CHILE: LEGACY OF THE ALLENDE YEARS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200340010-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 5, 2004
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: September 25, 1974
• Content Type: NSPR

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Approved For Release; dQ1JY,13c RDPg8 i50R00020034001036 A ~~ bc_ r
2 5 ,EP 1974
I Pn;;rv nf the All' de years
0 G:~ ~/,i
in -fir Sweezy's opinior !
No Peaceful VWay: Chile's Struggle for
Dignity, by Gary MacEoln. New
York: Sheed and Ward. $8.93.
Revolution and Counter'Revolutlon in
Chile, edited by Paul M. Sweezy
and Harry Magdoff. New York:
Monthly Review Press. V.W.
By Jamey Nelson Goodsell
Verdicts on Salvador Allende Gos-
sens' three year of Marxist-leaning
-rule in Chile are coming in. Like the
government itself when it was In
power (1970-1973), opinions are di-
vided.
But the authors of "No Peaceful
Way" and "Revolution and Counter-
Revolution In Chile" leave no doubt
that they consider Allende'sovve
The thwarted
throw as 'a tragedy.
hopes of The: workers and peasants
will make It extremely difficult for
the present military leaders to gov-
ern, they believe.
In fact, bl '. MacEain, from his long
experience with both Latin America
and his native Ireland, worries that
Chile might become "another North-
ern Ireland."
MacEoin's book, with its wise schol-
arship, able marshaling of facts, and
clear writing, is easily the better
book. It chronicles the years of Al-
lende rule and his efforts to nudge
Chile toward socialism, providing a
solid look at his successes and2allures
(there were plenty of both), and the
obstacles he encountered.
Chile was a heady place under
Allende. "As a politician pursuing
unconventional objectives by con-
ventional means, he had few.peers,"
1,lacEoin writes. -
"Even when his overwhelmingly
powerful enemies in Congress aban-
doned the role of a loyal opposition,
There are readers who may quarrel power was,
with this view, but M.acEoin docu- the fatal error of the Allende govern-
ments the evidence and makes a moth the `+iacEoin and the Sweezy
fairly strong case. Some of his most
telling analysis concerns what hap-' Magdoff books suggest some of the
paned Immediately before the mill- forces which will be at work In Chile
tary coup upset ALende's con- during yro ob erving thatc"t e
stltutional government just a year
meaning of UP's attempt to lead Chile
ago. toward socialism by constitutional
Role-of the CIA methods must be sought less in the
'some prescient passages, he mentpresident than in the social move-
In s on which he depended and
takes abard look at the United States' mentrt which he had to maneuver.
role in the ouster. Writing before the withi
"Asa corollary, his death did not
Central- Intelligence Agency's at- alter radically the fundamental equa-
temptsinefltdestabilize" the Allende tions. The circumstances in which. it this go month, t were disclosed occurred. will undoubtedly Anfluence
month, MacEoin documents the future strategy, but the forces
agency's penetration o f C iilean politi- through which he wtrkth are . ces
cal parties, its support of anti-Allende as yesterday."
demonstrations, and Its fl lancing of same The today e as ate ars i. Chile a *-e
opposition newspapers. It. is a grim ended, but not the desire of millions of
tale. Chileans for some of the thins Al-
The Sweezy-Ma.bix~t'is a core- lende seemed to promise t.em. In a
pllation of articles which have ap- sense, the forces he unleashed are as
peered in Monthly Review and other real today as when le hedad the
publications. All have a partisan government.
Marxist tone and should be read wi h
this in rnin.d:But precisely because of James Goodsell is the Y.onitor's
ndent in Latin America.
correspo
their bias they have some value.
In the opening essay, ti[r. Sweezy
analyzes Allende's overthrow, ar-
guing, that "The Chilean tragedy
confirms what should have been, and
to many was, obvious all along, that
there is no such thing as a peaceful
road to socialism."
Editor Sweezy contends that Al-
lende's Unldad Popular (UP) govern-
ment - which was composed of the
President's own Socialists, the CaaT-
munists, and other left-leaning par-
ties -- made a series of mistakes once
it had achieved power.
Toward socialism
For instance, he says that the UP
should have followed up the success-
ful municipal elections by wresting
"complete control of the state appa-
ratus from the bourgeoisie" which
was then in disarray. Failure to
attempt at least to consolidate its
without which representational de-
mocracy cannot function, and when
,the judiciary dropped its mask of
objectivity to become an Integral loart
with Congress of the openly Y
opposition, he refused consistently to
play by their rules."
'9Y
Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP88-0135OR000200340010-6