TEN YEARS after the military coup which crushed the workers' movement, the people of Chile are rising again. The Pinochet regime is in deep, deep trouble.
As we go to press, the strike of the independent truck owners — who ironically played a signficant part in the downfall of Allende - continues to paralyse the north of the country.
The present wave of struggles reflects the rebuilding of the workers movement, after years of repression and terror.
The unrest surfaced with the day of action on 11 May. Thousands of people demonstrated in Santiago, Valparaiso and Concepcion, chanting 'Pinochet murderer' and 'jobs, bread, justice and freedom'.
After the 11 May action, hundreds of men and youths were rounded up by the police. Four leaders of the copner workers union were arrested. and two of them held in custody. A further day of action was held on 14 June, with an even bigger mass proThe opposition to the regime has been spearheaded by the copper workers, especially at the giant El Tienente mine, and by the truck drivers. Despite the fact that the truck drivers are self-employed, they have seen their standard of living driven down by the chronic economic crisis in Pinochet's Chile. The sections of the middle class who helped to bring down Allende have now turned against the military regime.
The call for a general strike against the regime was launched by the National Workers Command which includes the truckers and miners. The immediate reasons for calling the strike were the sacking of 900 copper workers, and the continued imprisonment and ill treatment of union leaders. Leaders of the union of hotel and restaurant staff have started a hunger strike against the repression.
The response to the general strike call was patchy. Many workers were afraid to go on strike, for fear of being arrested or worse, and for fear of losing their jobs in a country where unemplovment is 20 per cent. Moreover, union leaders had problems in making the strike call known - the media were instructed by the regime not to report the strike call or its consequences. But whether or not this particular strike call is heeded, the days of Pinochet's regime is numbered.
The whole of Chilean society is in turmoil. During the 14 June day of action. students for the first time in years took to the streets, barricading themselves in the Marcul Campus and shouting anti-government slogans, and also significantly the rallying cry of the workers under Allende -people united will never be defeated'.
Women surrounded the presidential palace banging empty pots in protest against shortages and economic hardship — ironically just as the middie class women had done under Allende. Children even boycotted The attempt to stabilise capitalism in Chile through massive deflation of the economy and repression of the workers movement has not worked. The defeat suffered by the Chilean workers in 1973 was very different to the victories of fascism during the 1930s. Despite all the stalemates and setbacks, the working class internationally is not going through a period of crushing defeats.
Considering the 30,000 killed in the coup, considering the dreadful regime of assasination and torture which the workers have faced - and considering the fact that tens of thousands of left wing Chileans fled into exile, the speed of the recovery has been remarkable. Ten years after the military coup in Chile and seven years after the coup in Argentina, the whole of Latin America is witnessing the rebirth of working class struggle.
From the revolutionary epicentre in Central America to Mexico, from Peru to Bolivia, from Argentina to Chile, the workers are on the march. "The As the Chilean coup which overthrew the Popular Unity government of Tanks from the Second Armoured Regiment surrounded the Moneda palace workers raise their voice once more, 1983 is the tenth anniversary of the there, and describes the this week, the first attempted coup, the 'tancazo', took place in Santiago.
STEVENS was events of that day. Allende