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

THE TRUCKING TRANSPORT SECTOR WAGED THE MOST VIOLENT WAR– FARE WITH THE GOVERNMENT However, no olher dimension of sectoral clashes had such a powerful impacts as did the índisguised economic and polítical warfare between the trucking transport subsector and Allende's government throughout October, 1972, and September, 1973. T~e prolonged stríkes by the truckers contributed to, as well as accelerated, the gradual dlslntegratlon of the production apparatus built by Allende. Wíth agricultural output already sharply redu– ced during 1972-73, this clash further reduced food supplies to the citíes, triggered a series of sympathy strikes and, along with the El Teniente copper strike and the semihyperinflation of 1973, led to the death of Allende and the rise of the military junta. In summary, Chile experienced a profound Iransformalion in jts income distributíon duríng 1970-73. Much of the income that formerly accrued lo the small elite of prívate bankers, índustrialists, merchants, landowners and others had been transferred by 1973 to the state, labor and the poor, boosting consumptíon and reducing investment. The under– Iying ownershíp transformation is largely irreversible, as the events since September 11, 1973, also demonstrate. Alteration of the previously highly unequal intra-Iabor income dislribution created social upheaval, as socialization led to economic distortions and disequilibria. Allende's efforts to destroy the obvious urban lord-serf pattern by favoring the poor, the workers and those living in slums appeared more successful Ihan his weak efforts lo reduce the pervasive urban-rural and inlerregional income diHerentials. 46