The Death of Salvador Allende

[Die Rote Fahne]

'Chile is launching its first investigation into the death of President Salvador Allende, 37 years after the socialist leader was found shot through the head during an attack on the presidential palace. Allende's death, during the bloody US-backed coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power on September 11, 1973, had until now been ruled a suicide.
The investigation is part of an investigation into hundreds of complaints of human rights abuses during Pinochet's 1973-1990 rule.
Beatriz Pedrals, a prosecutor in the appellate court in Santiago, said on Thursday that she had decided to investigate 726 deaths that had never previously been explored, including Allende's.
"What has not been investigated, the courts will investigate ... This will finally establish what happened," she said.' - Al Jazeera (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/01/2011127223137719819.html)


What do you guys think about the story, about the coup, about Chile under Allende and about Allende himself? This is a topic I am not well educated on, and I would really appreciate input by the more knowledgeable.


It's my opinion that, during the US backed coup that saw Augusto Pinochet's brutal regime to begin, Allende was assassinated.


This is a long part of American history in which they interfere with the ongoings of other nations, resulting in catastrophically negative effects. From Chile to Iraq.

[gestalt]

From what I know of Allende he was a reformist socialist, but his attempts were doomed from the start due to foreign dominance in the economy (e.g., copper and telecommunications) and opposition from the Nixon administration who authorized covert CIA action (financing opposition propaganda, parties and paramilitaries).

His attempts at nationalization were popular with the majority of the population, aside from the business elite, their foreign backers and the highly conservative army.

Whether the official story of suicide (highly dubious) or the theory of assassination (much more likely) is largely immaterial. We know the parties who are to blame in his and countless other deaths, as Chile under Pinochet and backed by the imperialist powers was arguably the most outwardly repressive government ever seen in the Western hemisphere.

The U.S. history of such interventions goes back much farther than this, I highly recommend Stephen Kinzer's Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change on the matter, but you are correct in placing the motivations of the event in proper, economic context.

[redsky]

There's a good (for commercial film) tho horrifying movie called Sweet Country about the fascist ascension in Chile. I bet Pinochet was part of a movement I read about there just prior to WWII. They were the local minor league fascists, and tho I forget the formal name, their slogan was something along the lines of "--No importa, camarades. Nuestra Sangre salvara a Chile". Maybe someday it will, but not in the way they envisioned.

[HalPhilipWalker]

I don't know much about Allende himself, but the coup, and the Pinochet government that followed, has become a much more important event than is really recognized. It was the beginning of neoliberalism, possibly the most insidious and destructive forces that the world has ever known. The Pinochet regime is really what I fear the United States is becoming.

[S.Artesian]

Suggest reading Stefan de Vylders's Allende's Chile, published by Cambridge University Press... shows in irrefutable detail how self-defeating, and destructive to the workers struggle, Allende's policies were.

Yes, Allende's overthrow was one of two great events in 1973 that indicated the bourgeoisie were gearing up for an offensive and knew what was coming in 1974-- the struggle in Portugal, the strike wave in the US, etc. The other event was the OPEC price spikes, boosting the rate of return for the US oil majors.

[bricolage]

Yes, Allende's overthrow was one of two great events in 1973 that indicated the bourgeoisie were gearing up for an offensive and knew what was coming in 1974-- the struggle in Portugal, the strike wave in the US, etc. The other event was the OPEC price spikes, boosting the rate of return for the US oil majors.
Plus the the miners strike that brought down Heath in the same year (following the equally victorious strike of 1972).

A quick google search brings up 17 million person railway strike in India (albeit a defeated one), which I'd never heard about. There's only a wikipedia page though and it's very short.

I don't know much about America apart from that in coal mining, what was the extent of the wave beyond this?

[S.Artesian]

Plus the the miners strike that brought down Heath in the same year (following the equally victorious strike of 1972).

A quick google search brings up 17 million person railway strike in India (albeit a defeated one), which I'd never heard about. There's only a wikipedia page though and it's very short.

I don't know much about America apart from that in coal mining, what was the extent of the wave beyond this?

Good point about Heath.

There are two distinct increases in labor actions in the US "golden-era" post WW2. Between 1967-1970, we see work stoppages involving more than 1000 workers steadily increasing to 381 actions costing app. 2.4 million worker-days.

The wave subsides a bit, then when inflation kicks in following OPEC 1, actions involving 1000 workers or more spike up to 424 costing about 1.6 million worker-days.

Total actions in 1974, which includes actions involving less than 1000 workers, hit over 6000, about 80% greater than the 10 year average.

Sanitation workers in Baltimore, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Workers, Greyhound Bus workers and many others all hit the streets.