(Last of three parts)

BY ELIZABETH STONE  
Castro’s statements about the need to strengthen the mass struggle were in direct contradiction with the orientation of the Chilean Communist Party. The CP, with its 100,000 members, was the backbone of the Popular Unity (UP) government. It was also the main enforcer of the UP’s conciliationist line. The CP was to the right of Allende. It was especially in a constant fight against all forces that, like Castro, wanted to turn the rising struggles into a genuine working-class revolution.

Whereas Castro warned that the bourgeoisie in Chile was preparing to destroy its own bourgeois democratic institutions, CP leader Luis Corvalán told Chileans that “the armed forces were faithful to the law and to the legitimately constituted government.” While Castro was urging that the masses be organized to prepare for battle with the ruling class, the CP was playing a nefarious role in dividing working-class forces.

The treacherous lengths to which the CP went in their fight against the revolutionaries was reflected in a speech by CP leader Volodia Teitelboim in May 1972, charging that the “ultra-left” in Chile was equally responsible with the right wing for the violence. Teitelboim said: “There is an extreme right that traffics in arms and is aiming for a civil war. But there are also ‘ultra’ groups that call themselves ‘left’ who are following the same course, playing the role of partner in a mad waltz with their political opposites. They feed on each other…”

After the military coup, under the pressure of the events, the Stalinists were forced to criticize their policy in Chile. At the same time, however, they stuck by their concept of the peaceful road to socialism and reiterated the position that too much “radicalism” on the part of the so-called “ultra-left” played a role in bringing about the coup. An article by Alexander Sobolev in the February 1975 Communist Party USA’s magazine, Political Affairs, said: “The left-wing extremists elements played a provocative role in respect to the middle layers. They proceeded from the assumption that a socialist revolution was developing in the country and for this reason demanded the immediate socialization of all means of production…

“The Allende government struggled against the ‘left-wing revolutionaries’ but could not fully paralyze their activities. Then, a large number of members of the Socialist Party sympathized with the ‘leftists.’ Reaction used this to drive a wedge between the working class and the middle layers.”

History has shown that in every revolutionary situation, the middle class will move to the right when the working class shows itself incapable of decisive action against the bourgeoisie. If the working class is unable to mobilize a competing power to the capitalists, if it does not lead in providing radical solutions to the problems faced by the masses, including the poor urban middle class and peasantry, it is then that the right-wing and fascist movements gain momentum.

Castro often took up this theme of the need to win the middle class, but his advice was not that of retreating from revolutionary action so that the middle class would not be “frightened.” Instead, at the press conference in Santiago he urged the revolutionaries to intensify the struggle on every level:

“I have spoken of the necessity of uniting the revolutionary and the progressive forces. I said that yesterday, and saying it here now would only be repeating what I said about the need to struggle in the ideological field: the need to win over the middle strata of the population in this struggle, because both forces are engaged in this struggle; the need to develop an awareness; and the need to arm one’s spirit. In a word, the need to struggle, the need to keep the enemy from taking the initiative. I would say that these struggles are class struggles and they have their own laws, and so, passivity and a defensive attitude are very harmful. In these struggles, the revolutionary forces must be on the offensive at all times. This is a historical law, applicable to all countries and in all circumstances.

“I would tell you this: Apply the laws of history; apply the wise principles of Marxism. Do it intelligently and creatively, and you’ll see, you’ll win.”  
 
Material aid
Through their advice and support, the Cuban’s tried to strengthen the revolutionary forces in Chile. They also went all out to campaign against the imperialist attacks. The attention of the Cuban people was focused on this, and there were mass rallies and page after page of coverage in Granma [Cuban daily newspaper].

When the imperialist attacks were having the biggest impact, the Cubans gave material aid. In 1972, Allende was invited to a rally in Havana where Castro proposed that each month every Cuban give up a part of their ration of sugar to be sent gratis to the Chilean people. Castro suggested that the proposal be discussed in the mass organizations, and then went on to say:

“We must raise a huge wall of solidarity around the sister nation of Chile! We simply cannot stand idly by! We mustn’t let the people of Chile be asphyxiated by imperialism! (shouts of ‘NO!’) We must raise a huge wall of solidarity like the one that was raised around the people of Peru at the time of the earthquake. We must raise a huge wall of solidarity like the one that was raised around the heroic people of Vietnam in their struggle for independence, a struggle that has been going on for ten years. (Applause and cries of ‘Cuba, Chile and Vietnam united they will win!’)

“The imperialists not only attack the peoples with explosives and napalm; they not only attack the peoples and try to bring them to their knees through the use of arms. They also try to bring them to their knees through starvation, through blockade, through economic asphyxiation. And in the same way that they have tried to bring Vietnam to its knees with bombs, they are trying to bring Chile down on its knees via economic asphyxiation.

“We are Latin Americans; we belong to that great community and some day we will be an integral part of it; the day when the wave of revolution sweeps away misunderstanding, chauvinism, balkanization and selfishness; the day when the wave of revolution sweeps away imperialist domination over the peoples of Latin America and with imperialism, the odious system of exploitation of man by man.

“We belong to Latin America. And for her sake, we are willing to fight shoulder to shoulder with the other peoples of Latin America; and for her sake and for Chile’s sake, Comrade Salvador Allende, we are not only willing to give our blood but our bread as well!”

As the coup drew closer, the Cubans once again offered their aid. On July 29, 1973, Castro wrote the following letter to Allende:

“Dear Salvador,

“Using the pretext of discussing with you matters related to the Conference of Nonaligned Nations, Carlos and Piñero are coming to see you. Their real objective is to get information on the situation from you, and to offer, as always, our willingness to cooperate in the face of the difficulties and dangers that block and threaten the process….

“I see that you are now involved in the delicate matter of the dialogue with the Christian Democrats, in the midst of serious events like the brutal murder of your Naval Aid-de-camp and the new strike of truck owners. I can imagine that tensions must be high and that you want to gain time to improve the balance of power in case fighting breaks out and, if possible, find a way to continue the revolutionary process without civil strife, avoiding any historic responsibility for what may happen. Those are praiseworthy objectives.

“But if the other side, whose real objectives we are not able to judge from here, continues to carry out a perfidious and irresponsible policy, demanding a price which is impossible for People’s Unity and the Revolution to pay, which is quite likely, don’t ever forget the extraordinary strength of the Chilean working class and the firm support it has always given you in difficult moments. In response to your call when the revolution is in danger, it can block those who are organizing a coup, maintain the support of the fence-sitters, impose its conditions and decide the fate of Chile once and for all if the need arises. The enemy must realize that the Chilean working class is on the alert and ready to go into action.”  
 
After the military coup
After the military takeover, the Cubans once again offered material help to the Chileans, this time to the large numbers of exiles who came to Cuba to secure a livelihood and to get support in the continuing struggle against the junta.

The Cubans also joined with the exiles in drawing the lessons of the Chilean events, continuing to take the position that what had been needed was a revolutionary mobilization of the masses for combat with the ruling class.

Just a few days after Allende was killed, at a rally in Havana, Castro explained how Allende had refused the army’s offer of a safe plane ride out of the country and instead had taken the rifle Fidel gave him and led a group of supporters in a desperate battle to defend the Presidential Palace from the army. Castro praised Allende as a hero and a “fighter for socialism,” and then went on to give his own view of how the coup could have been prevented:

“But, what can you expect of fascists? They’ve even made a big thing of the rifle Allende fought with, the automatic we had given him, using it for their despicable ridiculous propaganda. But the facts have shown that there could have been no present for President Allende other than that automatic, used in defending the People’s Unity Government! (Applause)

“We were right in our premonition in giving the President that rifle. Never before has any rifle been taken up in the hands of so heroic a constitutional and legitimate president of his people! (Applause) Never has a rifle better defended the cause of the poor, the cause of the Chilean workers and farmers! (Applause) And, if every worker and every farmer had had a rifle like it in his hands, there wouldn’t have been any fascist coup! (Applause and shouts of “Fidel, For Sure, Hit the Yankees Hard!’)

“That is the great lesson which revolutionaries should draw from the happenings in Chile….

“The Chilean example teaches us the lesson that it is impossible to make the revolution with the people alone: arms are also necessary! (Applause) And that arms alone aren’t enough to make a revolution: people are also necessary! (Applause)…

“Chilean revolutionaries know that now there’s no alternative other than revolutionary armed struggle. (Applause) They tried the electoral way, the peaceful way, and the imperialists and reactionaries changed the rules of the game. The reactionaries trampled the Constitution, the laws, the Parliament, everything, and there’s no way out of the situation.”  
 
 
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