Political mobilization and class alliances in Chile, from 1970 till 1973

Abstract

The present article studies four elements under a political and social mutation in Chile, during the government of the Popular Unity. They are four topics chosen according to their importance for politics in that period; but, at the same time, they are central questions of political analysis. The first question to be considered is that of the social composition and the political behaviour of the so-called middle-classes. The numerical dimension and the political weight of these classes made of their support, or at least of their neutrality, a vital political factor in the strategy by means of which Allende intended to convert his minoritarian electoral basis of 1970 into an irresistible majority, what he did not succeed in doing. Secondly, this article analyses some fundamental aspects of the working-class and of its action, namely the relationship, sometimes contentious, between several segments of the proletariat and the role played by trade unions and pobladores. Thirdly, one examines the process of social mobilization trying to answer to such questions as the following: which were the new forms of popular mobilization that took place in Chile? To where came they, in their development and action? Would they be able to be the basis for a real popular power, for a true proletarian hegemony? Finally, the question of ideology and the role of mass-media aroused great attention during the period to which this article refers. But, in spite of the fact that a lot of things already written about ideology are at least obscure, it cannot, even so, help raising some important questions, that are the last to be considered in the present text.