Crucial Mistakes

Some of the factions within the UP (and some groups to the left of it) saw all too clearly the basic mistakes Allende was making: he was not prepared to put his trust in the working class. The UP was following a basic policy of trying to raise the living standards of the working class, yet it never tried to involve them in properly organising for their own defence.

On the other hand, the UP left the other classes in full control of the media, the courts, both houses of Congress (46% was not an absolute majority) and most important of all, the armed forces. The working class was powerless, while the others were left to work openly for Allende's downfall.

The Chilean Communist Party was a principal agent in this. It proclaimed, according to one commentator, "that there was an immediate threat of a civil war, and that this must be stopped by avoiding the creation of any problem for the government, by maintaining calm, by producing more and by collecting signatures against the war." Any revolutionary party that considers collecting signatures to be an effective deterrent to the rise of fascism is, of course, doomed to failure.

As the same commentator pointed out in 1973, "The overall aim of the right is to make the government retreat, and it is achieving this aim. At the present time, when the working class is still strong, the right knows that the best tool for crushing the workers is not civil war but the reformism of the UP, which serves as a brake on struggles."

Allende himself did not seem able to comprehend the reality of the situation. In an interview in the Australian Nation Tines (March 1973), he slated: "...the military institutions — the carabineros (Parliamentary police) and the civil police — which are professional institutions, with a profound sense of respect for the constitution and the law, something that is unique to this country...this is why I tell you that here there will not be an attempt of coup d'etat, that there will not be a civil war."

Meanwhile the military, with selective appointments, purges, and support from the US, was preparing itself for the coup. In an effort to appease the right wing, Allende actually appointed Pinochet as Chief of Staff! Other groups were also active. Roberto Thieme, leader of a right wing terrorist body called Patria y Libertad {fatherland and Liberty), announced in mid 1973: "If we have to burn half of Chile to save it from communism, then we will do it." His group cooperated with some members of the Armed Forces to stage an unsuccessful coup in June 1973, which was followed by 600 violent attacks on government and civil installations.

The truck owners' strike meant food supplies dwindled, fuel vanished and crop shortages loomed because seeds and fertilisers could not be delivered. Yet the truckers remained happy. Late in August, a Time correspondent discovered a group of them enjoying a large communal meal [unclear: o] steak, vegetables and wine near [unclear: Santiago] "Where does the money come from?" [unclear: h] asked. "From the CIA," they answered The CIA denied it at the time, but has [unclear: since] had its role in Chile fully revealed.