Socialist Party

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Socialist Party

A conglomeration of various Marxist groups—the Nueva Acción Pública, the Acción Revolucionaria Socialista, the Partido Socialista Marxista, the Orden Socialista, and the Partido Socialista Unificado—became the Socialist Party on 19 April 1933. Created to fill a political vacuum caused by the collapse of the Carlos Ibáñez government and the failure of the Socialist Republic of 100 Days, the party endured repression at the hands of the Arturo Alessandri Palma government, which exiled many of its leaders, including Marmaduke Grove Vallejo. The Socialists created a special niche for themselves: they favored the class struggle and the dictatorship of the proletariat, and opposed capitalism and imperialism, particularly that of the United States. But while ideologically akin to the Communists, they refused to accept the domination of Moscow.

Initially acting alone, the Socialists urged an alliance with other left-wing parties to form the Bloque de Izquierda in 1935. Two years later, the Communists joined the Socialists and other elements, including the Radical Party, to establish the Popular Front. Although they held various ministerial portfolios in the Aguirre Cerda government, some dissidents accused the party's leaders of betraying Socialist principles by supporting the reformist, but hardly revolutionary, Aguirre Cerda government.

This dispute, which led to the creation of the Socialist Workers Party (Partido Socialista de Trabajadores), constituted the first of many splits which shattered the party's cohesion. Grove later led another splinter group out of the Socialist fold and into the Partido Socialista Auténtico when radicals criticized his support of the Ríos regime. Given the party's eclectic composition, it is not surprising that schisms appeared. By 1946 the Socialists had formed three parties, and not surprisingly, their collective fortunes declined in the elections. Two years later, the party coalesced into just two factions: the Partido Socialista de Chile and the Partido Socialista Popular.

The Partido Socialista Popular unexpectedly supported the candidacy of Carlos Ibáñez, a former dictator associated with conservative policies. Although the party attempted to rationalize this policy, its decision represented an attempt to jump on the Ibáñez bandwagon in order to win back some of its former supporters. This opportunistic policy bore fruit when the party won certain ministerial posts and increased its congressional representation. But when Ibáñez's policies began to misfire, the Socialist faction withdrew its support. In 1957 the Socialists managed to reconcile their two factions. Earlier, in 1956, the Socialists had joined the Communists to create the Popular Action Front (FRAP), which would nominate Salvador Allende as its presidential candidate in 1958 and 1964. They also participated in the 1970 Popular Unity government.

The largely working-class Socialists sought to establish a broad-based authoritarian government to reorder drastically the nation's economic, social, and political priorities. Unlike the Communists, the Socialists believed that Chile's own experience should shape the revolutionary process. The Socialists became more vociferous during the Allende period, advocating armed revolution, seeking the abolition of the bourgeois state, and refusing to compromise with the Christian Democrats. Many believe that Socialist intransigence prevented Allende from compromising on certain essential issues, thus hastening the collapse of his government.

Since 1973, the party has split into various factions, including one led by Ricardo Lagos, which appeared willing to compromise with non-Marxists, and another under the control of the more radical Clodomiro Almeyda Medina, which was not. Despite these differences, the Socialists cooperated with the anti-Pinochet forces, helping to elect Patricio Aylwin in 1989 and electing representatives to both houses of Congress. Continuing their partnership with other leftist parties, the Socialists won the presidency in 1999 with candidate Ricardo Lagos. Again, in 2006, the socialist candidate Michelle Bachelet won the presidential contest and also became Chile's first female chief executive.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Julio César Jobet Burquez, El socialismo chileno a través de sus congresos (1965) and El partido socialista de Chile, 2 vols. (1971).

Miriam R. Hochwald, "Imagery in Politics: A Study of the Ideology of the Chilean Socialist Party" (Ph.D. diss., UCLA, 1971).

Paul W. Drake, Socialism and Populism in Chile, 1932–52 (1978).

Benny Pollack and Hernán Rosenkranz, Revolutionary Social Democracy—The Chilean Socialist Party (1986).

Additional Bibliography

Baño, Rodrigo, ed. La Unidad Popular treinta años después. Santiago: Departamento de Sociología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile, 2003.

Ponce Durán, Pedro. Oscar Schnake Vergara: Comienzos del socialismo chileno, 1933–1942. Santiago: Ediciones Documentas, 1994.

William F. Sater

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture