A New Year's gift to all dear Chesstalkers!

[Bob Armstrong]

Chile - President Salvadore Allende - 1970-3



Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until his death in 1973. As a socialist committed to democracy, he has been described as the first Marxist to be elected president in a liberal democracy in Latin America. Wikipedia

Of course there will be some law changes to switch from Capitalism to Democratic Marxism. This does not make all new laws "authoritarian".

Secondly, Allende was freely elected, and campaigned openly on these legal changes his party wished to make (It was a coalition of his socialist party with the traditional Chilean Communist Party). So the electors knew and accepted that these changes would be good for society.

In fact, Allende's government was so popular that he was removed from office by a USA-inspired coup by General Augusto Pinochet of the Chilean Military (The first time for Chile - it had the best democratic history of any Latin American country).

Allende knew he would be tortured if captured within the Presidential Palace (The soldiers were entering). So he gave his last Presidential speech, and then committed suicide in the Presidential palace.

So no......the history of Democratic Marxist governments is NOT authoritarianism.......it is full on democracy (And note: achieved under an electoral system within Capitalism).

Bob A

[Dilip Panjwani]

Salvador Allende:
Immediately after coming to power, he forcibly grabbed away the prime businesses in Chile, without adequately compensating the true owners, thereby transiently being able to give away a lot of freebies to his voters. The true colors of Marxism soon showed themselves, and the Chilean economy was in shambles, with an inflation rate in triple digits, with misery and uprising amongst the citizens, which Pinochet took advantage of . That is when he committed suicide...

[Bob Armstrong]

Chile

Allende was definitely opposed by the Chilean business community and the elite.

But they were totally unable to mobilize the masses to opposition, who fully supported Allende.

The USA CIA was also surrepititiously in there agitating against Allende with the ordinary people, and getting nowhere.

The only solution the opposition could implement to wrest control from Allende was.........an illegal coup against the popular, freely elected Allende, with the active surreptitious assistance of the USA. .

Bob A (DM'er)

[Dilip Panjwani]

Chile

Allende was definitely opposed by the Chilean business community and the elite.

But they were totally unable to mobilize the masses to opposition, who fully supported Allende.

The USA CIA was also surrepititiously in there agitating against Allende with the ordinary people, and getting nowhere.

The only solution the opposition could implement to wrest control from Allende was.........an illegal coup against the popular, freely elected Allende, with the active surreptitious assistance of the USA. .

Bob A (DM'er)

Of course! Allende grabbed from the minority (the entrepreneurs) to give freebies to the majority (the workers)...
But when inflation was in triple figures, the majority too became uneasy, and fortunately for all of Chile, before the workers became entirely dependent on those freebies because of their deteriorating situation, thus making the disastrous DM entrenched, the system changed. Chile was saved by the uprising from turning into a Venezuela!