Popular Unity government. But the the armed forces were involved, par­ Both in November and August of this prinCipled Trotskyist position of un­ ticularly the Itt r a di ti 0 n ally upper year the CDP, directly called on its swerving opposition to the popular middle-class Air Force." The army no professional associations to join the front was in fact the only alternative doubt appreciated this "trust," which counterrevolutionary act ion. T h us to suicide. It was support for Allende facilitated the generals' reactionary while its leaders in parliament talked that led to the present counterrevolu­ coup.) soothingly of waiting until the· 1976 tionaiy coup. Shortly before the coup, French CP elections, the Christian Democratic A slogan cannot be applied mechan­ leader Bernard Fajon retUrning from Party was preparing the coup along ically in all situations. Thus at the Chile held a press conference in order with every other sector of the time of the June 29 coup and during to denounce: bourgeoisie. •... certain economic theories which late August the SL called for "a unit­ put the accent on the destruction of the ed front of all workers organizations old structures .... The "Revolutionary" Left to smash the rightist-militarist offen­ "The occupation of the factories by the sive in Chile, While continuing to strug­ As the masses of Chilean workel's w 0 r k e r s ... transformed in certain gle for the overthrow of the popular­ cases into taking possession of com­ and peasants have become progres­ front government of 'socialists' and panies not included in the program of sively disillusioned with the reformist generals by proletarian revolution /I nationalizations .... CP and SP they have begun searching ("Showdown in Chile," 4 September). " ... irresponsible and adventurist po­ for an alternative leadership. Many Today, Marxists m u s t struggle to sitions, such as the leftist slogan of have joined the Movimiento de Izquier­ calling on the soldiers to disobey ror­ smash the junta by a workers' uprising. da Revolucionario [MIR-Revolutionary To call for support to the UP is to de~s 1, which facilitates the efforts of Left Movement the most important officers favorable to a coup d'etat: J, reaffirm a policy whose suicidal na­ such as the leftist slogan of exclusive group to the left of the UP. The MIR ture is being demonstrated at this very workers control in all factories, tending is a New Left-Castroite group which moment: In a similar situation, when to line up the engineers and profes­ un til 1970 concentrated largely on faced with the attempt in August 1917 sionals against the working class .... organizing peasants for land takeovers by General Kornilov to overthrow the "The Communist Party of Chile has led and guerrilla warfare, After taking an Kerensky government and crush the and leads the most consistent strug­ ultra-left line by abstaining from the gle a g a ins t these absolutely crazy revolutionary workers of Petrograd, 1970 election on prinCiple, the MIR the Bolsheviks called for a united front views .... " suddenly flip-flopped and iss u e d a -Le Monde, 3 September of all workers organizations to smash statement immediately after the elec­ the counterrevolutionary conspirators MeanWhile, as the CP was clamoring tion giving Allende critical support. to unite with the Christian Democrats Workers mil itia of cordon Vicuna Mac­ and even fought alongside the troops of Kenna. DuetopolicyofCP-SP and trade It continued to call for support to the the bourgeois Kerensky government. and disarm the "ultra-leftists," calling UP in one form or another until the on the workers to give up the factories unions most workers are unarmed. "Even now we must not support Ker­ very end: "The Revolutionary Left ensky's government," wrote Lenin: to their legal owners, the Soviet Union Movement maintains that although we of the armed forces and a short bom­ "We shall fight, we are fighting against gave practically nothing in the way of do not agree with every step of the economic aid to Chile. The utter cyni­ bardment of the preSidential palace. Kornilov, just as Kerensky'stroopsdo, The presidential guard surrendered, Popular Unity, that although we have but we do not support Kerensky. On the cism which lies behind the Stalinists' differences with aspects of its policies, calls for "unity of all democratic forc­ while Allende either committed suicide contrary we e xp 0 s e his weakness. this does not signify that we come to a There is the difference. It is rather es" (i.e., including the Christian Demo­ or was shot. But during the first day of military rule, more than 1,000 people definitive break with the Popular Unity" a subtle difference, but it is highly crats in Chile who just helped prepare (Pun to Final, 9 November 1971). But essential and must not be forgotten." a counterrevolutionary coup, and such were killed and more than 100 leaders of workers parties and unions arrested. it precisely is a "definitive break" that -·To the Central Committee ofthe liberal U.S. Democrats'as Lyndon John­ R.S.D.L.P.," 30 August 1917 The generals threatened to blow up any is called for. Here we have a govern­ son) can be seen in Angela Davis' ment tied to a section of the bourgeoi­ But of course in the Chilean situation foolish remark at a pro-Allende rally factory which resisted. Their particular concern was the Sie, whose main task is to hold the it would be manifestly absurd to call follOwing the coup: "I don't think it's a workers back from revolution-and the for even military support to the UP defeat, it's a setback of course" (New mushrooming workers committees (the "cordones industriales") in the indus­ MIR gives it critical support! By this government, which has already been York Times, 12 September). With set­ act of class betrayal it must take a smashed. backs like this, what would a real de- trial belts around Santiago. The New York Times (12 September) reported: major responsibility for the coup. Similarly to calIon all "democrats" feat look like? . Furthermore, the MIR failed to But the class-collaborationist logic "In the proclamation by the junta that to defend civil liberties is to fail to seized power today, the factory groups raise as a key demand throughout this understand the nature of the present of Stalinism is not limited to the direct period the arming of the workers and followers of Brezhnev and Kosygin. The were cited as a reason for the revolt." coup. The junta will undoubtedly sup­ The day before, an air force commando, the formation of workers militias based press .. civil liberties, even for the erstwhile guerrilla warrior Fidel Cas­ on the unions (and cordones industri­ tro made his support for the bourgeois had attempted to raid the important bourgeois parties, for a certain time. Sumar textile factory, lOOking for arms. ales). Instead MIR documents speak But its fundamental job is to crush the UP government clear in all of its glory only in the most general terms of the during his visit November 1971 when The workers, who have occupied the workers movement and it, in turn, can factory, successfully repulsed the sol­ limits of peaceful reforms and of the only be destroyed by a proletarian he called on copper workers at the Chu­ need to "accumUlate power to crush quicamata mine to moderate their wage diers with gunfire and the commando offensive. was eventually forced to retreat as any seditious attempt or the civil war demands and work harder. A few months Never have the lines between revo­ reinforcements from sur r 0 u n din g which the exploiters will attempt" (El later he again expressed his "anti­ lutionary Marxism and opportunism plants arrived (Le Monde, 11 Septem­ Rebelde, 23-30 May). The main acti­ imperialist" solidarity by inviting Chil­ vity of the organization has been land been clearer. They are dra"NI1 in blood, ean generals to visit Cuba. ber). The air force had carried out the coin in which betrayals are paid. _ similar raids twice during August, ap­ and factory takeovers which, however parently trying to provoke a shootout militant they may be, failed to take on Preparation of the Coup with the workers. This time they 10st- the question of the Allende government. and th~t wa~ perhaps the. last straw; it Chi Ie and the American Left In order to excuse their own be­ was hIgh hme to get nd of Allende. trayals in Chile the Stalinists are now Brought to power in order to control Thus among the major socialist or­ - claiming that the coup is the work of the labor movement, he lost his use­ ganizations in Chile there is none that fascists and extreme reactionaries in fulness as he increaSingly proved un­ call e d for the replacement of the league with the CIA. There is no doubt able to diSCipline the workers. And with popular-front regime with a workers Sl:ribeI that the ultra-right provided leadership a flick of its finger, the bourgeOisie govermpent, i.e., called for the working of the coup and was in contact with the toppled him. class to break from the bourgeOisie; U.S. government. ITT's offer of $1 mil­ That the coup was not s imp 1 y they instead capitulated to the UP gov­ lion in 1970 to dump Allende is certain­ the work of the fascists and ultra­ ernment's (initial) tremendous popu­ ~.(ISf$3 ly not unrelate;l to the "accidental" reactionaries is shown by several facts: larity among the working masses. In presence of American navy ships in In addition to Admiral Jose Toribia the U.S., of all the ostenSibly Trotskyist 24 ISSUES Chilean waters on the day of the coup. Merino, a' sympathizer of Patria y organizations the only one to take a Name, ______But to hold only the "ultras" and the Libertad, the junta also includes Army clear stand against the popular-front Address;______CIA responsible for the coup is to ig­ commander General Augusto Pinochet, UP government from the beginning was City,______nore the bulk of the Chilean bourgeoisie. a leading "constitutionalist." Moreover, the Spartacist League. Immediately State Zip ___ The CP wants us to believe that only the whole recent chain of events was after the 1970 elections we wrote: American capitalists will protect their triggered by the resignation of General Make checks payable/mail to: property! In reality, the Chilean capi­ Carlos Prats on August 23. General ·It is .the most el.ementa~y duty ~or SPARTACIST PUBLISHiNG CO. P t th 1 di n 0 t·t t' r t n revolutionary MarXIsts to trreconcll- talists saw the handwriting on the wall 1 Box 1377, GPO, New York, NY 10001 ra s'. . e ea ng c ns u lOna IS ably oppose the Popular Front in the 28 s as workers committees took over hun­ :md MInIster of Def.en~e, stepped down election and to place absolutely no dreds of factories follOwing the abortive In order, as he put It, to preserve the confidence in it in power. Any 'critical coup on June 29; they were joined by unity of the institution" (the military). support' to the Allende coalition is class WORKERS VANGIJARD the military general staff after the He was followed by two other military treason, paving the way for a bloody WORKERS VANGUARD SUPPLEMENT 13 SEPTEMBER 1973