Chile

The death of Pinochet sparked off celebrations in Chile and around the world. He was a hated figure, a living example of the real nature of capitalism. He died without being brought to justice. But his was merely the fate of one man. The task is to make sure that the system that created Pinochet is buried once and for all. That task lies ahead of us.

There is another 9/11 to remember today, the Pinochet coup that overthrew the Allende government in Chile. In 1979 Alan Woods posed the question of who was behind Pinochet's coup. What interests was he defending? What were the policies of the Allende government and why despite all warnings was he unable to prevent the coup? Alan Woods had previously written an article in September 1971, two years before Pinochet's military coup, in which he warned against the threat of a military coup if the Popular Unity government failed to mobilise the masses and carry out a genuine socialist programme.
Lessons of Chile 1973...

Today is the 30th anniversary of the coup staged by Pinochet against the elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende. This anniversary has been overshadowed in the last couple of years by the dramatic events that took place at the World Trade Center in New York in 2001. The same date falls on a tragic day for the Chilean proletariat, full of lessons to be learnt.

On August 13 the Chilean Trade Union Confederation (CUT) called a one-day general strike. This was the first general strike since the fall of the Pinochet dictatorship. It marks the beginning of a new epoch and has to be seen within the context of the general situation in the whole of the South American sub-continent.

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