Chile: the balanced view : a recopilation of articles about the Allende years and after

by a chronic tendency to inflation, and successíve governments had consistently ignored agnculture In the mterest of securing urban electoral support. The most important systemic constraint of all, of course, was the existence of a professionalized and institutiona/ly-Ioyal mllltary whlch was unresponsive to the ideological blandishments of the Left.(33) The Immedlate causes of the military intervention are apparent from the preceding account. In the last part of 1972, tre mil itary were drawn into Chi lean polilics by both sides and became as pOlarized aslhe rest of Chilean society-wilh the overwhelmíng majority joining Ihe opposition lo Allende. The conflict over education in March-April1973 heighte– ned that pOlarization just at the time the military were attempting lo e'xtricale themselves from polilical involvement. Then the expansion of arms searches in mid-1973 revealed the extent to which Chile was becomiAg an armed camp on the verge of civil war. Finally, the efforts lo subvert the existing military hierarchy by a combination of leftist activity among en[isted men and presidential maneuvering with promotions and retirements provided the classic scenario for a coup d' état. One can also relate Allende's difficulties to the inherent contradictions in Ihe Marxist Iheory lo which he appealed. Al the same time that he proclaimed his faith in a democratic, pluralist and libertarian transition to socialism, many of his Marxist supporters spoke and acted on the basis of a belief in the inevitability of armed confrontation. With his knowledge, they armed themselves an -what was worse- talked incessantly about revolution. The repeated statements of Régis Debray and others that the observance of the rules of "bourgeois" legality was only a taclic until the balance of forces had improved was hardly likely lo persuade doubters of the sincerity of Allende's commitment lo democracy. When the importation and distribution of arms was combined with efforts to reorganize education along ideological lines, to subvert military díscipline, and to rearrange the híerarchy of command, íl ís not aitogether surprising that the military finally took action. A positive evaluation of the Allende years would certainly credit him with a sincere effort to raise the living standards of low-income groups and to involve them actively in the determination of their own future. It would likewise stress the continued existence of freedom of expression for all points of view in Chile right up lo the coup. A more negative assessment would ask whether the low-income groups in Chile genuínely benefited from an economic pOlicy which after the first half of 1972 produced hyperinflation, a conlinuous drop in agricultural and industrial production, and a reduction in the real value of wages and salaries. Even more critícally, one ¡:;ould inquire who has suffered the most in economic and in human lerms as a resull of the breakdown of the Chilean system-the Marxisl politicíans. many ofwhom wer.e able to escape or go into exile, orthe workers. peasants and slumdwellers they claimed lo represent, who are now paying the price of the Allende regime's mistakes in the form of the hardships imposed by sharply reduced consumption and the strictures of draconían mílítary rule. (33)The Socialists always believed !ha! Ihey could convert !he military totheiroutlook. This is strikíngly revealed in Socíalist Party documenls published in lhe Libro Blanco. pp. 124-30. 38