The Battle of Chile: Part III (1979) Movie Script
1
THE BATTLE OF CHILE
THE STRUGGLE OF
AN UNARMED PEOPLE
PART THREE: POPULAR POWER
A PATRICIO GUZMAN FILM
IN MEMORY OF JORGE MUELLER SILVA
Allende!
The left, united, will
never be defeated!
Santiago de Chile, 1972.
In only 18 months,
Salvador Allende's
socialist government
has carried out a large part
of its social change program.
Over a year and a
half, it has nationalized
the big copper, iron, coal,
nitrate and cement mines.
In this time,
the State manages to control
most of Chile's principal
monopolist companies.
Allende, we're with you,
so hit the "mummies" hard!
It has also expropriated six
million hectares of arable land
and nationalized almost all
national and foreign banks.
On their part,
the North American
government and the opposition
have seriously hampered
the government's work.
Despite this,
Allende still
receives firm support
from wide sectors
of the population.
Towards the end of 1972,
the toughest sector
of the opposition
reaffirms its strategy.
The National Party
insists on the need
to provoke the fall
of the government
before the next
parliamentary elections.
To do this, they
encourage a truckers' strike,
which spearheads
a general collapse
of the economy.
The scarcity of spare
parts, fomented by the U.S.,
creates ideal conditions
for the National Party
to win control of the
truck owners' organization.
If we, the means
of mobilization,
want an acceptable solution,
then we'll have no more
tricks, no more zigzagging!
We are going after a solution
to the problems of
tariffs and spare parts,
of adequate reorganization.
We want more justice
and less bureaucracy.
And so we're asking you
for your support so that
our Board of Management
can work from this position.
We believe that the time has
come when, as one single man,
one single trucker,
and along with the women
who are participating
side by side in this,
we have no alternative
but to raise the banners of
an indefinite, decisive strike
whatever the consequences.
If we have to perish
in misery, in
bankruptcy and ruin,
let's do it on our feet,
vibrant, upright and proud,
for that's the image of the poor Chilean
expressed through this organization!
Thank you.
And that, gentlemen,
was how the
Confederation's Board
gave the necessary instructions
to all our fellow organizations
so that from yesterday, Tuesday,
at midnight,
all services in Chile
would be paralyzed.
Therefore, we have
fulfilled, gentlemen,
the mandate which
the national assembly
gave to the Board
of this Confederation.
On October 11, 1972,
the first transport
strike begins.
The next day,
the truckers get the support of
the National Agricultural Society,
and of large and
small storekeepers,
who also call a stoppage.
On the night of October 14,
the Christian Democrat party
also resolve to support the strike.
Urban and highway transport
"is a strategic sector
of the production chain.
The absence of vehicles
disrupts the supply of raw materials
and interrupts distribution
on a national scale.
The New York Times
would later reveal
that the main economic
support for the strike
came from the U.S. government.
The big employers,
grouped in the Society for
Manufacturing Development,
also halt production,
and begin an indefinite
closure of their factories.
These sectors defend
private companies
and reject any kind of
socialization of the economy.
Chilean industry
has grouped together
in the Society for
Manufacturing Development,
of which I am president.
This institution
is the oldest of its
kind in Latin America.
It was founded in 1883.
To date it has had 19
presidents, and I'm the 20th.
Historically, the Society for
Manufacturing Development
is a mouthpiece for big
national and foreign capital.
During the strike,
it represents the
main industrialists.
We asked the industrialists
to submit to this movement,
and they submitted
to it, as persons.
Industry was paralyzed in many
places, and that was because
many groups of workers
followed the movement,
professional workers,
such as engineers,
bank employees, health workers,
professionals such as
lawyers and engineers.
And there were storekeepers,
small and medium-sized industrialists.
Really, all of industry
and commerce.
It was a movement which
took in extremely wide sectors.
In Santiago,
70% of private
buses stop working.
The country's urban
communications are in crisis.
The workers take factory
trucks on the streets,
and improvise minimum transport.
Given the emergency,
they fight the
strike from the start.
In response to the
government's call,
the great majority of
workers get to their jobs.
As soon as we heard
that the carriers had
voted for the strike,
we thought it was a maneuver
against the government.
We had a meeting
immediately to take precautions,
for this is a state company
and we have to look after it.
We worked every day, as normal.
We arrived late,
but we got here.
How did you come?
In trucks, or whatever.
The factory put on trucks,
and got private buses,
and we came in them.
We're here to work,
and give our
support to the factory.
And how did you
manage to get here?
We came in the bus,
on foot, or whatever.
The important thing
was to get here.
Some comrades who worked
here lent us their trucks,
and we used those to get
to work and go back home.
- Did the factory stop?
- No, never.
Our attitude is that
we'll always keep working to
cooperate with the government.
So we've done everything
that's within our power
to be able to stand
by the government.
We've never missed
work during the strikes.
We've always been
here, regular as clockwork.
It's a seditious strike.
How did the workers respond?
By working as normal every day.
And there were
even young mothers
who came to work with
their babies in their arms,
and even pregnant
women turned up.
Meanwhile, in the
center of Santiago,
the opposition's agitators
attack those buses
which haven't joined the strike.
In the residential areas,
most industrial executives,
engineers and technicians
stay at home, firmly
supporting the strike.
At present,
I am president
of the Confederation
of Chilean Professionals,
which has a membership of
some 50,000 professionals,
workers with
professional qualifications
who work in various industries
or other companies in the country.
These kinds of associations,
supposedly apolitical,
work in close collaboration
with the opposition parties.
We have great organization
amongst our members.
People who are disciplined,
aware, responsible.
The October strike showed that.
Gradually, these
organizations start to behave
in an almost fascist way.
I don't believe in the myth
that a worker, just by being
a worker, can do everything.
Well, the engineers left.
They went with the
company executives.
They abandoned the company,
and it was left in the hands
of our manager comrades.
So we organized
ourselves immediately,
and, along with them, we've
taken on this responsibility.
We're doing well now that
our bosses have abandoned us,
and we're carrying on ourselves.
They went off and
left the factory to us,
so we just carried
on working as normal.
So far, we haven't
had any problems.
We're getting on with things.
I think what they did was wrong.
They didn't even
say anything to us.
Despite everything,
we're more satisfied now,
much better off,
and I wish I could shake
comrade Allende's hand.
We're doing perfectly well
the way we're working now.
I think we're doing very well
with the new industrial reforms.
We're doing well,
and working with
more determination.
In the factories,
the more experienced workers
take charge of the main operations.
The few engineers who
support the government
look after various
neighboring factories.
Thus, just one engineer
can attend to the problems
of four or five companies.
In these first moments,
industrial activity doesn't stop.
Meanwhile, in the Upper Chamber,
ten senators issue a statement
saying that the government
is overstepping the law.
This document, which
has no legal force,
damages Allende's constitutional
image in the eyes of the armed forces.
The ten signatories include members
of the Christian Democrat Party.
I think that, in this case,
the Christian Democrats
are wrong in supporting
the "mummies".
I used to be a Christian
Democrat myself,
and I think they're betraying our
country by supporting those people.
It was the bourgeoisie who
kept all the workers in ignorance.
This is obvious.
Why do so many workers
have no idea about politics?
They say they're "apolitical",
but they don't know
that everything is political.
In order to organize,
the workers had to unite.
But on what basis?
The organizations
have functioned
on the basis of
political parties.
And the parties which
are with Popular Unity now
have always been
with the workers.
The opposition parties
only exploited the workers,
and that's the case with
the Christian Democracy.
They created that
paternalism to use the workers.
Are there Christian
Democrat workers?
Yes, of course.
- Any problems with them?
- No.
- They work too?
- We all work together.
There's no problem.
- Are there Christian Democrat workers?
- Yes.
- They work too?
- Yes.
Although the Christian
Democracy is supporting the strike,
some of its militant
workers carry on working.
In fact, these workers are
at variance with their leaders.
They feel more identified
with their fellow workers
than with the bosses.
You're not with Popular
Unity. Who are you with?
I'm with the workers.
Who are the workers with?
With Popular Unity.
- Did you work during the strike?
- Of course.
- Why?
- Because we have workers' awareness.
- Did you work too?
- Yes.
So you're with Popular Unity?
With the workers.
Because the "mummies"
have never respected
the present government.
It's the people who
respect the government.
They follow the
government's orders.
But those rich guys...
What do you call them?
The moneybag men,
the men who are
losing their interests.
They're the ones
who are complaining.
They know that the people
have to buy, and have to eat,
and now they want
to hide the things
that the people have to buy.
They're causing chaos so that the
people will turn against the government.
The opposition
increase the hoarding
of essential items.
It's an attempt to create
widespread shortages.
In reply, the government
and the popular organizations
increase surveillance
to find where the goods
are being secretly stored.
Despite everything,
the population has problems
in obtaining products
which are available.
Given the critical situation,
the government declares the capital
and several provinces as emergency areas.
This means that the armed forces
have to undertake police duties.
The opposition accuse Allende
of making political
use of the military.
The opposition
press start a campaign
to encourage disobedience to
the government among the military.
This is a very critical
time for our country.
But I think that with
unity among the workers
we'll get through.
What do you think
of the present crisis?
- I think it's pretty bad.
- And what should be done?
We have to stop what's happening,
and try to rebuild the country.
Things are bad.
What should we do?
Work and produce more.
- Say it louder.
- Work and produce more.
Really, the situation
is getting very serious.
The crisis?
We have to tackle it, and
everyone has to lend a hand.
- How?
- By working more,
producing more, and
helping the President.
We mustn't pay any
attention to the "mummies".
Their one and only interest
is in stifling us, smothering us.
They're taking
advantage of the fact that
the North Americans want to
trample on our dignity as Chileans.
They're doing the same,
and we can't agree,
as Chileans, as workers,
as men who have been
in our jobs for years,
to act in accordance
with their wishes. No!
Not now, not ever.
Just the opposite.
Our intention will always
be to fight for a new Chile,
economically
and politically free.
In the meantime, some
factories start selling their products
directly to the people.
The unions in the various
industries join forces
to take the products
to the neighborhoods.
Just now, we're working
as inspectors, ad honorem.
We're not doing our old
jobs but we still get our salary.
The work that we're doing
now involves coordinating
the market areas, as it were, that
have to do with electrical gadgets.
Other factories send workers'
pickets to open shops that are closed.
These workers act as inspectors
on behalf of the government.
All the directors of the various
railway workers' associations
issued a statement regarding
yesterday's attack by fascist elements
against a passenger train,
and said they will not
tolerate further aggressions.
They defined yesterday's
attack on a passenger train
as a criminal act against the
rail workers and against travellers,
whose lives are in the
hands of those workers.
Yes, there were two
committees to guard the factory,
day and night.
Two committees.
What did they do?
They guarded the factory,
so no one would try to seize it.
We've got a vigilance
committee here, comrade,
and it watches the factory on
Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
It's never left unguarded
for a single moment.
Yes, we thought of
building four towers,
one on each of the
four sides of the building,
and that way
we'd have a much better view
when we were keeping
watch over the factory.
Day after day,
vigilance committees spring up in
Santiago's main manufacturing areas.
Tell the story of this truck.
Well, the comrades met
in a workers' assembly,
and agreed to cooperate
with the government
on the best way
of tackling and defeating
the transport strike.
And that was by making
tankers for the transport of fuel,
and making them as
fast as we possibly could.
All in all, it took us just
one week to do the job,
and give the government ten
tankers like the ones you see here.
By mid-October,
the workers' organizational capacity
has surpassed all expectations.
They manage to maintain
relatively normal production
by making maximum
use of reserve stocks.
The industries create a
system among themselves
for exchanging resources.
In practice,
we are seeing the start of
the so-called "industrial belts".
Each belt is an association
of factories and companies
which coordinates the jobs
of workers in the same areas.
They are the first seeds
of popular power in Chile.
While government supporters
seem to be beating the crisis,
the opposition's violent groups
try to create an image of
chaos and lack of authority.
The efficient
action by the police
and the mass
mobilization of workers
who demonstrated their support
for the constitutional government,
defeated the attempt
today by fascist elements
to spark off a
bloody disturbance
in the city of Santiago.
The fascist groups attacked
the students and workers
who were showing their
support for the government.
Stores were damaged,
the Corporation for Urban Improvement
was attacked and looted by the mob,
and shots were fired
by unseen gunmen.
The presence of workers
on the main streets
caused the dispersal of
the groups of provokers
who were trying to create
a climate of disorder.
Workers from the building
industry and the nationalized sectors
marched through the
center to prevent outrages
by the fascist groups.
On October 23,
the employers' movement
starts to show some signs of tiring.
In the factories,
the workers' situation
is also difficult
as reserve stocks
are almost exhausted.
Given the situation,
Allende creates the
political conditions
for an understanding with
the Christian Democracy.
He does so
by bringing the commanders-in-chief
of the armed forces into the government.
To create this
civil-military cabinet,
the president relies
on Gen. Carlos Prats,
natural leader of the officers who
respect the democratic system.
Backed by this sector,
Allende reaches an agreement
with the Christian Democracy
and negotiates a solution.
A wide sector of
left-wing workers
interprets the
presence of the military
as a chance to use a heavy hand
against the opposition.
You like the idea of the
military in the cabinet?
I agree with having the
military in the cabinet.
It's the only way to
control the "mummies".
They need a heavy hand.
What do you think of it?
They should have
been there from the start.
Why?
To solve all the
problems we've got.
What do you think of it?
I agree entirely with
including the military.
They should have put
more in the ministry.
Do you think they're
with the people?
Yes, of course, they're
all with the people now.
How do you know that?
We know because,
in the first place,
the reactionary forces
couldn't overturn
all of the armed forces.
So we know that they're with
the government and the people.
After the statement that
Gen. Prats made yesterday,
we know perfectly well
that it's a guarantee for us.
I don't like them
in the government,
simply because democratic systems
are inconsistent with the military.
So why has comrade
Allende fallen back on them?
I guess because things are
so serious at the moment,
circumstances made it
necessary to take that step
so as to impose order.
But I hope it isn't permanent,
that it's for a short time.
I think that, at this moment,
neither I nor anybody
can say clearly if
there'll be a civil war.
It all depends on
the armed forces.
If they continue to act
as they've done so far,
being loyal to the
people and to order,
and respecting the law,
I don't think there'll
be a confrontation.
The government will continue,
with difficulty, but it'll continue.
What will have to be done
if the strike is repeated?
The State should
take over the trucks.
All the trucking should
be taken over by the State
and then managed by the workers.
The trucks can't do
anything without the workers.
And the workers are
building the country.
We, the people, opened
our eyes and realized.
We aren't like we used to be.
Before, they tricked us all the time.
Because I think that
throughout the world
they have to
understand the worker.
Not just here in
Chile, but everywhere.
On November 10, 1972,
the civil-military cabinet
manages to put an end to the strike.
For the U.S. government
and the internal opposition
this means failure.
They've done great economic
damage to the country,
but haven't toppled the
government, as they'd hoped.
For a wide sector of workers,
this October experience will be a
basis for the growth of popular power.
A few days later,
at a demonstration to
celebrate the end of the strike,
the "Cerrillos Belt"
makes its first appearance.
The organization, which
didn't exist before the strike,
takes in 250 companies
from the south of Santiago.
Workers from
the "Cerrillos Belt"!
Present!
Workers from "Fensa"!
Present!
"Sindeln"!
Present!
- "Maestranza Cerrillos"!
- Present!
Workers from "Ralco"!
Present!
After the strike,
almost all the base movements
are linked to popular power.
It is an initiative channelled
by the government,
but its origins don't lie there.
This power often causes
consternation in some left-wing parties,
alarmed by certain spontaneous
attitudes among the people.
Let's create popular power!
After October,
the slogan "Let's
create popular power"
continues to be heard
all over the country.
Power to the workers!
WORKERS, FIRM HAND AND ATTACK!
By the middle of 1973,
31 industrial belts have been created
in all of the country's main cities.
Eight of these
belong to Santiago.
When conflicts
arise with the bosses,
especially in small companies,
the workers concerned
receive immediate support
from the belt to which they belong.
This solidarity gives
the small unions
greater backing in order
to confront the bosses.
We've earned huge
fortunes for those guys,
the bosses.
But they won't do anything
for the welfare of the workers.
And now they want to destroy us.
There's a great
persecution of union leaders,
but we union
leaders are not alone.
We're supported by all our
workers, and by the industrial belts.
And the industrial belts
cover the entire length of Chile,
so we're powerful.
And they've failed once again.
Now we're all organized
and we're all aware,
and the workers have
opened their eyes.
We're aware of
a lot more things.
And we've got support.
The more united we are,
the more powerful we'll be.
The enemy that
we're facing, the right,
is very powerful
and well organized.
Why shouldn't we be organized?
Why shouldn't we take
advantage of our numbers?
There are more
workers than bosses.
It's easy to beat them, but we
must be organized and united.
- What about the industrial belts?
- They're very important.
Why?
Because I think that
they're the real power
of the organized communes.
And I think that we
should all be very clear
about the importance
of the industrial belts
and how we should work to
support and organize them.
Do you think they work in
parallel to the government,
or with the government?
A lot of people are scared
of the industrial belts.
Yes, we've actually
been able to feel that fear,
because we've seen
how, in the public services,
they are really terrified
about community participation.
You see no danger
in industrial belts?
Of course not.
I've got every confidence
in the people's intelligence.
People who are
organized are intelligent.
So how can you be afraid
of a people's organization?
The workers occupy hundreds
of factories all over the country.
WORKER-MANAGED COMPANY
Some of these industries
can be expropriated legally.
However,
a great many of them
are in workers' hands
without any possibility
of legal support.
They are the first symptoms
that the State apparatus
is starting to be
overwhelmed by reality.
Later, they start to organize
"community commandos"
as another kind
of popular power.
These commandos unite all
the components of a commune,
that is, students,
housewives, workers,
neighbors and peasants.
Have you heard of the
community commandos?
Yes, I've heard
a lot about them.
They're very well organized.
We've got them here too.
They care a lot
about the workers,
especially now,
when we're going through
this revolutionary period.
What do you think of the
community commandos?
They are organizations of
ordinary people which are fighting.
It's something
in which all the proletarian
class should be participating,
because many
proletarians are mistaken,
and being fooled by people
who say there are shortages.
That's being done by the
right, by the bourgeoisie,
by U.S. imperialism and
the Chilean bourgeoisie.
None of them is
fighting for Chile.
We're fighting for Chile
and for equality for all,
so we can build a socialism which
belongs to the proletarian class.
What about the
community commandos?
I think that at this
particular moment
they are the organic solution
to the problem of provisioning,
and also to that of uniting
the proletarian class
in the communes
and the provinces,
both for a possible civil war,
and the daily confrontation
which we must face,
and also for specific
solutions to things such as
hygiene, health, vigilance
against the bourgeoisie.
So what's needed there?
What's needed is an organization
which can provide guidance
for those sectors of the
class which are marginalized.
Today they are the
most explosive sectors,
the ones who are really
mobilizing right across the country.
We are sending out
a call to all neighbors
to organize however
may be necessary
so that within a short time,
with the leadership
of the working class,
with the leadership of
the Cerrillos industrial belt,
we may set up the
community commando,
which, tomorrow, will be
power for the proletarian class,
and won't be halted by
bourgeois institutionalism
or reactionary elements.
Power to the workers!
Comrades...
We have come to
the center of Maipu
because we understand
that a basic tool for the
task we have undertaken
is class alliance.
The alliance that will allow
us to overthrow the enemy,
however powerful he is.
The alliance that will allow
us to halt imperialist action
carried out by its
puppets in Chile.
The alliance that will allow us
to build and develop
popular power.
The alliance that will allow us
to have the necessary
strength to take power.
In practice,
the community commandos
acquire real form from specific actions.
In this case,
workers from the Cerrillos belt
and peasants from the town of Maipu
decide to occupy by force 39
badly exploited agricultural estates.
These lands could be
one of the main sources
of provisions for the capital.
Each neighboring factory sends
pickets to support the action.
It's the first time
that urban workers
will take part in a
peasant mobilization.
This unitary action
sets out the true basis
of a communal commando.
In the early hours
of the morning,
brigades of peasants and
workers occupy the lands.
They set up permanent
guard at these key positions.
- May I ask you a question?
- All you want.
- What's your name?
- Luis Gilberto Jerez.
- And the estate's name?
- The "Santa Carolina" estate.
Why is it being occupied?
Because the owner didn't
keep his word to his workers,
to his employees.
The call went out and so
we decided to occupy it.
We're united because
we've come to help
our comrades here.
I'm on a committee which
is in charge of the estate.
I'm one of the founders
of that committee.
I strove for this.
I want our comrades
to strive as well,
for if we're united we
can throw out the bosses.
Where do you work?
In "Siam Di Tella".
- Where?
- "Siam Di Tella".
- So you work in industry.
- Yes, I run the Mackenna belt.
Why are you
occupying this estate?
It's necessary to unite the
working class and the peasants
to fight the bosses together,
because we've got
common problems
and we have to look
for a solution as a class.
How is the worker-peasant
union working here in Maipu?
I think it's the
first clear example
of how strong and effective
the worker-peasant union is.
We've taken 39 estates,
with the support of workers
from the Cerrillos sector
and from Vicuna Mackenna.
PRIVATE GROUNDS ENTRY
IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED
The second step is to
start exploiting the lands.
They also set up
vigilance committees
to patrol the lands day and night
to prevent reprisals by the owners.
The occupiers demand that the
law on agrarian reform be applied,
and call on
government bureaucrats
to study the situation.
In short,
our comrades are still
at the mercy of
the judicial powers,
with all these eviction
orders, arrest warrants,
and trials for crimes
they've never committed,
but these can be avoided
with state intervention
and the assigning of credits
to the supervisor and
the peasants on the estate.
In general, the
agrarian reform law
allows the expropriation
of badly exploited lands.
But in this case,
the estate doesn't meet
the law's requirements.
This forces the
peasants to defend firmly
the validity of
their initiative.
We don't lie,
and any comrade here who is
lying is immediately rejected by us.
Why is that?
If we are asking for those
26 estates, it's for a reason.
If we were asking for
28, there'd be a reason.
Then there'll be some
bit of bureaucratic trickery
to try to delay things
and undermine us.
We're not going to
accept any of that.
Why not? Because we don't
lie. They have to believe us.
If we're asking for
those 26 estates,
we're asking because our comrades
need to work those 26 estates.
We don't want someone
from the Agrarian Reform Office
turning up here
and trying to trick us.
We're not going to accept that!
So it's clear, if we're
asking for 26 estates,
there's a reason.
We're not lying or cheating
to be able to expropriate them.
We've got a reason for asking.
If we're saying they're
badly exploited, they are.
The owners, in turn, have
discovered a legal recourse
against the expropriations.
This resource is known as
"precautionary measures",
and entails protecting
the private property
for a period set by the Courts.
As the Courts are
controlled by the right,
there are lands which could
take years to expropriate.
This recourse wrecks
the peasants' initiative.
Comrade, I ask you,
what possibilities would we have
if all the estates to be appropriated
had these "precautionary measures"?
How could we take
possession of them?
This isn't a secret or anything.
The problem is,
the Corporation for Agrarian
Reform has got lawyers
to defend it in court.
The problem now is the
struggle going on in this country.
The Corporation is tied to
a law in order to expropriate.
The bosses have their lawyers,
and they invent defenses.
And you all know the
problem with the courts.
CAR has got nothing to do with
the "precautionary measures".
It's out of all our hands.
So your question is important,
because some estates may use
those "precautionary measures".
In that case, you'll have
to fight it in the courts.
But...
We have to occupy
all the estates
due to be expropriated soon.
But the occupants dare to
confront state bureaucracy
with all their energy.
Backed up by the
community commando,
the peasants submit a
government bureaucrat
to an authentic people's court.
I don't want to waste time.
I want to work and produce more.
That's our slogan.
I don't want to sit in
an office somewhere,
smoking, and doing paperwork.
I believe that if a
person isn't capable,
he should give up his position.
If, for example,
some comrade tells me that
I'm no good at my job as a leader,
then I would submit
my resignation,
and give my post to someone
who was more capable than I.
I think that if we say it
straight out to someone,
I think...
That person can defend
themselves. But we'll pressure.
If someone is manipulating
things so he stays on,
we'll find a way to
get him out of there.
No one in the Maipu commune
calls him comrade anymore,
because he hasn't
resolved a single problem
inside the Maipu estates.
And as the note says,
we know we're short of
potatoes, we're short of sugar,
short of all those things
the earth produces!
We know that we're short of foodstuffs,
and the earth produces all that.
We also know that
we're partly to blame
for the fact that
there's a food shortage.
That's why we want to
expropriate more land!
The reactionaries
have often said
that we're "the weak ones".
But we're showing
them that we're not.
We're producing food
because we know we have
to defend this cause of ours.
That's all I have to say.
Our comrade may
have something to say.
Yes, comrade.
Firstly, I'd like to
say the following.
I'm in a post which, as
regards remuneration,
doesn't bring me anything.
I wanted to say
that. It's no cushy job.
But the main thing, comrades,
is that I believe, and I'm
being self-critical here,
that I made the mistake
of trusting too much
in the Council's work.
That's a responsibility
which I have to accept.
I have to accept it, and I
should learn from it as well.
I admit that to you all.
Now, apart from that,
I think that
what you've said
today is very important,
because I believe
that I'm a revolutionary.
And when a revolutionary
thinks he's being
criticised
for a job which he thinks
he's doing well, but isn't,
that will undoubtedly
be a lesson to him,
and help improve his work.
If you want, we can talk
about all this at another time,
but I think you
deserved an explanation.
- I think...
- Comrade, may I speak?
As a committed
revolutionary and official,
don't clock watch on the job.
You should be committed to the
peasant masses and work more.
Let's create popular power!
Fighting and creating
popular power!
Let's create popular power!
Popular power also tackles
the problem of the supply of food.
During 1973,
the U.S. boycott and the
strong internal opposition
have created the ideal climate
for the majority of storekeepers
to be against the government.
They make larger profits by
selling their goods illegally.
Even the small storekeeper
prefers to steer his produce
to the black market.
To combat this,
a "direct supply" system is set
up in the working class areas.
We'll have our
delegate at the head,
and we'll set up our
distribution cooperative
for all the residents here.
We'll leave the
storekeeper isolated,
because, as our comrade has said,
he's the origin of the merchandise
that gets sent to
the black market.
So, we take
responsibility for ourselves.
We have to join
up with a delegate,
and form a cooperative
distribution center
for the people who live here.
And the idea is to supply
all the necessities for a home.
To do that, we must struggle,
and not give any more
money to the storekeeper,
for he got rich
enough at our cost.
So therefore, join together!
Let's all join together,
street by street.
We'll form a cooperative,
and do without the storekeeper!
Power to the workers!
So then,
when the people saw that
the supplies came directly
from the state distributor
and then directly to them,
they realized that many
problems were over for them.
So we call on all
the neighborhoods,
and we call on
every street to join up,
and discuss the problems
with its neighbors.
We want a "people's store" where
all the merchandise will arrive,
and people will be served.
We want to set up a
kind of supermarket.
That's what we want to suggest,
and we want an answer
from them so that we can do it.
The most important thing is
the residents' organization.
At present, lots of places
have got a people's store,
and it's supplied by
different companies,
mainly by ones
that are state-run.
I'd even say, exclusively
by state-run companies.
So you have to ask for an effort
from the residents themselves.
The residents have to feel
that they've put something
into it themselves.
They have to feel that
they're responsible.
It hasn't been given to
them, they did it themselves.
The people's store eliminates
the commercial store.
Each area which
decides to create a store
appoints certain neighbors
to collect the merchandise.
This one?
The next one.
Clear the way, comrades.
We only want workers here.
Come on, stand back,
comrades. Where do I load this?
Is it for this truck?
What else is to be loaded?
Rice.
Onions.
Algas.
Noodles.
Matches. Flour.
The food is supplied by the National
Distribution Company, DINAC,
the only one controlled
by the government.
Although 70% of the
distribution business
is in the hands of
Allende's enemies,
this company manages to serve
the most urgent needs
of the working class areas.
The neighbors hire a truck
to transport the goods
to the selling point.
This operation is
carried out once a week.
It's 8.00 p.m., and
you must understand
that other comrades have
to help us guard the store.
Anyone want to speak?
The women can stay until 12.00 or
1.00. The men can come after that.
Comrades, tell me one thing.
- Are you happy with this direct supply?
- Yes!
In 1973,
the people's stores are feeding
some 300,000 families in Santiago,
more than half
its total population.
In the different communes,
these stores distribute available
products in an orderly way.
Semolina.
Five boxes of matches.
They get half a pound of tea,
a pound of noodles,
and two pounds of rice,
and ten pounds of sugar.
Each family group has a
card for collecting the goods.
This facilitates distribution planning
and adherence to official prices.
The store is run by
the residents' collective,
on the basis of volunteer work.
How do you manage to
work in the people's store
and have a job at the same time?
For example,
we're given the merchandise...
They give it to us
on a Saturday or a
Friday, so we do the store
on a Saturday
when I'm not working.
And when I can't go,
my companion goes,
with other women
from the neighborhood.
Is direct supply
"popular power"?
At the moment, I think it is,
because we're seeing how,
with this business
of direct supply
we're uniting the
masses even more.
What do you think of
the present situation?
- It's very difficult.
- Why?
We can all see the reasons.
The government said yesterday
that the ones who were with Allende
told him to get tough.
But the government
can't get tough
because it doesn't have
a majority in Congress.
And that's the most
serious problem
that our comrade has
at the present moment.
I'm going to defend
our government
because we know that
it's the people's government
and we have to defend it.
So that's why I say
that I'm not afraid,
because I've made my mind up.
And I said to my wife,
You've got two children,
they're growing up.
You'll finish rearing them, and
if I have to die for some reason,
I want to die
defending our cause,
as a worker,
and because we've been
exploited all our lives.
Let's create popular power!
Throughout 1973,
the seeds of popular power
spread across the whole country.
Meanwhile,
in the centers of production
which are in government hands,
other kinds of
popular power appear.
In the saltpeter mines,
the problem of worker control
becomes a kind of popular power.
Going beyond
the vindictive fight,
people want more
transparency and more efficiency.
If, at this moment,
there's an imperialist blockade
and we don't receive raw
material or spare parts,
what do we have
to do in industry?
We have to plan production,
and provide organization
and good administration for the
repair shops and for the foundries.
Without repair shops,
you can't have industrial
development in this country.
At this moment, the
repair shops are the heart
which can keep alive and functioning
the rest of the industry's machinery
because the comrades
here make spare parts.
They plan and make the
spare parts when we need them.
The worker doesn't understand
intellectual abstractions.
The worker is fed up
with listening to words.
The demands which our
comrade made are very serious.
What is he demanding?
Objectives, goals at work.
What is he demanding?
A rational administration
of the repair shop,
with production plans.
We can't carry on with little
workshops in each section
because that means
a lack of administration
and a division of resources.
And this qualified workforce
will get tired and leave.
The comrades will
get disillusioned.
There is no comrade
here who supports fascism.
They're all workers,
and they all have a
great workers' awareness.
This is one of the
things we've made here,
because there's a
blockade on importation.
What we're seeing here
are circuit breakers which
were made in the foundry here.
We used to import these,
but as you and everyone
know, there's a blockade,
so we have to start
making the parts.
Now that we're in this situation
where we're being
blockaded by imperialism,
we're ready and determined
to fulfill our government's plan,
to produce more,
to find the solution to
the problems here. Why?
So we can make all the
spare parts the industry needs.
"Machinas" are the
workers' answers
to the problems that arise.
They call them "machinas".
This is a "machina".
We took two big ends and
made a new one out of them.
- What's it for?
- For the locomotives in the mine.
How old are they?
These are from 1928. There
aren't any parts for them.
In both the state-run
mines and factories,
the people want less
bureaucracy and more participation.
This opens a debate
on the limitations of the
"peaceful road" towards socialism.
In practice,
the struggle for participation
becomes an analysis of reality.
Right, comrades.
Popular Unity has been
governing for two years,
and specifically in this company
there has been no real,
effective participation.
Why has there been no
real, effective participation
and what has
happened as a result?
Worker participation
is a political problem.
Through participation,
workers will be able to break
the capitalist structures
of the companies.
Because this company
still has a capitalist structure
within its organization.
We're not in possession of power.
We're in possession of the government.
And the companies which
are within this government
also suffer the consequences
of these contradictions
within the political process.
So participation will break
the capitalist structures
and help the workers
set up new organizations
in this transition to socialism.
That means the
workers must plan,
they must study, and they
must organize the company.
So participation is planning,
it's knowledge, it's studying
the company from within.
At the moment,
Molino can grind, every
day, 1,000 cartloads
of nitrate.
But unfortunately, it's
grinding 700 or 800 cartloads,
which isn't in accordance
with the production plans
which have been set
out for that section.
Serious problems?
Problems in the mine.
Problems in the
production sector.
They've got no residue,
and they've got no carts.
But there are 200 old carts
dumped in the warehouse.
According to the workers
and the production committees,
out of those 200 carts
they can make two good
carts from three bad ones.
The workers have suggested
this as a possible solution.
They took it to the
Departmental Committee,
and they either get a
negative reply or no reply at all.
So how can we say that
the worker is participating if,
when he suggests a
way to solve a problem
and increase
production, it's rejected?
I think that the only
solution to this problem,
the problem of acquisitions,
of spare parts that
don't arrive, of salaries,
is for the workers to have
direct control of production.
We're doing the producing, and
we must control the whole company.
It's hard, but it can be done.
A lot of companies have achieved
direct control of production.
We thought that maybe there
should be an Administration Committee
for each important plant.
The whole problem of
participation is being discussed.
Comrades, I therefore consider
that the union leaders
should participate
because they will know the
industry's economic conditions.
And that would be essential
in order to be able to give
the economic conditions
to the workers, with all the facts,
and not be fighting for fighting's sake
without really knowing
what's going on.
When we say that Chile has
a bourgeois capitalist state,
let's remember the High
Court which fires ministers,
and let's remember
the Legislative Power
which passes laws
against the workers.
And not just that.
It's also on a war
footing, in a seditious way,
against the popular government.
So what should the
workers' participation be?
The planning of the economy
via a direct participation
in which they elect
the workers' participants
by a wide vote, as is done
now in a democratic way.
And what should the unions do?
What they've always
done throughout history.
They should defend
the working class
and push for the destruction
of the bourgeois state,
as a revolutionary
tool serving its class.
The workers' unease is shared
by some company managers.
The contradictions in
the process of changes
is laid bare in the daily
work of these officials.
This is a revolutionary
process, but not a revolution.
And this isn't a
proletarian state yet.
This is a bourgeois
capitalist state.
And this is a nationalized company
within that state which hasn't changed.
Now,
the problem for the workers here
isn't having to work 16 hours a day.
The problem is having
to work 16 hours when,
in terms of power or
decision making capacity,
things haven't really changed.
You can...
You can...
ask it of the workers,
demand a greater
awareness from them,
but you can appeal to
the workers' awareness
if you give them answers.
But it has now appeared, at
the level of the section worker,
within this
nationalized company,
a new aspect.
The lack of raw materials
and spare parts in the section
is threatening to limit
the wage to a daily rate,
because the bonus is
directly linked to production.
For example, the welder
goes to his section.
He's got work to do,
and he's keen to work.
He can't do it, he's
got no soldering iron.
And the only solution
we can give at present,
with the characteristics
we announced,
is precisely by
planning supplies.
We have to plan transport.
If there's a strike by the
truck owners tomorrow,
and the fish trucks are
stuck in Antofagasta,
the fish will rot because
we've got no transport.
We have to plan means of
transport and of distribution.
What have we done about it here?
We've taken over bakeries, foodstores,
canteens, hospitals, guesthouses.
Because food is distributed
through those organizations.
The problem is
extremely serious.
We are nationalized companies.
It's true.
We can impose organization,
and we can set out
some planning lines,
but we come up against
the big contradiction.
The character of the state
is the same.
We are nationalized areas
within the structure of a
bourgeois capitalist state
where the means of oppression
are still in the hands
of the bourgeoisie.
The government must provide
an answer to our supply needs,
so we can plan ahead,
with the means which
the government controls.
How can you plan
in this situation?
I'm not saying things
will be resolved 100%.
But it's possible
to come up with an
alternative answer.
We can't just sit back,
and fold our arms,
and let the corpse of imperialism
pass in front of the house.
We have to move ahead
and go on the offensive,
and gradually take
power with the masses,
guaranteeing it with them.
We can't continue
delegating the class problem
to executives, intendants,
ministers, parliamentarians.
The right has a great
advantage over us.
They imprison the executives,
accuse the intendants,
question the ministers.
And I've just
learned that last week
they jailed the Secretary
of State, Anibal Palma.
So are we going to carry on?
What do we want?
We've got 44% of the vote.
There's absolutely no chance
that we'll ever get 60%.
It's impossible.
We must take
advantage of the moment
of the ascent of the masses,
to mobilize them
for class objectives.
In the middle of 1973,
the impatience of some
popular sectors increases.
In the more
aggressive workplaces,
some workers are discussing
some basic problems of
the transition to socialism.
Just now, I see that
people are questioning
the Constitution and legality.
And if the working
classes are questioning
the Judicial Power, the
Constitution and the government,
that means we are entering
the stage of the taking of power.
Because some things
are no longer valid.
We have the industrial belts.
The growing popular power
is surpassing the State itself.
The existing institutions
are of no use to us anymore.
They can't fulfill their role.
So the workers are
providing new institutions,
because our class must use
the government apparatus now
to crush the other class,
the one which always crushed us.
Let the boot be on
the other foot now.
A key feature of popular power
is that it opens a new horizon of
political development for the masses.
This initiates
a critical process
within the left.
Given the impossibility of
Allende continuing to advance,
many people sense
a tragic ending.
Tell me, comrade,
what must be done?
Look,
we're living through
a very difficult time.
It's really a very
difficult time.
We must have a real
clean-out, from top to bottom!
If the government can't
shake off certain commitments,
it's going to be liquidated.
The government
has got no alternative
but to take things in hand.
Take things in hand.
The government has to do
that, and clean up the country.
It's for the homeland.
The homeland
remains, we'll all pass on.
We'll reach such a delicate
moment, there'll be a crisis.
Tell me, comrade.
Do you think that it's time
for a firm hand?
This is our opportunity.
It's now or never.
The enemy
is extremely well prepared.
And he won't give
us any respite.
Now is our chance to do it.
We have to do it now or never.
Because the enemy knows
what's in store for him.
He knows that he'll never
get back what he's lost,
and he's like the devil.
We'll keep on going, comrade.
See you, comrade.
- We'll be seeing you.
- I hope so.
We have to make it,
it's now or never.
We'll keep going, comrade.
See you, comrade.
THE END
THE BATTLE OF CHILE
THE STRUGGLE OF
AN UNARMED PEOPLE
PART THREE: POPULAR POWER
A PATRICIO GUZMAN FILM
IN MEMORY OF JORGE MUELLER SILVA
Allende!
The left, united, will
never be defeated!
Santiago de Chile, 1972.
In only 18 months,
Salvador Allende's
socialist government
has carried out a large part
of its social change program.
Over a year and a
half, it has nationalized
the big copper, iron, coal,
nitrate and cement mines.
In this time,
the State manages to control
most of Chile's principal
monopolist companies.
Allende, we're with you,
so hit the "mummies" hard!
It has also expropriated six
million hectares of arable land
and nationalized almost all
national and foreign banks.
On their part,
the North American
government and the opposition
have seriously hampered
the government's work.
Despite this,
Allende still
receives firm support
from wide sectors
of the population.
Towards the end of 1972,
the toughest sector
of the opposition
reaffirms its strategy.
The National Party
insists on the need
to provoke the fall
of the government
before the next
parliamentary elections.
To do this, they
encourage a truckers' strike,
which spearheads
a general collapse
of the economy.
The scarcity of spare
parts, fomented by the U.S.,
creates ideal conditions
for the National Party
to win control of the
truck owners' organization.
If we, the means
of mobilization,
want an acceptable solution,
then we'll have no more
tricks, no more zigzagging!
We are going after a solution
to the problems of
tariffs and spare parts,
of adequate reorganization.
We want more justice
and less bureaucracy.
And so we're asking you
for your support so that
our Board of Management
can work from this position.
We believe that the time has
come when, as one single man,
one single trucker,
and along with the women
who are participating
side by side in this,
we have no alternative
but to raise the banners of
an indefinite, decisive strike
whatever the consequences.
If we have to perish
in misery, in
bankruptcy and ruin,
let's do it on our feet,
vibrant, upright and proud,
for that's the image of the poor Chilean
expressed through this organization!
Thank you.
And that, gentlemen,
was how the
Confederation's Board
gave the necessary instructions
to all our fellow organizations
so that from yesterday, Tuesday,
at midnight,
all services in Chile
would be paralyzed.
Therefore, we have
fulfilled, gentlemen,
the mandate which
the national assembly
gave to the Board
of this Confederation.
On October 11, 1972,
the first transport
strike begins.
The next day,
the truckers get the support of
the National Agricultural Society,
and of large and
small storekeepers,
who also call a stoppage.
On the night of October 14,
the Christian Democrat party
also resolve to support the strike.
Urban and highway transport
"is a strategic sector
of the production chain.
The absence of vehicles
disrupts the supply of raw materials
and interrupts distribution
on a national scale.
The New York Times
would later reveal
that the main economic
support for the strike
came from the U.S. government.
The big employers,
grouped in the Society for
Manufacturing Development,
also halt production,
and begin an indefinite
closure of their factories.
These sectors defend
private companies
and reject any kind of
socialization of the economy.
Chilean industry
has grouped together
in the Society for
Manufacturing Development,
of which I am president.
This institution
is the oldest of its
kind in Latin America.
It was founded in 1883.
To date it has had 19
presidents, and I'm the 20th.
Historically, the Society for
Manufacturing Development
is a mouthpiece for big
national and foreign capital.
During the strike,
it represents the
main industrialists.
We asked the industrialists
to submit to this movement,
and they submitted
to it, as persons.
Industry was paralyzed in many
places, and that was because
many groups of workers
followed the movement,
professional workers,
such as engineers,
bank employees, health workers,
professionals such as
lawyers and engineers.
And there were storekeepers,
small and medium-sized industrialists.
Really, all of industry
and commerce.
It was a movement which
took in extremely wide sectors.
In Santiago,
70% of private
buses stop working.
The country's urban
communications are in crisis.
The workers take factory
trucks on the streets,
and improvise minimum transport.
Given the emergency,
they fight the
strike from the start.
In response to the
government's call,
the great majority of
workers get to their jobs.
As soon as we heard
that the carriers had
voted for the strike,
we thought it was a maneuver
against the government.
We had a meeting
immediately to take precautions,
for this is a state company
and we have to look after it.
We worked every day, as normal.
We arrived late,
but we got here.
How did you come?
In trucks, or whatever.
The factory put on trucks,
and got private buses,
and we came in them.
We're here to work,
and give our
support to the factory.
And how did you
manage to get here?
We came in the bus,
on foot, or whatever.
The important thing
was to get here.
Some comrades who worked
here lent us their trucks,
and we used those to get
to work and go back home.
- Did the factory stop?
- No, never.
Our attitude is that
we'll always keep working to
cooperate with the government.
So we've done everything
that's within our power
to be able to stand
by the government.
We've never missed
work during the strikes.
We've always been
here, regular as clockwork.
It's a seditious strike.
How did the workers respond?
By working as normal every day.
And there were
even young mothers
who came to work with
their babies in their arms,
and even pregnant
women turned up.
Meanwhile, in the
center of Santiago,
the opposition's agitators
attack those buses
which haven't joined the strike.
In the residential areas,
most industrial executives,
engineers and technicians
stay at home, firmly
supporting the strike.
At present,
I am president
of the Confederation
of Chilean Professionals,
which has a membership of
some 50,000 professionals,
workers with
professional qualifications
who work in various industries
or other companies in the country.
These kinds of associations,
supposedly apolitical,
work in close collaboration
with the opposition parties.
We have great organization
amongst our members.
People who are disciplined,
aware, responsible.
The October strike showed that.
Gradually, these
organizations start to behave
in an almost fascist way.
I don't believe in the myth
that a worker, just by being
a worker, can do everything.
Well, the engineers left.
They went with the
company executives.
They abandoned the company,
and it was left in the hands
of our manager comrades.
So we organized
ourselves immediately,
and, along with them, we've
taken on this responsibility.
We're doing well now that
our bosses have abandoned us,
and we're carrying on ourselves.
They went off and
left the factory to us,
so we just carried
on working as normal.
So far, we haven't
had any problems.
We're getting on with things.
I think what they did was wrong.
They didn't even
say anything to us.
Despite everything,
we're more satisfied now,
much better off,
and I wish I could shake
comrade Allende's hand.
We're doing perfectly well
the way we're working now.
I think we're doing very well
with the new industrial reforms.
We're doing well,
and working with
more determination.
In the factories,
the more experienced workers
take charge of the main operations.
The few engineers who
support the government
look after various
neighboring factories.
Thus, just one engineer
can attend to the problems
of four or five companies.
In these first moments,
industrial activity doesn't stop.
Meanwhile, in the Upper Chamber,
ten senators issue a statement
saying that the government
is overstepping the law.
This document, which
has no legal force,
damages Allende's constitutional
image in the eyes of the armed forces.
The ten signatories include members
of the Christian Democrat Party.
I think that, in this case,
the Christian Democrats
are wrong in supporting
the "mummies".
I used to be a Christian
Democrat myself,
and I think they're betraying our
country by supporting those people.
It was the bourgeoisie who
kept all the workers in ignorance.
This is obvious.
Why do so many workers
have no idea about politics?
They say they're "apolitical",
but they don't know
that everything is political.
In order to organize,
the workers had to unite.
But on what basis?
The organizations
have functioned
on the basis of
political parties.
And the parties which
are with Popular Unity now
have always been
with the workers.
The opposition parties
only exploited the workers,
and that's the case with
the Christian Democracy.
They created that
paternalism to use the workers.
Are there Christian
Democrat workers?
Yes, of course.
- Any problems with them?
- No.
- They work too?
- We all work together.
There's no problem.
- Are there Christian Democrat workers?
- Yes.
- They work too?
- Yes.
Although the Christian
Democracy is supporting the strike,
some of its militant
workers carry on working.
In fact, these workers are
at variance with their leaders.
They feel more identified
with their fellow workers
than with the bosses.
You're not with Popular
Unity. Who are you with?
I'm with the workers.
Who are the workers with?
With Popular Unity.
- Did you work during the strike?
- Of course.
- Why?
- Because we have workers' awareness.
- Did you work too?
- Yes.
So you're with Popular Unity?
With the workers.
Because the "mummies"
have never respected
the present government.
It's the people who
respect the government.
They follow the
government's orders.
But those rich guys...
What do you call them?
The moneybag men,
the men who are
losing their interests.
They're the ones
who are complaining.
They know that the people
have to buy, and have to eat,
and now they want
to hide the things
that the people have to buy.
They're causing chaos so that the
people will turn against the government.
The opposition
increase the hoarding
of essential items.
It's an attempt to create
widespread shortages.
In reply, the government
and the popular organizations
increase surveillance
to find where the goods
are being secretly stored.
Despite everything,
the population has problems
in obtaining products
which are available.
Given the critical situation,
the government declares the capital
and several provinces as emergency areas.
This means that the armed forces
have to undertake police duties.
The opposition accuse Allende
of making political
use of the military.
The opposition
press start a campaign
to encourage disobedience to
the government among the military.
This is a very critical
time for our country.
But I think that with
unity among the workers
we'll get through.
What do you think
of the present crisis?
- I think it's pretty bad.
- And what should be done?
We have to stop what's happening,
and try to rebuild the country.
Things are bad.
What should we do?
Work and produce more.
- Say it louder.
- Work and produce more.
Really, the situation
is getting very serious.
The crisis?
We have to tackle it, and
everyone has to lend a hand.
- How?
- By working more,
producing more, and
helping the President.
We mustn't pay any
attention to the "mummies".
Their one and only interest
is in stifling us, smothering us.
They're taking
advantage of the fact that
the North Americans want to
trample on our dignity as Chileans.
They're doing the same,
and we can't agree,
as Chileans, as workers,
as men who have been
in our jobs for years,
to act in accordance
with their wishes. No!
Not now, not ever.
Just the opposite.
Our intention will always
be to fight for a new Chile,
economically
and politically free.
In the meantime, some
factories start selling their products
directly to the people.
The unions in the various
industries join forces
to take the products
to the neighborhoods.
Just now, we're working
as inspectors, ad honorem.
We're not doing our old
jobs but we still get our salary.
The work that we're doing
now involves coordinating
the market areas, as it were, that
have to do with electrical gadgets.
Other factories send workers'
pickets to open shops that are closed.
These workers act as inspectors
on behalf of the government.
All the directors of the various
railway workers' associations
issued a statement regarding
yesterday's attack by fascist elements
against a passenger train,
and said they will not
tolerate further aggressions.
They defined yesterday's
attack on a passenger train
as a criminal act against the
rail workers and against travellers,
whose lives are in the
hands of those workers.
Yes, there were two
committees to guard the factory,
day and night.
Two committees.
What did they do?
They guarded the factory,
so no one would try to seize it.
We've got a vigilance
committee here, comrade,
and it watches the factory on
Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
It's never left unguarded
for a single moment.
Yes, we thought of
building four towers,
one on each of the
four sides of the building,
and that way
we'd have a much better view
when we were keeping
watch over the factory.
Day after day,
vigilance committees spring up in
Santiago's main manufacturing areas.
Tell the story of this truck.
Well, the comrades met
in a workers' assembly,
and agreed to cooperate
with the government
on the best way
of tackling and defeating
the transport strike.
And that was by making
tankers for the transport of fuel,
and making them as
fast as we possibly could.
All in all, it took us just
one week to do the job,
and give the government ten
tankers like the ones you see here.
By mid-October,
the workers' organizational capacity
has surpassed all expectations.
They manage to maintain
relatively normal production
by making maximum
use of reserve stocks.
The industries create a
system among themselves
for exchanging resources.
In practice,
we are seeing the start of
the so-called "industrial belts".
Each belt is an association
of factories and companies
which coordinates the jobs
of workers in the same areas.
They are the first seeds
of popular power in Chile.
While government supporters
seem to be beating the crisis,
the opposition's violent groups
try to create an image of
chaos and lack of authority.
The efficient
action by the police
and the mass
mobilization of workers
who demonstrated their support
for the constitutional government,
defeated the attempt
today by fascist elements
to spark off a
bloody disturbance
in the city of Santiago.
The fascist groups attacked
the students and workers
who were showing their
support for the government.
Stores were damaged,
the Corporation for Urban Improvement
was attacked and looted by the mob,
and shots were fired
by unseen gunmen.
The presence of workers
on the main streets
caused the dispersal of
the groups of provokers
who were trying to create
a climate of disorder.
Workers from the building
industry and the nationalized sectors
marched through the
center to prevent outrages
by the fascist groups.
On October 23,
the employers' movement
starts to show some signs of tiring.
In the factories,
the workers' situation
is also difficult
as reserve stocks
are almost exhausted.
Given the situation,
Allende creates the
political conditions
for an understanding with
the Christian Democracy.
He does so
by bringing the commanders-in-chief
of the armed forces into the government.
To create this
civil-military cabinet,
the president relies
on Gen. Carlos Prats,
natural leader of the officers who
respect the democratic system.
Backed by this sector,
Allende reaches an agreement
with the Christian Democracy
and negotiates a solution.
A wide sector of
left-wing workers
interprets the
presence of the military
as a chance to use a heavy hand
against the opposition.
You like the idea of the
military in the cabinet?
I agree with having the
military in the cabinet.
It's the only way to
control the "mummies".
They need a heavy hand.
What do you think of it?
They should have
been there from the start.
Why?
To solve all the
problems we've got.
What do you think of it?
I agree entirely with
including the military.
They should have put
more in the ministry.
Do you think they're
with the people?
Yes, of course, they're
all with the people now.
How do you know that?
We know because,
in the first place,
the reactionary forces
couldn't overturn
all of the armed forces.
So we know that they're with
the government and the people.
After the statement that
Gen. Prats made yesterday,
we know perfectly well
that it's a guarantee for us.
I don't like them
in the government,
simply because democratic systems
are inconsistent with the military.
So why has comrade
Allende fallen back on them?
I guess because things are
so serious at the moment,
circumstances made it
necessary to take that step
so as to impose order.
But I hope it isn't permanent,
that it's for a short time.
I think that, at this moment,
neither I nor anybody
can say clearly if
there'll be a civil war.
It all depends on
the armed forces.
If they continue to act
as they've done so far,
being loyal to the
people and to order,
and respecting the law,
I don't think there'll
be a confrontation.
The government will continue,
with difficulty, but it'll continue.
What will have to be done
if the strike is repeated?
The State should
take over the trucks.
All the trucking should
be taken over by the State
and then managed by the workers.
The trucks can't do
anything without the workers.
And the workers are
building the country.
We, the people, opened
our eyes and realized.
We aren't like we used to be.
Before, they tricked us all the time.
Because I think that
throughout the world
they have to
understand the worker.
Not just here in
Chile, but everywhere.
On November 10, 1972,
the civil-military cabinet
manages to put an end to the strike.
For the U.S. government
and the internal opposition
this means failure.
They've done great economic
damage to the country,
but haven't toppled the
government, as they'd hoped.
For a wide sector of workers,
this October experience will be a
basis for the growth of popular power.
A few days later,
at a demonstration to
celebrate the end of the strike,
the "Cerrillos Belt"
makes its first appearance.
The organization, which
didn't exist before the strike,
takes in 250 companies
from the south of Santiago.
Workers from
the "Cerrillos Belt"!
Present!
Workers from "Fensa"!
Present!
"Sindeln"!
Present!
- "Maestranza Cerrillos"!
- Present!
Workers from "Ralco"!
Present!
After the strike,
almost all the base movements
are linked to popular power.
It is an initiative channelled
by the government,
but its origins don't lie there.
This power often causes
consternation in some left-wing parties,
alarmed by certain spontaneous
attitudes among the people.
Let's create popular power!
After October,
the slogan "Let's
create popular power"
continues to be heard
all over the country.
Power to the workers!
WORKERS, FIRM HAND AND ATTACK!
By the middle of 1973,
31 industrial belts have been created
in all of the country's main cities.
Eight of these
belong to Santiago.
When conflicts
arise with the bosses,
especially in small companies,
the workers concerned
receive immediate support
from the belt to which they belong.
This solidarity gives
the small unions
greater backing in order
to confront the bosses.
We've earned huge
fortunes for those guys,
the bosses.
But they won't do anything
for the welfare of the workers.
And now they want to destroy us.
There's a great
persecution of union leaders,
but we union
leaders are not alone.
We're supported by all our
workers, and by the industrial belts.
And the industrial belts
cover the entire length of Chile,
so we're powerful.
And they've failed once again.
Now we're all organized
and we're all aware,
and the workers have
opened their eyes.
We're aware of
a lot more things.
And we've got support.
The more united we are,
the more powerful we'll be.
The enemy that
we're facing, the right,
is very powerful
and well organized.
Why shouldn't we be organized?
Why shouldn't we take
advantage of our numbers?
There are more
workers than bosses.
It's easy to beat them, but we
must be organized and united.
- What about the industrial belts?
- They're very important.
Why?
Because I think that
they're the real power
of the organized communes.
And I think that we
should all be very clear
about the importance
of the industrial belts
and how we should work to
support and organize them.
Do you think they work in
parallel to the government,
or with the government?
A lot of people are scared
of the industrial belts.
Yes, we've actually
been able to feel that fear,
because we've seen
how, in the public services,
they are really terrified
about community participation.
You see no danger
in industrial belts?
Of course not.
I've got every confidence
in the people's intelligence.
People who are
organized are intelligent.
So how can you be afraid
of a people's organization?
The workers occupy hundreds
of factories all over the country.
WORKER-MANAGED COMPANY
Some of these industries
can be expropriated legally.
However,
a great many of them
are in workers' hands
without any possibility
of legal support.
They are the first symptoms
that the State apparatus
is starting to be
overwhelmed by reality.
Later, they start to organize
"community commandos"
as another kind
of popular power.
These commandos unite all
the components of a commune,
that is, students,
housewives, workers,
neighbors and peasants.
Have you heard of the
community commandos?
Yes, I've heard
a lot about them.
They're very well organized.
We've got them here too.
They care a lot
about the workers,
especially now,
when we're going through
this revolutionary period.
What do you think of the
community commandos?
They are organizations of
ordinary people which are fighting.
It's something
in which all the proletarian
class should be participating,
because many
proletarians are mistaken,
and being fooled by people
who say there are shortages.
That's being done by the
right, by the bourgeoisie,
by U.S. imperialism and
the Chilean bourgeoisie.
None of them is
fighting for Chile.
We're fighting for Chile
and for equality for all,
so we can build a socialism which
belongs to the proletarian class.
What about the
community commandos?
I think that at this
particular moment
they are the organic solution
to the problem of provisioning,
and also to that of uniting
the proletarian class
in the communes
and the provinces,
both for a possible civil war,
and the daily confrontation
which we must face,
and also for specific
solutions to things such as
hygiene, health, vigilance
against the bourgeoisie.
So what's needed there?
What's needed is an organization
which can provide guidance
for those sectors of the
class which are marginalized.
Today they are the
most explosive sectors,
the ones who are really
mobilizing right across the country.
We are sending out
a call to all neighbors
to organize however
may be necessary
so that within a short time,
with the leadership
of the working class,
with the leadership of
the Cerrillos industrial belt,
we may set up the
community commando,
which, tomorrow, will be
power for the proletarian class,
and won't be halted by
bourgeois institutionalism
or reactionary elements.
Power to the workers!
Comrades...
We have come to
the center of Maipu
because we understand
that a basic tool for the
task we have undertaken
is class alliance.
The alliance that will allow
us to overthrow the enemy,
however powerful he is.
The alliance that will allow
us to halt imperialist action
carried out by its
puppets in Chile.
The alliance that will allow us
to build and develop
popular power.
The alliance that will allow us
to have the necessary
strength to take power.
In practice,
the community commandos
acquire real form from specific actions.
In this case,
workers from the Cerrillos belt
and peasants from the town of Maipu
decide to occupy by force 39
badly exploited agricultural estates.
These lands could be
one of the main sources
of provisions for the capital.
Each neighboring factory sends
pickets to support the action.
It's the first time
that urban workers
will take part in a
peasant mobilization.
This unitary action
sets out the true basis
of a communal commando.
In the early hours
of the morning,
brigades of peasants and
workers occupy the lands.
They set up permanent
guard at these key positions.
- May I ask you a question?
- All you want.
- What's your name?
- Luis Gilberto Jerez.
- And the estate's name?
- The "Santa Carolina" estate.
Why is it being occupied?
Because the owner didn't
keep his word to his workers,
to his employees.
The call went out and so
we decided to occupy it.
We're united because
we've come to help
our comrades here.
I'm on a committee which
is in charge of the estate.
I'm one of the founders
of that committee.
I strove for this.
I want our comrades
to strive as well,
for if we're united we
can throw out the bosses.
Where do you work?
In "Siam Di Tella".
- Where?
- "Siam Di Tella".
- So you work in industry.
- Yes, I run the Mackenna belt.
Why are you
occupying this estate?
It's necessary to unite the
working class and the peasants
to fight the bosses together,
because we've got
common problems
and we have to look
for a solution as a class.
How is the worker-peasant
union working here in Maipu?
I think it's the
first clear example
of how strong and effective
the worker-peasant union is.
We've taken 39 estates,
with the support of workers
from the Cerrillos sector
and from Vicuna Mackenna.
PRIVATE GROUNDS ENTRY
IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED
The second step is to
start exploiting the lands.
They also set up
vigilance committees
to patrol the lands day and night
to prevent reprisals by the owners.
The occupiers demand that the
law on agrarian reform be applied,
and call on
government bureaucrats
to study the situation.
In short,
our comrades are still
at the mercy of
the judicial powers,
with all these eviction
orders, arrest warrants,
and trials for crimes
they've never committed,
but these can be avoided
with state intervention
and the assigning of credits
to the supervisor and
the peasants on the estate.
In general, the
agrarian reform law
allows the expropriation
of badly exploited lands.
But in this case,
the estate doesn't meet
the law's requirements.
This forces the
peasants to defend firmly
the validity of
their initiative.
We don't lie,
and any comrade here who is
lying is immediately rejected by us.
Why is that?
If we are asking for those
26 estates, it's for a reason.
If we were asking for
28, there'd be a reason.
Then there'll be some
bit of bureaucratic trickery
to try to delay things
and undermine us.
We're not going to
accept any of that.
Why not? Because we don't
lie. They have to believe us.
If we're asking for
those 26 estates,
we're asking because our comrades
need to work those 26 estates.
We don't want someone
from the Agrarian Reform Office
turning up here
and trying to trick us.
We're not going to accept that!
So it's clear, if we're
asking for 26 estates,
there's a reason.
We're not lying or cheating
to be able to expropriate them.
We've got a reason for asking.
If we're saying they're
badly exploited, they are.
The owners, in turn, have
discovered a legal recourse
against the expropriations.
This resource is known as
"precautionary measures",
and entails protecting
the private property
for a period set by the Courts.
As the Courts are
controlled by the right,
there are lands which could
take years to expropriate.
This recourse wrecks
the peasants' initiative.
Comrade, I ask you,
what possibilities would we have
if all the estates to be appropriated
had these "precautionary measures"?
How could we take
possession of them?
This isn't a secret or anything.
The problem is,
the Corporation for Agrarian
Reform has got lawyers
to defend it in court.
The problem now is the
struggle going on in this country.
The Corporation is tied to
a law in order to expropriate.
The bosses have their lawyers,
and they invent defenses.
And you all know the
problem with the courts.
CAR has got nothing to do with
the "precautionary measures".
It's out of all our hands.
So your question is important,
because some estates may use
those "precautionary measures".
In that case, you'll have
to fight it in the courts.
But...
We have to occupy
all the estates
due to be expropriated soon.
But the occupants dare to
confront state bureaucracy
with all their energy.
Backed up by the
community commando,
the peasants submit a
government bureaucrat
to an authentic people's court.
I don't want to waste time.
I want to work and produce more.
That's our slogan.
I don't want to sit in
an office somewhere,
smoking, and doing paperwork.
I believe that if a
person isn't capable,
he should give up his position.
If, for example,
some comrade tells me that
I'm no good at my job as a leader,
then I would submit
my resignation,
and give my post to someone
who was more capable than I.
I think that if we say it
straight out to someone,
I think...
That person can defend
themselves. But we'll pressure.
If someone is manipulating
things so he stays on,
we'll find a way to
get him out of there.
No one in the Maipu commune
calls him comrade anymore,
because he hasn't
resolved a single problem
inside the Maipu estates.
And as the note says,
we know we're short of
potatoes, we're short of sugar,
short of all those things
the earth produces!
We know that we're short of foodstuffs,
and the earth produces all that.
We also know that
we're partly to blame
for the fact that
there's a food shortage.
That's why we want to
expropriate more land!
The reactionaries
have often said
that we're "the weak ones".
But we're showing
them that we're not.
We're producing food
because we know we have
to defend this cause of ours.
That's all I have to say.
Our comrade may
have something to say.
Yes, comrade.
Firstly, I'd like to
say the following.
I'm in a post which, as
regards remuneration,
doesn't bring me anything.
I wanted to say
that. It's no cushy job.
But the main thing, comrades,
is that I believe, and I'm
being self-critical here,
that I made the mistake
of trusting too much
in the Council's work.
That's a responsibility
which I have to accept.
I have to accept it, and I
should learn from it as well.
I admit that to you all.
Now, apart from that,
I think that
what you've said
today is very important,
because I believe
that I'm a revolutionary.
And when a revolutionary
thinks he's being
criticised
for a job which he thinks
he's doing well, but isn't,
that will undoubtedly
be a lesson to him,
and help improve his work.
If you want, we can talk
about all this at another time,
but I think you
deserved an explanation.
- I think...
- Comrade, may I speak?
As a committed
revolutionary and official,
don't clock watch on the job.
You should be committed to the
peasant masses and work more.
Let's create popular power!
Fighting and creating
popular power!
Let's create popular power!
Popular power also tackles
the problem of the supply of food.
During 1973,
the U.S. boycott and the
strong internal opposition
have created the ideal climate
for the majority of storekeepers
to be against the government.
They make larger profits by
selling their goods illegally.
Even the small storekeeper
prefers to steer his produce
to the black market.
To combat this,
a "direct supply" system is set
up in the working class areas.
We'll have our
delegate at the head,
and we'll set up our
distribution cooperative
for all the residents here.
We'll leave the
storekeeper isolated,
because, as our comrade has said,
he's the origin of the merchandise
that gets sent to
the black market.
So, we take
responsibility for ourselves.
We have to join
up with a delegate,
and form a cooperative
distribution center
for the people who live here.
And the idea is to supply
all the necessities for a home.
To do that, we must struggle,
and not give any more
money to the storekeeper,
for he got rich
enough at our cost.
So therefore, join together!
Let's all join together,
street by street.
We'll form a cooperative,
and do without the storekeeper!
Power to the workers!
So then,
when the people saw that
the supplies came directly
from the state distributor
and then directly to them,
they realized that many
problems were over for them.
So we call on all
the neighborhoods,
and we call on
every street to join up,
and discuss the problems
with its neighbors.
We want a "people's store" where
all the merchandise will arrive,
and people will be served.
We want to set up a
kind of supermarket.
That's what we want to suggest,
and we want an answer
from them so that we can do it.
The most important thing is
the residents' organization.
At present, lots of places
have got a people's store,
and it's supplied by
different companies,
mainly by ones
that are state-run.
I'd even say, exclusively
by state-run companies.
So you have to ask for an effort
from the residents themselves.
The residents have to feel
that they've put something
into it themselves.
They have to feel that
they're responsible.
It hasn't been given to
them, they did it themselves.
The people's store eliminates
the commercial store.
Each area which
decides to create a store
appoints certain neighbors
to collect the merchandise.
This one?
The next one.
Clear the way, comrades.
We only want workers here.
Come on, stand back,
comrades. Where do I load this?
Is it for this truck?
What else is to be loaded?
Rice.
Onions.
Algas.
Noodles.
Matches. Flour.
The food is supplied by the National
Distribution Company, DINAC,
the only one controlled
by the government.
Although 70% of the
distribution business
is in the hands of
Allende's enemies,
this company manages to serve
the most urgent needs
of the working class areas.
The neighbors hire a truck
to transport the goods
to the selling point.
This operation is
carried out once a week.
It's 8.00 p.m., and
you must understand
that other comrades have
to help us guard the store.
Anyone want to speak?
The women can stay until 12.00 or
1.00. The men can come after that.
Comrades, tell me one thing.
- Are you happy with this direct supply?
- Yes!
In 1973,
the people's stores are feeding
some 300,000 families in Santiago,
more than half
its total population.
In the different communes,
these stores distribute available
products in an orderly way.
Semolina.
Five boxes of matches.
They get half a pound of tea,
a pound of noodles,
and two pounds of rice,
and ten pounds of sugar.
Each family group has a
card for collecting the goods.
This facilitates distribution planning
and adherence to official prices.
The store is run by
the residents' collective,
on the basis of volunteer work.
How do you manage to
work in the people's store
and have a job at the same time?
For example,
we're given the merchandise...
They give it to us
on a Saturday or a
Friday, so we do the store
on a Saturday
when I'm not working.
And when I can't go,
my companion goes,
with other women
from the neighborhood.
Is direct supply
"popular power"?
At the moment, I think it is,
because we're seeing how,
with this business
of direct supply
we're uniting the
masses even more.
What do you think of
the present situation?
- It's very difficult.
- Why?
We can all see the reasons.
The government said yesterday
that the ones who were with Allende
told him to get tough.
But the government
can't get tough
because it doesn't have
a majority in Congress.
And that's the most
serious problem
that our comrade has
at the present moment.
I'm going to defend
our government
because we know that
it's the people's government
and we have to defend it.
So that's why I say
that I'm not afraid,
because I've made my mind up.
And I said to my wife,
You've got two children,
they're growing up.
You'll finish rearing them, and
if I have to die for some reason,
I want to die
defending our cause,
as a worker,
and because we've been
exploited all our lives.
Let's create popular power!
Throughout 1973,
the seeds of popular power
spread across the whole country.
Meanwhile,
in the centers of production
which are in government hands,
other kinds of
popular power appear.
In the saltpeter mines,
the problem of worker control
becomes a kind of popular power.
Going beyond
the vindictive fight,
people want more
transparency and more efficiency.
If, at this moment,
there's an imperialist blockade
and we don't receive raw
material or spare parts,
what do we have
to do in industry?
We have to plan production,
and provide organization
and good administration for the
repair shops and for the foundries.
Without repair shops,
you can't have industrial
development in this country.
At this moment, the
repair shops are the heart
which can keep alive and functioning
the rest of the industry's machinery
because the comrades
here make spare parts.
They plan and make the
spare parts when we need them.
The worker doesn't understand
intellectual abstractions.
The worker is fed up
with listening to words.
The demands which our
comrade made are very serious.
What is he demanding?
Objectives, goals at work.
What is he demanding?
A rational administration
of the repair shop,
with production plans.
We can't carry on with little
workshops in each section
because that means
a lack of administration
and a division of resources.
And this qualified workforce
will get tired and leave.
The comrades will
get disillusioned.
There is no comrade
here who supports fascism.
They're all workers,
and they all have a
great workers' awareness.
This is one of the
things we've made here,
because there's a
blockade on importation.
What we're seeing here
are circuit breakers which
were made in the foundry here.
We used to import these,
but as you and everyone
know, there's a blockade,
so we have to start
making the parts.
Now that we're in this situation
where we're being
blockaded by imperialism,
we're ready and determined
to fulfill our government's plan,
to produce more,
to find the solution to
the problems here. Why?
So we can make all the
spare parts the industry needs.
"Machinas" are the
workers' answers
to the problems that arise.
They call them "machinas".
This is a "machina".
We took two big ends and
made a new one out of them.
- What's it for?
- For the locomotives in the mine.
How old are they?
These are from 1928. There
aren't any parts for them.
In both the state-run
mines and factories,
the people want less
bureaucracy and more participation.
This opens a debate
on the limitations of the
"peaceful road" towards socialism.
In practice,
the struggle for participation
becomes an analysis of reality.
Right, comrades.
Popular Unity has been
governing for two years,
and specifically in this company
there has been no real,
effective participation.
Why has there been no
real, effective participation
and what has
happened as a result?
Worker participation
is a political problem.
Through participation,
workers will be able to break
the capitalist structures
of the companies.
Because this company
still has a capitalist structure
within its organization.
We're not in possession of power.
We're in possession of the government.
And the companies which
are within this government
also suffer the consequences
of these contradictions
within the political process.
So participation will break
the capitalist structures
and help the workers
set up new organizations
in this transition to socialism.
That means the
workers must plan,
they must study, and they
must organize the company.
So participation is planning,
it's knowledge, it's studying
the company from within.
At the moment,
Molino can grind, every
day, 1,000 cartloads
of nitrate.
But unfortunately, it's
grinding 700 or 800 cartloads,
which isn't in accordance
with the production plans
which have been set
out for that section.
Serious problems?
Problems in the mine.
Problems in the
production sector.
They've got no residue,
and they've got no carts.
But there are 200 old carts
dumped in the warehouse.
According to the workers
and the production committees,
out of those 200 carts
they can make two good
carts from three bad ones.
The workers have suggested
this as a possible solution.
They took it to the
Departmental Committee,
and they either get a
negative reply or no reply at all.
So how can we say that
the worker is participating if,
when he suggests a
way to solve a problem
and increase
production, it's rejected?
I think that the only
solution to this problem,
the problem of acquisitions,
of spare parts that
don't arrive, of salaries,
is for the workers to have
direct control of production.
We're doing the producing, and
we must control the whole company.
It's hard, but it can be done.
A lot of companies have achieved
direct control of production.
We thought that maybe there
should be an Administration Committee
for each important plant.
The whole problem of
participation is being discussed.
Comrades, I therefore consider
that the union leaders
should participate
because they will know the
industry's economic conditions.
And that would be essential
in order to be able to give
the economic conditions
to the workers, with all the facts,
and not be fighting for fighting's sake
without really knowing
what's going on.
When we say that Chile has
a bourgeois capitalist state,
let's remember the High
Court which fires ministers,
and let's remember
the Legislative Power
which passes laws
against the workers.
And not just that.
It's also on a war
footing, in a seditious way,
against the popular government.
So what should the
workers' participation be?
The planning of the economy
via a direct participation
in which they elect
the workers' participants
by a wide vote, as is done
now in a democratic way.
And what should the unions do?
What they've always
done throughout history.
They should defend
the working class
and push for the destruction
of the bourgeois state,
as a revolutionary
tool serving its class.
The workers' unease is shared
by some company managers.
The contradictions in
the process of changes
is laid bare in the daily
work of these officials.
This is a revolutionary
process, but not a revolution.
And this isn't a
proletarian state yet.
This is a bourgeois
capitalist state.
And this is a nationalized company
within that state which hasn't changed.
Now,
the problem for the workers here
isn't having to work 16 hours a day.
The problem is having
to work 16 hours when,
in terms of power or
decision making capacity,
things haven't really changed.
You can...
You can...
ask it of the workers,
demand a greater
awareness from them,
but you can appeal to
the workers' awareness
if you give them answers.
But it has now appeared, at
the level of the section worker,
within this
nationalized company,
a new aspect.
The lack of raw materials
and spare parts in the section
is threatening to limit
the wage to a daily rate,
because the bonus is
directly linked to production.
For example, the welder
goes to his section.
He's got work to do,
and he's keen to work.
He can't do it, he's
got no soldering iron.
And the only solution
we can give at present,
with the characteristics
we announced,
is precisely by
planning supplies.
We have to plan transport.
If there's a strike by the
truck owners tomorrow,
and the fish trucks are
stuck in Antofagasta,
the fish will rot because
we've got no transport.
We have to plan means of
transport and of distribution.
What have we done about it here?
We've taken over bakeries, foodstores,
canteens, hospitals, guesthouses.
Because food is distributed
through those organizations.
The problem is
extremely serious.
We are nationalized companies.
It's true.
We can impose organization,
and we can set out
some planning lines,
but we come up against
the big contradiction.
The character of the state
is the same.
We are nationalized areas
within the structure of a
bourgeois capitalist state
where the means of oppression
are still in the hands
of the bourgeoisie.
The government must provide
an answer to our supply needs,
so we can plan ahead,
with the means which
the government controls.
How can you plan
in this situation?
I'm not saying things
will be resolved 100%.
But it's possible
to come up with an
alternative answer.
We can't just sit back,
and fold our arms,
and let the corpse of imperialism
pass in front of the house.
We have to move ahead
and go on the offensive,
and gradually take
power with the masses,
guaranteeing it with them.
We can't continue
delegating the class problem
to executives, intendants,
ministers, parliamentarians.
The right has a great
advantage over us.
They imprison the executives,
accuse the intendants,
question the ministers.
And I've just
learned that last week
they jailed the Secretary
of State, Anibal Palma.
So are we going to carry on?
What do we want?
We've got 44% of the vote.
There's absolutely no chance
that we'll ever get 60%.
It's impossible.
We must take
advantage of the moment
of the ascent of the masses,
to mobilize them
for class objectives.
In the middle of 1973,
the impatience of some
popular sectors increases.
In the more
aggressive workplaces,
some workers are discussing
some basic problems of
the transition to socialism.
Just now, I see that
people are questioning
the Constitution and legality.
And if the working
classes are questioning
the Judicial Power, the
Constitution and the government,
that means we are entering
the stage of the taking of power.
Because some things
are no longer valid.
We have the industrial belts.
The growing popular power
is surpassing the State itself.
The existing institutions
are of no use to us anymore.
They can't fulfill their role.
So the workers are
providing new institutions,
because our class must use
the government apparatus now
to crush the other class,
the one which always crushed us.
Let the boot be on
the other foot now.
A key feature of popular power
is that it opens a new horizon of
political development for the masses.
This initiates
a critical process
within the left.
Given the impossibility of
Allende continuing to advance,
many people sense
a tragic ending.
Tell me, comrade,
what must be done?
Look,
we're living through
a very difficult time.
It's really a very
difficult time.
We must have a real
clean-out, from top to bottom!
If the government can't
shake off certain commitments,
it's going to be liquidated.
The government
has got no alternative
but to take things in hand.
Take things in hand.
The government has to do
that, and clean up the country.
It's for the homeland.
The homeland
remains, we'll all pass on.
We'll reach such a delicate
moment, there'll be a crisis.
Tell me, comrade.
Do you think that it's time
for a firm hand?
This is our opportunity.
It's now or never.
The enemy
is extremely well prepared.
And he won't give
us any respite.
Now is our chance to do it.
We have to do it now or never.
Because the enemy knows
what's in store for him.
He knows that he'll never
get back what he's lost,
and he's like the devil.
We'll keep on going, comrade.
See you, comrade.
- We'll be seeing you.
- I hope so.
We have to make it,
it's now or never.
We'll keep going, comrade.
See you, comrade.
THE END