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A letter from Chile THE 13 OCTOBER saw the sixth day of action against the Pinochet military dictatorship.
The military junta was determined at all costs to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its takeover. But all its efforts, foundered on the rock of the biggest mass protest Chile had seen to date-five days of mass struggle in all the "poblaciones" (shantytowns) of Santiago and numerous clashes in all the provinces.
After six months of continual protests, there has been a qualitative change in Chile. In reality, the beginnings of back change go even further-to the end of 1982 and the first weeks of 1983, with the "hunger marches"
which culminated in the first demonstration in nine years, which took place on the first of May with more than 2,000 participating in Santiago. From this moment on, following the appeals of the copper miners, the first Day of Protest against the regime took place. This movement, sparked off by the most powerful section of the class, had the inevitable effect of bringing onto the streets, first the youth, and then, slowly but surely, arousing the fighting spirit of the rest of the working class. In this way, between the second and third Days of Protest, strikes were called, involving not only the copper miners, but also other sections of the class, such as the print workers, building workers and isolated factories in other sectors. Although this did not actually amount to a general strike, it represented a significant step towards the generalisation of the struggle, and a notable increase in the participation of the working class.
As a result of this process, the bourgoisie became aware of the danger which was in store for them, and voices began to be heard among the capitalists suggesting that the government would have to change In the first instance, the Juntawhich is not exactly the brightest section of the ruling class-decided to meet the rising wave of protest by stepping up repression. This ended in the massive military intervention in Pinochet effigy is hung.
reality, all the "poblaciones" had already been occupied by the army the day before the protest. Santiago was occupied by a force of 18,000 soldiers.
The consequence of this lunacy was, in the first place, dozens of people killed, especially among the youth, and hundreds with gunshot injuries. There were cases like that of a shanty-town dweller with 80 smallbore bullets and shot-gun pellets lodged in his body. But it also had the effect of deepening the divergences in the ranks of the capitalist class and giving rise to a mood of unease within 27 the army itself. Thus, the new Jarpa'
government- -allegedly formed to commence a "dialogue with the opposition"-came into office one day before this fourth protest in August with its hands stained by the workers' blood.
Although this action might be interpreted as an "act of strength", , it really laid bare the extreme weakness of the regime. The army's intervention did not serve to stem the advance of the struggle. If Prime Minister Jarpa has offered to begin a "dialogue", this is not a proof of good intentions, but an admission that the class balance of forces has been decisively changed and a clear indication of the steady advance in the organisation, self-consciousness and will to struggle of the working class.
This "dialogue" represents the bourgeoisie's striving to set aside the dictatorship, while leaving intact the army and other institutions of the state in a caricature of a formal bourgeois democracy, with the bankers and capitalists in control of the process, in order to prevent the working people from taking over. And since brute force alone cannot suffice to stop the mass movement, the most astute section of the ruling class, grouped around the Christian Democrats, has enlisted under the of the "fight for banner Democracy"
The most important of the bourgeois parties, the DC (Christian Democracy), is doing everything in its power to make the people forget the fact that it was the Christian Democrat leaders who prepared the ground for Pinochet's coup by declaring the Popular Unity government to be "unconstitutional" and funding a ferocious anti-government campaign in the mass media. It was these people who backed the coup and gave it their unconditional
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Nov 1983 MIR Chile
support thereafter. A decisive proof of this is that the repression hardly affected them-except in isolated cases—up until quite recently, when the regime has begun to lash out in all directions. Even so, the treatment of the Christian Democratic "opposition" leaders can hardly be likened to the mass murders and tortures of the Socialist and Communist workers following the coup in which these "Democrats" —let us never forget it-stood on the opposite side of the barricades.
Today these gentlemen parade themselves as "lifelong democrats" With "friends" such as these, the workers and their organisations need no enemies! These bourgeois wolves who now find themselves in the lambskin of "pacifism" , bourgeois "patriotism" and "Universal Love" in reality are the most perfidious and cunning-and therefore the most dangerous-foes of the working class.
These shifty and skilful politicians realised the danger represented by the hornets' nest which their "own people"-the leaders of the copper workers' union-had unintentionally stirred up. It was they who, after the 23 of June, firmly opposed any new mobilisation of the workers' movement, in an attempt to limit the Days of Protest in the future without any concrete action, leaving the shanty-towns to their own devices.
Because of the role which is still played by the Christian Democrats in the tops of the unions (they have the majority in the CNS, CNT, Copperworkers, and other unions, as a result of the murder and imprisonment of the Socialist and Communist leaders, the dissolution of the CUT, the former Unified Trade Union Centre, and the privileged status afforded them for years under the dictatorship), the workers' movement was paralysed in its main centres during the fourth and fifth protests.
Unfortunately, this strike-breaking role of the Christian Democracy was facilitated by the lack of criticism and the absence of a clear class alternative on the part of the Socialist and Communist leaders, who have an important influence in the underground workers' movement.
But this did not struggles had ebbed.
mean that the The fifth protest
Santiago poor-quarter.
did not take place in a day, but was drawn out over five days of continuous struggles, at times lasting all night, between the workers and unemployed in the shanty-towns and the police and "carabineros". Unofficial sources have estimated that there were more than fifty people killed in these days, practically all from gunshot wounds, but few of them were killed directly in clashes with the police, but murdered by armed paramilitary or "civilian" gangs-which also shows the fear of the regime and the armed forces themselves.
Unfortunately-and this is why the results of the struggles are so painful to the working class--the burden of the protests, above all the fourth and fifth Days of Protest, has rested almost entirely upon the shoulders of the young people and shanty-town dwellers. The youth has now lost all fear of repression, since the overwhelming majority in the "poblaciones" can neither work nor study. Shanty-towns such as 'La Hermida", with 90,000 inhabitants, have almost 80 percent of the active
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population out of work.
This means, in practice that almost the whole of the youth has to eke out a living from selling chocolate, crisps or pencils in the "micros" or "liebres" (public transport). These young people have absolutely nothing to lose. This is why they plunge heroically into struggle, launching themselves against the lines of armed police, or "pacos" with their faces covered by handkerchiefs soaked in vinegar, as a meagre protection against the clouds of teargas, amidst a rain of smoke-gas cannisters and bullets.
For the workers, however, the situation is quite different. Today, the very fact of having a job is almost a privilege, because of the very high unemployment: 33 per cent of the active population, 1,300,000 between the unemployed and those engaged in government work-schemes where they can earn between 2,000 and 4,000 pesos by sweeping the streets or making rag-dolls.
A worker knows that if job, he will have nothing.
he loses his Taking all
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this into account, it is clear that the accumulated fears of ten years cannot disappear from the minds of workers with the same rapidity as among the youth, above all if we bear in mind the total lack of a clear class alternative on the part of the leadership of the majority of the workers' organisations, whose policies and attitude have served to disorientate the workers rather than encourage them to take the road of struggle.
The Socialist Party is more than divided, it is practically atomised, into five or six factions, most them subdivided into different tendencies and sub-groupings. As for the political positions of the leaders, not only do these not differ in substance from those of the Christian Democracy, but even its most publicly-known leaders are carrying out a policy of open collaboration with the DC and the Jarpa government, participating in "discussions" with the latter.
The 'Communist" Party has adopted an ambiguous, opportunist policy. To its own rank-and-file it talks of 'insurrection'", , whilst all its public declarations make clear its real intention—of entering into the socalled "Democratic Alliance"-a bloc of workers' parties with the socalled "democratic" wing of the bourgeoisie, captained by the Christian Democrats.
The rest of the groups of the Chilean left-MAPU, MIR, IC, etc.—suffer from the same confusion, while their base of support is infinitely narrower.
This absence of a real socialist class alternative is creating illusions among big sections of the workers and the youth in what could be achieved by a bourgeois "democracy" • The lack of an independent political perspective for the working class allowed the capitalist class to stem the advance of the workers' movement during the fourth and fifth Days of Protest. But the process has only been delayed, not halted. The workers and the youth are learning from their own experience what the real aims of the movement ought to be, and by what methods they can be secured.
With the lack of leadership, the struggles which lasted for five days in the fifth protest finally began to give rise to despairing and aimless gestures of violence on the part of a section
of the most oppressed masses--such as the breaking of shop windows and traffic lights, the indiscriminate stoning of buses and cars and attempts to loot shops. A clear leadership, based on a revolutionary class programme, could have avoided this situation by concentrating the anger and pent-up frustration of the masses on the central objective: overthrow of the dictatorship, and workers' power. But the leadership of the main workers' organisations offered no such perspective. Some so-called "left" groups even glorified these blind outbreaks as the correct methods of struggle for the oppressed masses to use, thereby demonstrating their complete lack of understanding, and lack of a revolutionary alternative.
Nevertheless, in spite of the leadership, the workers and the youth are instinctively seeking new avenues of struggle and superior and more effective forms to fight for their emancipation. After a brief interval which followed the fifth protest, there began a series of marches, strikes over wage negotiations and mass rallies.
The first strikes have been smallscale and isolated occurrences. They have taken place in Valparaiso (Hocke) as a result of the attempt to shut down a chocolate factory; in the printing trade over wage demands; in the Trade Union Federation of the important workers' district of Vicuna Mackena. Two sections (Miraflores and Dycar) involved in the wine trade, with a total workforce of 93, were on strike for three and seven days respectively, (an interview with the strikers appeared in Militant No. 672) which only won 80 per cent of the cost of living index for the next two years. Possibly, by the end of October there will be further strikes organised by this Federation around wage demands. But more important than the concessions on wages actually won by these struggles is their effect in raising the consciousness, organisation and self-confidence of the workers on the basis of their own experience. In the above mentioned strikes in Miraflores and Dycar, not one of the strikers or their leaders had ever participated in a strike before. They were almost all young people, yet their degree of militancy and
29
organisation was excellent.
Not only did they form their own strike .committee, elected by the workers and clearly • differentiated from the negotiating body, but, to a man, all the strikers were actively involved in one or other of the nine organisational sub-committees set up in the course of the strike: fund-raising, cleaning, security, propaganda, soupkitchen, etc.
The workers' marches began suddenly after the 20 of September. In the port of San Antonio (100,000 inhabitants) a rally convened in honour of the memory of four dockers' leaders murdered after September 1973 became transformed into a march through the city involving 2,000 people. There were also marches of the students in Concepción, Valparaiso, where there was also a march of about 1,000 dockers towards the end of September.
In the fifth protest, the demonstration had not gone beyond the boundaries of the shanty-towns. But now, gradually this has begun to take place in open defiance of the repression. Furthermore, the word "gradually" must be interpreted only in a relative sense, since on the 6 October in the most important thoroughfare in Santiago, a rally took place of about 25,000 young people who took over the streets for about four hours, shouting slogans and singing songs against the dictatorship and Pinochet before the police made up their minds to move in at around nine o'clock at night.
Once again, the aim of the Christian Democracy was to prohibit the displaying of the flags and placards of the different parties. At the start of the demonstration, a group of Christian Democrat Youth tried to remove these party banners from the hands of the Socialist and Communist Youth, but invariably came off the worse in these encounters and failed to achieve their objective.
This peculiar conception of "Unity" in which nobody is allowed to ap-
strike .committee, elected
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Nov 1983 MIR Chile
pear openly under their own banner and programme-a false and artificial 'Unity" which has been accepted in silence by the workers' leaders-in practice was completely ignored and overridden by the young workers, unemployed and students. Thus, once again, in spite of the workers' leadership, the worst fears of the "democratic" bourgeois politicians were confirmed in practicethat the real representatives of the most dynamic and militant layers of society are to be found in the ranks of the workers' organisations.
The type of slogan which was chanted also has an important symptomatic significance: 'Van a ver, Van a ver, cuando los obreros llegan al poder" , ("'They'll see what will happen when the workers get into power!").
But this rally was only a prelude to another and even bigger one. The "Democratic Alliance" , made up of the Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, Radical Party, a few socialist groups (such as the "Consensus" faction) requested permission to hold a demonstration on the 11 September, in order to play down the importance of the demonstration that had been called for the 13 September, and to divide the forces of the working class opposition.
The military governor of Santiago refused permission, and the "Demcratic Alliance' neither called the demonstration nor protested. Perhaps these "leaders" imagined that, by not acting, there would be no movement, but, if that was the case, they could not have been more mistaken. On the 11th, according to the bourgeois press there was a concentration of 30,000—which, in reality, could have been more than 100,000. The mood was almost one of freedom. At six o'clock in the afternoon, the place was absolutely full, and the columns of hundreds and hundreds of people seemed to be endless. On the buses you could hear people talking openly about the rally and making uncomplimentary remarks about the "pacos'
("'cops").
Officially, the rally was convened by a phantom organisation, PRO- DEN, with a hundred members, headed by a Christian Democrat, Lavandero. In reality, it was called by
everybody-and by nobody. The demonstration "convened itself" — as the expression of a pressing need felt by the workers and the youth.
It was a golden opportunity for the workers' organisations to seize the initiative. Up until now, the leaders had always argued that the Christian Democrats were "allowed" and therefore able to hold press conferences and do what they liked, while the left wing was persecuted and arrested--which was, in any case, only relatively true. This was an ideal moment for the workers' organisations to call the demonstration, to make an appeal to the masses over the heads of the bourgeois "opposition" . In reality, the opportunity was not taken up, or it was taken up in a most confused and ambiguous way.
The dialogue between the Jarpa government and the leaders of the 'Democratic Alliance" initiated after the fourth Day of Protest was broken off in the course of the fifth and sixth protest, as a result of the mass movement and the dozens of victims. In any• case, it was a "dialogue with the deaf" , from the very beginning. More than a "dialogue" , it was a monologue. How could they make "mutual concessions'"? The 'Democratic Alliance" only wanted the resignation of Pinochet as a prior condition! Pinochet, for his part, has not the slightest intention of resigning to please these "opposition" leaders, and a section of the ruling class and the army generals are also terrified of the consequences of his standing down. Not only Pinochet, but many officers of the army, police, "carabineros", CNI (formerly the DINA, the notorious secret police) who have been mixed up with repression, realise that the responsibilities for what has happened over the last ten years have not been forgotten, and can only fall upon their heads. The idea of a "peaceful transition" which would leave intact these institutions is fraught with far more difficulties than was the case in Spain.
Events have reached such a pass that the interests of the bourgeoisie are difficult to defend. Jarpa is doing what he can to arrive at a "compromise solution". If the dictatorship
30
talls, it could give rise to an explosive situation, in which the bourgeois leaders of the Christian Democrats and the "Democratic Alliance' would have no guarantee of remaining in control. But if the regime tries to maintain itself on the basis of repression, it could be worse still for them. For these reasons, its only hope is to keep the "dialogue" going, and hope for the best. A "democratic opening"-but without giving up control. Give way in appearance, in order to defend the interests of capital, of private ownership of the land, industry and the banks. This would be a possible solution-were it not for the presence of General Pinochet who has become an embarrassment to the ruling class, placing his personal survival and the vested interests of the military clique before those of the capitalist class as a whole. Trying to find a way out of this entanglement of insoluble contradictions is a bit like trying to square the circle!
Behind all the nonsense of "dialogue" and the vain search for "consensus" only two forces have any relevance: General Pinochet and his bayonets, and the working class. All the rest is illusion, lies and hypocrisy.
If the first side prevails, and 'Pinocchio" insists on maintaining himself through repression, the bourgeoisie may attempt to get rid of him by means of a coup. In reality divisions have now entered into the very fabric of the army and the Junta, under the pressure of the mass movement. Mattei-the airforce general-has not only been compelled to come out publicly against the utilisation of soldiers for acts of repression, but even to say that he "would be prepared to sit down and talk to the Marxists"—in flat contradiction to the statements made daily by Pinochet. Such declarations provoked the anger of Merino— another member of the Junta—who said on television: "I couldn't care less what Mattei said."
These deep internal divisions are not the result—as some would like to pretend-of the "pacts" and "agreements" which, apart from anything else are non-existent, but of the struggles of youth, which are rapidly accelerating. The paralysing
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effects of the bloody defeat of 1973 have now all but disappeared, with the entry of new generations on the arena of political and industrial struggle.
The dictatorship's lack of a mass social base from the very beginning, prevented it from carrying out the total obliteration of the workers' organisations, as happened in Germany, Italy and Spain before the war. In reality, it had to limit itself to the elimination of the most dangerous workers' leaders-the majority, Socialistsreplacing them with stooges and yes men of the regime. However, beginning with the trade union elections of 1980 - 81, a process of renovation got underway, and has had far-reaching consequences. Today the movement is being led by young people. Seguel, the national leader of the copper workers is 29 years old. The union leader in the important El Teniente mine is only 23 years old. And these cases are typical of almost the whole trade union movement here. That is a factor which is destined to give the bourgeoisie a big headache in the future! And it will also cause serious difficulties for those reformist leaders who have learned nothing from the past. At the present moment in time, participation in the political organisations is, logically, reduced to a very small percentage of the working class and the youth. This will obviously change in the future. The situation on the trade union front is, however, radically different. The unions exist in a large number of workplaces and the majority of the workers are members. This does not mean that there are no employers who have taken full advantage of the possibilities given to them by the military regime, and there are firms with 200, or even 400 workers of whom only two possess a work contract, a measure designed to prevent trade union organisation and keep wages and labour right down to the minimum possible.
If there is one thing the present regime has done it is to unify the conditions of life for the majority of the population. Up to 1973, and in some sectors until the Labour Law of 1981, there existed considerable differentials between the working class, with even some "privileged" layers—the copper workers, the dockers, bank MY LAST MS4 TO GIVE CHILE S REMAINS RING THE TO RONNIE 1ї то JUSTICE FREE TKADE Labour MPs on protest outside Chilean Embassy in London. workers, oilmen, etc. With this new law, these workers saw the destruction of what little was left of their conquests. In other words, the regime has unified the workers' conditions by slashing the purchasing power of still maintained those who something, but without raising the level of those who never had anything.
A hair-raising example was cited by a dock worker who, having three children to maintain, had to go to work in the mine of El Teniente. He worked 18 hours a day for 25,000 pesos a month, which, after paying pension contributions and tax, was reduced to 15,000. He could only stand it for four months-and only then because he had children to feed! Until 1973, the dockers had an average salary of 50,000 - 60,000 pesos a month-at least the stevedores earned that much. Afterwards, although it fell, there was still work on the docks-until the law of 23 September, 1981 gave rise to a situation of casual labour to cover up unemployment. With a surplus of manpower and a slump in trade (and, therefore in transport) they now work an average of five shifts of eight hours per month with an average monthly salary of 1,500 pesos. (These facts were testified to by workers in the port of San Antonio). And these wages in practice depend upon the type of cargo, as they have gone so far as paying these five shifts at 500 pesos or, worse still, 22 pesos for an 31 Carlos Augusta Guanita (PHOTON) CHILEAN eight-hour shift.
Among the bank employees there have been more than 9,000 sackings in the past 20 months, and their purchasing power has fallen to half its 1978 level.
We could deal in turn with each section of the working class and we would not find a single one which has maintained a living wage. The average national wage is around 8,000 pesos. At the same time the bourgeoisie itself recognises that a month's shopping of 17 basic food products (bread, butter, tea and so on) for a family of five costs 9,800 pesos. If we add on necessary transportation costs, health, clothes and rent, the absolute minimum cannot be much less than 15,000 pesos a month.
Many of the political leaders talk about the need for democracy. Of course, the workers are opposed to the dictatorship, but the working people are struggling to find a way out of the blind alley of misery and hardship imposed by capitalism. "Democracy" will be judged by the masses on whether it shows a way out of mass unemployment and starvation—which will forever be impossible while the bankers and capitalists retain their power. In 1982 the wealth produced by the country amounted to the same as in 1969. But the Gross National Product in 1983, according to the president of the metal employers' association, Fantuzzi, will fall to the level of 1965.
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Funeral of a police victim. The economic crisis-"helped along" by the monetarist policies of the military-has pushed the country back 18 years. In 1982, the per capita GNP fell by 19 per cent. According to the optimists, it will experience a further fall of 3 per cent this year. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the economic recession of 1981- 82- 83 has dismantled onethird of the Chilean economy. Taking this situation into consideration, what possibility is there to find a way out of this crisis on the basis of capitalism in the 1960s, unemployment in Chile was never less than 14 per cent of the active population. The capitalist class have shown their complete incapacity to develop society. The interests of the working class can only be served by a complete revolutionary transformation of society.
In Chile, the bourgeoisie had its chance, and showed that it was powerless to carry out its own historical tasks: economic and social real independence, development, agrarian reform, and political democracy. The ruling oligarchywhich is no more than a local agency of world imperialism—can only play a reactionary role.
Only the working class, armed with a socialist programme, and basing Nov 1983 MIR Chile S itselt on class independence and the mobilisation in struggles of all the oppressed layers of society around this programme, can show a way out of the crisis.
The only government capable of carrying out such a programme is a workers' government, based on the traditional mass organisations of the class. Only with the active participaof the greatest number of tion workers in the running of their factories, electing committees and checking up on the activities of their representatives, and extending the same system on the model of the CORDONES INDUSTRIALES (elected workers' committees which sprang up towards the end of the life of the Popular Unity-Editorial Board), and involving all the other layers of the working population: students, shanty-town dwellers, peasants and also the soldiers, only by these means will it be possible to achieve a real democracy- a workers' democracy—as the product of the conscious participation of the masses in the socialist reconstruction of society.
Santiago 15 October, 1983 Printed by Cambridge Heath Press (TU) Ltd, 1 Mentmore Terr. London E8 3PN. 32 Get Militant Irish Monthly noide Militant Irish Monthly e 200 THE MARXIST PAPER FOR WORKERS UNITY AND SOCIA TORIES CAN BE Subscribe £2.00 6 issues 12 issues £4.00 Return to:
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