The Democratic Route to Socialism: Salvador Allende Gossens (1908-1973)
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The Democratic Route to Socialism: Salvador Allende Gossens (1908-1973) Salvador Allende headed up the movement that sought to bring socialism to Chile by democratic means. He was born in 1908 and raised in an upper middle class household in Valparaíso. His grandfather was a doctor and his father was a lawyer. Starting in his days as a student in the Medical School of the University of Chile, he evidenced a commitment to public service, forming in 1929 the student political group Avance [Advance]. In 1933 the Socialist Party of Chile was founded and Allende, who was only 25 years old at the time, became its first Regional Secretary. As a doctor, a socialist, and a free mason, Allende fit the typical profile of a secular progressive Chilean politician of the first half of the twentieth century. Allende completed his training as a surgeon and from that point forward dedicated himself to the practice of social medicine, publishing a variety of works on public health, such as his pathbreaking report The Socio-Medical Reality of Chile. He became a mason at a young age and belonged to the famous Gran Logia de Chile [Great Lodge of Chile]. Before reaching the age of thirty he was elected as the deputy for Valparaíso and Quillota. He participated actively in the founding of the Popular Front and was named Minister of Health for the government of President Pedro Aguirre Cerda. He was elected to the Chilean senate in 1945 and served as a senator until 1970. Allende ran for president four times, representing an alliance built upon a collaboration between the socialist and communist parties of Chile in 1952, 1958, 1964, and 1970. He won on his fourth try, supported by an alliance of left-wing parties known as the Unidad Popular [Popular Unity]. For the first time in history, a Marxist socialist politician was elected by 1 popular vote, grabbing worldwide attention. The government of Salavor Allende undertook a difficult and unique project: to build socialism through democratic means. Allende, together with an important group of his followers, was convinced that socialism could be built on Chile’s democratic foundations. In this sense, it was significant that one of the few laws passed in the parliament was the nationalization of the country’s huge copper mining industry. Nevertheless, the radical nature of the government’s programs provoked strong opposition, both inside and outside the country. In keeping with the politics of the Cold War, the United States government decided to use all weapons at its disposal to overthrow the Chilean government. Throughout the year of 1972, an array of unions and business associations [gremios] engaged in work stoppages and business shutdowns, including public transit and transportation. The shortages of basic goods and the persistent rumours of a military coup contributed to creating a sense of crisis and misrule. On September 11, 1973, the Popular Unity government was overthrown by a coup d’etat led by General Augusto Pinochet. The military junta formed under his leadership sent a communique demanding that President Allende immediately resign his post and surrender to the Chilean armed forces and naational police. Inside La Moneda, the presidential palace, Allende resisted along with his most loyal collaborators, telling those closest to him that he would die in the position to which the people had elected him: as the president of Chile. Shortly before the presidential palace was bombarded by the country’s air force, he made a final speech to the nation and then, at two in the afternoon, committed suicide as the military prepared to raid the building. Source: MemoriaChilena, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile, retrieved on July 16, 2014 from http://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-article-799.html#presentacion. 2 .