Salvador Allende

Born July 26, 1908
Valparaíso, Chile
Died September 11, 1973
Santiago, Chile

Chilean president

S alvador Allende made history by being the first democratically elected socialist head of state in the Western Hemisphere. Socialism is an economic and political system in which the government owns most means of production and profits are shared with everyone. Trained as a doctor, Allende devoted most of his life to improving the lives of working-class Chileans. He wanted to create a true republic of the working class, in which democracy ruled—a country dedicated to their health, welfare, and development. He wanted to show that a peaceful road to socialism existed.

Allende's unique background allowed him to play a crucial role in the creation of the Popular Unity Coalition that brought him to power. He was able to unify traditional and revolutionary political parties to create a group to govern Chile. But in doing so, he touched off a frenzy of concern in the Western world. The United States and other Western countries worried that Chile's socialism provided an opportunity for communist countries, especially the Soviet Union, to gain a foothold in the Americas. Communism is a governmental system in which a single political party, the Communist Party, controls nearly all aspects of society. In a communist economy, private ownership of businesses and property is prohibited so that the goods produced and the wealth accumulated can be shared equally by all.

Early life

Salvador Allende Gossens was born on July 26, 1908, into an upper-middle-class family in Valparaíso, Chile. His father, Salvador Allende Castro, was a lawyer. His mother, Laura Gossens, was a teacher and stressed a freethinking family atmosphere. Allende's family had a long tradition of service to the country. At sixteen years of age, following his education in Chile's public schools, Salvador Allende volunteered for military service. He went on to earn an officer's rank in the army reserves.

His family also had a long tradition of participation in radicalism, in which extreme change in politics is advocated. His father and uncle were part of the reformist efforts (mass changes) of the Radical Party in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Allende was exposed to radical ideas and concepts early in life. When his father died, Salvador Allende declared that he would dedicate his life to the social struggle, or concerns related to such issues as health and employment, of the people of Chile.

After his discharge from the military, Allende went on to study medicine at the University of Chile. He was a good student and held several leadership positions while in school. He was president of the student medical center, vice chairman of the student federation, and a delegate to the university council. He married Hortensia Bussy and had three daughters.

Allende's education was not restricted to medicine. He began reading the works of political philosopher Karl Marx (1818–1883) and writings by former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924). Allende became convinced that a socialist revolution would solve Chile's social and economic problems. He did not, however, agree with the rigidity of the Soviet Union's communist policies. While in school, Allende helped found the Chilean Socialist Party as a socialist alternative to the Communist Party's support for the Soviet Union.

Allende's education was interrupted by frequent suspensions from school and at least two arrests, all of which stemmed from his political activities. Allende was protesting the dictatorship of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo (1877–1960). Allende was awarded a doctorate in medicine in 1937, but because of his political activism and his outspokenness, he found that potential employers were wary of offering him high-level medical positions. He ended up in a series of lower-level jobs.

Political life

Though Allende's medical career never really blossomed, his political career began to take off. He served as secretary general of the Socialist Party of Chile in 1933. In 1937, he was elected to Chile's Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Chile's congress. While in congress, Allende introduced many bills addressing issues of public health, social welfare, and women's rights. He developed a reputation as a champion of the poor.

Allende served as Chile's minister of health from 1939 to 1943, during which time he focused on the social causes of poor health. Allende knew that individual decisions always affected personal health, but he believed that social factors, such as poverty, access to health care, and the living conditions of each person, also played a role. He tried to address these factors through changes in health insurance and industrial safety laws. While he was minister of health, he published a book, The Medical-Social Reality in Chile.

In 1945, Allende was elected to Chile's Senate, the upper house of Chile's congress. Allende served three eight-year terms in the Senate, which included stints as vice president and then president of the Senate. He also unsuccessfully ran for president of Chile a number of times. He was suspended from the Socialist Party for a while in 1952 because of his support for the Communist Party of Chile, which was outlawed at that time. In 1956, he served as the first president of the Popular Revolutionary Action Front (FRAP), a communistsocialist coalition, or group. In 1970, Allende was finally successful in his bid for the presidency and became the first popularly elected socialist head of state in the Americas.

President-Elect Allende

In Chile, there were numerous political parties. To elect a president, various parties often had to cooperate with one another and agree to vote for one person. A candidate needed at least a plurality (most votes) to make the runoff election in which to seek a majority. By the late 1960s, Allende was considered past his prime as a politician. However, he was also recognized as the only person who could bring together the groups necessary to win the election. Allende was able to unite the Socialist Party with the Radical Party, the Communist Party, the Christian Democrats, and other reform parties in Chile to craft a coalition—called the Popular Unity Coalition—that was able to garner enough support to win the election.

Allende won plurality (36 percent), but since he did not receive a majority of votes, he had to participate in a runoff in a second election to gain a majority. In the runoff, Allende won. However, the 36 percent in the initial balloting represented only a tiny percentage of Chile's total population. Since the number of votes Allende received represented less than half the voters, the Chilean congress had to confirm his victory in the runoff election. Confirmation was not guaranteed, and much negotiation took place.

Finally, the Chilean congress agreed to confirm Allende as president in exchange for his support of some changes to Chile's constitution. The changes reflected the concerns of many Chileans that Allende's socialist affiliations would lead to a deterioration in the people's rights, similar to that seen in the Soviet Union. Allende instituted major changes in the economic system, such as wage increases for low-paid workers while freezing prices of goods. He also nationalized companies, such as copper mines, owned by U.S. citizens without compensating for losses; pushed for collective farms; and nationalized many local businesses. Allende supported the constitutional amendments guaranteeing freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, and other basic freedoms. He became president in 1970.

Cold War fears

Allende had run for president on a platform, or political program, of moderate reform. He advocated agricultural reform, which usually meant the redistribution of land from large landowners to people with no land. He also supported labor reform, social welfare programs, and liberal economic programs. One of his more controversial proposals involved Chile's copper mines. These were very important to Chile's economy. Copper mining and production made up a huge part of Chile's exports each year—about 75 percent. But companies based in the United States controlled the copper mines. Allende and many other Chileans believed that the copper mines should be controlled by Chile. Allende proceeded to nationalize ownership of the copper mines.

The United States did not want Allende to be Chile's president. U.S. president Richard M. Nixon (1913–1994; served 1969–74; see entry) was strongly anticommunist and did not believe that Chile should have a socialist government. When Allende was elected, Nixon did not send him the customary greeting of congratulations. Nixon feared that Chile would be only the first of the South American governments to fall to communism, that Chile would pave the way for others. Allende added to Nixon's fears when he resumed diplomatic ties with communist Cuba within ten days of taking office.

Immediately following Allende's election, many of the wealthier people in Chile sent their money out of the country. They were afraid that Allende would take their money and give it to poor people. In addition, about fifteen thousand people left Chile. Trying to calm his nation's fears, Allende said that 98 percent of Chileans had nothing to fear from his government, but many people worried that they were part of the 2 percent that would be affected.

Rumors spread of a violent response to Allende's election. Some people were pushing the military to take control of Chile and overthrow Allende. The move to overthrow Allende was coming from reactionary people in Chile. Reactionary opinions involve a former, and sometimes outdated, political policy. Allende said that his supporters would answer force with force.

Allende tried to alleviate U.S. fears of a communist government in the Americas by promising that Chile would never permit its military bases to be used against the United States. The United States was not convinced and began pressuring other countries to reduce or eliminate trade with Chile, thereby seriously hurting its economy. However, because conservative Chileans were affiliated with the military, the United States continued to send money and equipment to the Chilean military.

Deterioration

In the early 1970s, the world was in the midst of a recession, or reduced economic activity. Chile was no exception. Inflation, or increasing consumer prices, was high, and jobs were scarce. There were shortages of the basic items required for living, and food was rationed. The Chilean people became more and more frantic about the economic situation.

Allende tried to respond, but the U.S. economic blockade made it difficult. In addition, he instituted some programs that frightened the Chilean people. For example, he started a neighborhood surveillance program and applied pressure on opposition newspapers to quiet the voices critical of his programs. For many Chileans, Allende's programs seemed too much like the confining programs of the Soviet Union. Allende lost even more support by appearing to be soft on crime, which continued to escalate.

In 1972 and 1973, general strikes, or work stoppages, crippled the Chilean economy. Workers and shopkeepers were upset with the inflation and lack of goods, and they protested by refusing to work. The economy began to collapse. The country was falling apart, but the military, fortified by U.S. contributions, was strong.

The coup

On September 11, 1973, the military put into action a plan to overthrow President Allende. The military surrounded Allende's palace; inside, Allende, his daughter Beatriz, and his supporters waited. Allende's daughter was a fervent supporter of the far left, or liberal, component of the Socialist Party. Some historians have suggested that Allende's decision to nationalize businesses was partially driven by a wish not to disappoint her. Allende made one final speech affirming his belief in the Chilean people, and then died. It was never determined whether he shot himself or was killed by an assassin.

The coup was very violent. Several thousand people were killed or injured in the overthrow of Allende. Allende was buried in an unmarked grave, reportedly so that the grave site would not become a shrine. In 1990, he was reburied with honor. Allende became a hero for many liberals. With his commitment to workers' rights and the welfare of the poor, as well as his unwillingness to bow to pressure from the United States, he inspired many liberals in America. Allende's stature only grew when accusations surfaced that the United States, specifically the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), had engineered his downfall. For the political right, or conservatives, Allende continued to stand for the threat of communism.

For More Information

Books

Alegria, Fernando. Allende. Translated by Frank Janney. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994.

Allende Gossens, Salvador. Salvador Allende Reader: Chile's Voice of Democracy. Edited by James D. Cockcroft. New York: Ocean Press, 2000.

Boorstein, Edward. Allende's Chile: An Inside View. New York: International Publishers, 1977.

Davis, Nathaniel. The Last Two Years of Salvador Allende. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985.

Kaufman, Edy. Crisis in Allende's Chile: New Perspectives. New York: Praeger, 1988.

Petras, James F., and Morris Morley. The United States and Chile: Imperialism and the Overthrow of the Allende Government. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1975.

Sigmund, Paul E. The United States and Democracy in Chile. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.

Allende's Journeys in the Communist World

In 1958, Salvador Allende visited Cuba and began lifelong friendships with Fidel Castro (1926–; see entry), who became president of communist Cuba in 1959, and revolutionary Che Guevara (1928–1967). Later, as a senator in Chile, Allende visited communist North Vietnam and was hosted by North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh (1890–1969; see entry). Allende also visited North Korea and East Germany, two more countries that had communist governments.

Allende continued to emphasize that he did not want violent revolution in Chile, but his visits and friendships in the communist world frightened many people, both inside and outside of Chile. Chileans worried that Allende did not seem to recognize the repression and lack of civil rights that were common under communist governments. Still, Allende asserted that he believed in democratic evolution, not revolution. When Allende was elected as president of Chile, his friend Guevara sent him a note saying that Allende was seeking change through political means, while Guevara sought it through revolution.