Chile: Half a Century on, a Supporter of Pinochet’s Coup d’État Assumes Power by Democratic Means

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Chile: Half a Century on, a Supporter of Pinochet’s Coup d’État Assumes Power by Democratic Means

On 14 December, the far-right candidate José Antonio Kast achieved a resounding victory in the second round of Chile’s presidential elections, defeating the candidate of the United Left, Jeannette Jara of the Communist Party of Chile, who defended the previous actions of President Boric (she had been his Minister of Labour).

A little over half a century after the coup d’état that overthrew the left-wing government (Communist Party, Socialist Party…) of Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity, an open supporter of Pinochet has been elected.

Pinochet’s dictatorship was responsible for brutal repression against the working class: the number of victims, still not precisely known to this day, ran into the thousands, while the number of imprisoned persons, often tortured, reached tens of thousands. Thanks to this repression, which crushed any possibility of working-class resistance, the dictatorship succeeded in imposing such an ultra-liberal economic policy that it provoked an explosion of social inequalities.

How is it to be explained that a defender of the coup and the dictatorship such as Kast (whose family was involved in the repression at the time) prevailed over the “heiress” of the Popular Unity? Kast’s electoral programme, inspired by the Argentine president Milei and the “Chicago Boys” (as the economists — the authors of the dictatorship’s ultra-liberal economic programme, the neoconservatives of that period — were known), included drastic cuts to the state budget, privatisations, labour-market deregulation and other measures that would deepen the precariousness of workers’ conditions and further increase inequality. This did not, however, prevent the outgoing president Boric or the candidate Jara from congratulating Kast in the name of democracy: “I am very proud of democracy,” Boric said in his message of congratulations to Kast, while Jara declared: “Democracy has spoken. We wish Kast success for the good of Chile” (1). For these politicians, who claim to defend workers, the most important thing is that the system of bourgeois democracy—this system described by Marxism as an anti-proletarian fraud—has functioned well!

In 1973, the Communist Party, together with other left-wing parties, devoted all its efforts to disarming the proletariat in the face of the right and the far-right coup plotters; in the same way, today it has disarmed it in the face of the capitalists and thus prepared the ground for the return of the far right to power. From every point of view, in accordance with its class-collaborationist and counter-revolutionary nature, it proved to be a faithful servant of the bourgeois order, an implacable opponent of proletarian emancipation.

At the end of the 1980s, negotiations began for a return to civilian government; this took place in 1990 after the parties grouped in the Democratic Coalition (Socialist Party, Christian Democratic Party, etc.) agreed to continue the dictatorship’s economic policies and not to amend its constitution. For 20 years, the Coalition parties embodied these orientations, and the Communist Party supported them in elections.

In October 2019, Chile was shaken by a genuine social explosion, triggered by the decision of the government of the wealthy capitalist Piñera to raise the price of metro fares. This price increase, added to the hardships already faced by the working class, ignited the powder keg; looting and demonstrations broke out across the country, to which the government responded by declaring a state of emergency and deploying the army. The result of the repression was about fifteen dead and nearly ninety people wounded by gunfire; in addition, several hundred people were arrested, in some cases tortured and raped; other sources report 30 dead and 460 people with eye injuries (2).

In order to halt the movement, whose deep-rooted causes lay in the miserable situation of the majority of the population, the trade-union confederation CUT was forced to call a general strike (which was massively followed), leading to negotiations with the government and ultimately to an agreement, signed by the left-wing parties, “for social peace and the new constitution”. This new constitution, which was meant to satisfy proletarian demands, never came into force, but the subsequent elections and referendums on the issue served to appease the rebellious masses with electoral intoxication. The Covid pandemic completed the process.

In the subsequent presidential elections, Boric, the left-wing candidate, a former “radical” student leader who had signed the agreement that brought the movement to an end was elected against Kast — already candidate! His programme included far-reaching social reforms aimed at establishing a “welfare state” in place of the existing liberalism, such as reform of the pension system, as well as the promise to fundamentally reform the Carabineros police force, responsible for numerous abuses of power, to punish those guilty of crimes and to abolish the most repressive laws.

However, the left-wing government fulfilled none of this and embarked on timid reforms solely in order to better serve business interests and Chilean capitalism in general. For example, the increase in the minimum wage to 535 dollars (while the workers’ demand was 760 dollars) was offset by labour flexibilisation. Worse still, it implemented a repressive policy against striking workers and against the indigenous Mapuche, who were demanding the return of their land; against them it imposed a state of emergency and the militarisation of their territory. Instead of “reforming” the Carabineros and bringing those responsible for crimes to justice, it adopted a law that favoured the police under the pretext of combating crime, attributed to immigration, particularly from Venezuela (3).

The actions of the left-wing government inevitably generated disillusionment among the proletariat, and calls to block the far right were insufficient to persuade them to support those who had betrayed their promises.

In all countries, reformist parties and collaborationist organisations claim to improve capitalism, to make it more social, to reform it for the benefit of workers and poor masses. Above all, they strive to divert the proletariat from direct struggle by promising that an electoral victory will easily secure the fulfilment of its demands; they condemn any disruption of social peace, any act of violence, any illegal action, and denounce them as provocations that endanger collaboration between the classes and the sacrosanct “social dialogue” (4). Yet once in government they “forget” the promises that served to divert the proletariat from struggle, and implement only those policies permitted by the bourgeoisie. When they have exhausted their usefulness to capitalism, they return to the opposition, where they attempt to regain a certain legitimacy that allows them to continue spreading democratic and pacifist illusions.

Thus — in Chile — the left-wing parties prepared the way for the return of the far right to power. Faced with the attacks to come, the proletariat will have to defend itself. But for this defence to have any chance of success, it will have to set out on the path of class struggle and class organisation; it will have to break with its false friends, who are in reality its most destructive enemies: the reformist parties and organisations that 50 years ago delivered it to massacres and dictatorship, and that today hand it over to democracy, just as bourgeois as the former dictatorship, with the same result: the victory of the most extreme bourgeois reaction.

There was no need for a coup d’état or a dictatorship, because social tensions are not as high as in 1973, the proletariat is not mobilised as it was then, and it does not constitute a threat to the established order. But as soon as it does mobilise, it will face the repressive forces of the democratic bourgeois state, preserved and refined by the left-wing government, and, if necessary, the unleashed violence of an open dictatorship such as Pinochet’s.

In order to avoid reliving this experience, it is essential to draw the crucial lessons from its own history:

“The only real path to socialism, the only way to put an end to misery, capitalist exploitation and repression, is not national but international: it is the path that begins with independent class organisation, with the constitution of the class party armed with the genuine communist programme; it is the path of open and daily struggle against the employers and the bourgeois state, which at the right moment can move to seize power and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat; it is the path of political struggle, no longer popular but proletarian, not patriotic but internationalist, resolute and openly anti-capitalist, the only one capable of drawing behind the working class all the exploited and oppressed in the assault on the bourgeois state” (5).

(2) See https://www.rfi.fr/es/20201017-las-cifras-que-dejo-un-ano-de-estallido-social-en-chile

(3) Venezuelan immigrants represent more than 40% of foreigners; the media blame them for the rise in crime, a discourse shared by politicians on both the right and the left. For example, Jara called for a strong military and police presence at the borders to defend Chileans… See Le Monde, 16/11/25.

(4) During the 2019 movement, CUT stated in a press release of 29 October: “We condemn with the greatest firmness the irrational violence generated by the attitude of the government, which has allowed acts of vandalism and criminal behaviour by minority groups (…). This irrational violence serves only the powerful in justifying repression and the militarisation of the country”.

(5) See our pamphlet: “1973. Coup d’état in Chile – A tragic experience that must not be forgotten!” (1973. Golpe de Estado en Chile. ¡Trágica experiencia que no debe olvidarse!)

Il comunista - le prolétaire - el proletario - proletarian - programme communiste - el programa comunista - Communist Program