The Guardian 23 July, 2008
Chile: still shaking off
the legacy of Pinochet
Bob Briton
Victor Hugo Tiznado is a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Chile and its trade union commission. He was a long-time activist in the coal mining union and now serves on the city council of the former coal mining centre of Lota. He recently visited Australia to strengthen contact with the Chilean community in several Australian capitals as they prepared to commemorate the centenary of the birth of the late President Salvador Allende. In Adelaide, he took time out of his schedule for the following interview with Bob Briton from The Guardian.
BB: How would you describe the political and economic situation in Chile? Are the people feeling the effects of the progressive changes taking place in Latin America or is the neo-liberal agenda still firmly in place?
Victor Tiznado: At our 23rd Congress, we as a Party set down the position that Chile is not a real democracy. There a very few spaces for democratic debate and the people are only consulted when there is the occasion to elect the authorities — but as far as opportunities for participation on important matters, there are no real openings. We believe the neo-liberal model is still intrinsically woven into the Chilean system of government, that there are still major obstacles to democratic participation.
There is a very severe, economic, social and cultural crisis in our society. The 23rd also set down as a central political objective for Communists in Chile the defeat of the neo-liberal system and the achievement of a democratic government with social justice. Right now in our country the social movements and the trade unions are making significant advances struggling for openings in the struggle against the neo-liberal system. Recently the teachers have participated in a series of protests to defeat a law put in place under Pinochet called LOCE — the constitution law on education.
There is an overall awakening of the consciousness of workers which had until recently been firmly held back. In that sense, we Communists along with a large part of the population and its progressive forces are drawing inspiration from what is taking place in the region. We have the example of revolutionary Cuba and now Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Nicaragua. Precisely that which we saw taking place under the government of Allende we now see taking place elsewhere.
There is a great call for international solidarity. There is much concern about the situation with Evo Morales [the popular leftist president of Bolivia], with [President] Rafael Correa in Ecuador and with [Sandinista President] Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua there is network of solidarity in place to protect the democratic advances that have been made. The Party has also discussed the new process starting up in Paraguay under President Fernando Lugo and how to support it.
BB: What has the experience of the Communist Party of Chile been in the Juntos Podemos Más* (Together We Can Do More) electoral alliance been like? Has it strengthened the position of the workers and other oppressed people? What has been the effect on the Party itself?
VT: Juntos Podemos Más is an alternative coalition to the two main coalitions in Chile, the Concertación, which is currently in power and the Alliance for Chile on the right. The current government is located on the right in terms of the economy, the legal system and various areas of production. We linked up with various political forces like the MIR [Movement of the Revolutionary Left], the Humanist Party, ecological movements and others to put together a proposal for governing the country in 2005 with Humanist Party candidate for President, Tomás Hirsch.
We achieved a significant vote not only in the national parliament but also in the municipal elections. We’ve had a number of advances and setbacks. There were some divisions about the decision with regard to the second round [of voting in the Presidential elections] which brought us some problems in our work but which were eventually overcome. We are working within Juntos Podemos Más towards the next municipal elections and the national parliamentary elections and presidential election in 2009.
We in the Communist Party believe that work within Juntos Podemos Más is very important but realise that it is not a coalition only of people of the left or the revolutionary left. We believe it is a grouping of those who wish to break with the neo-liberal system. For us to achieve people’s power took us four presidential elections from 1952 to 1970. It took the overcoming of many problems to achieve the cooperation of revolutionary and other popular forces and bring about the Unidad Popular [Popoular Unity] government which had such an important role in the destiny of our country.
Today with Juntos Podemos Más the challenge is to bring about the broadest unity possible of forces that are not necessarily of the left, including those of the centre and even slightly of the right to achieve this model we need to build. It has happened in Ecuador with Rafael Correa, in Bolivia with Evo Morales, in Paraguay with Fernando Lugo, in Uruguay with Tabaré Vazquez.
In reality we cannot afford to exclude anyone who comes to us with the motivation of fighting against the neo-liberal system, who is against social exclusion, against the slavery of the markets and mechanisms like the binominal system [which favours the two large pro-system electoral blocs]. They oppose the labour laws and want to bring under social ownership the basic resources of the country — copper, oil, coal, etc. In other words, I am speaking of all those in favour of measures to improve the lives of the country’s workers.
BB: Has the Party been able to link its work with the left forces achieving breakthroughs in Latin America? How much priority is given to international solidarity work?
VT: The Communist Party in Chile has been very busy in building links with the other progressive forces in Latin America and has very good relations with Fidel, Evo Morales, Hugo Chávez. As a Communist Party we have expressed our solidarity with the armed struggle in Colombia, with those who are recognised as forces for liberation in the political life of the Colombian people. In regard to Ecuador and Venezuela, there is a broad network of solidarity. There is solidarity not only towards the struggles in Latin America but also with the Palestinian people, for example. In that sense the Party has been exerting its maximum efforts in the area of international solidarity.
We have very hard work to deal with within the country and there is much debate of a political and ideological nature. Happily, there’s constant change within the Party. The last big debate arose when we decided to support [current president] Michelle Bachelet in the second round [of elections in 2005].
However, this was done with conditions — it wasn’t given away for free. We put forward five points in the interest of the people.** There was a great debate, a tough fight leading up to a major mobilisation of workers last year with a nationwide strike on August 29.
BB: What is the situation now of the struggle of the Indigenous people of Chile?
VT: The Communist Party of Chile supports all the forms of struggle of the Mapuche. It respects its position as an autonomous people with its own language and identity within the Chilean nation. We have stood with the Mapuche people in these times of brutal repression. A major undertaking of the neo-liberal system and those who govern for it has been to end the association of the Mapuche with their lands and the riches that are to be found on and within that land.
Happily, the Mapuche people have resisted. There have been moves to criminalise this struggle of the Mapuche but now there is broad solidarity in Chilean society with the demands of the Mapuche. There was a hunger strike by a Mapuche community at the beginning of January. One of the elders of that community had been accused of setting fire to a number of trucks used in the forestry industry. All this was an effort on the part of the apparatus to marginalise these people. The Party sent whatever assistance it was able — lawyers, organisations for human rights, etc.
In Chile there was an outpouring of sympathy with the Mapuche people. This attempt to punish the struggle of the Mapuche failed. It was a clear advance in the struggle to defend the interests of the Mapuche people. They will keep up this struggle and the question of their rights to their land will be taken up by a more progressive government in future as will the question of an apology for the years of persecution, not only in the era of Spanish colonialism but also at the hands of the Chilean people. It will give the question of autonomy for the Mapuche the priority it deserves.
BB: Has the trade union movement in Chile become stronger or weaker in recent times?
VT: The Party is very concerned to make it understood that the people most necessary to the political life of the country are the people who produce its wealth, the workers. That is a crucial political message. With this understanding in the years as we emerged from the dictatorship, we struggled to establish a strong central trade union organisation. In recent times, in various sectors including forestry, there have been campaigns that attained international recognition. There was the one centred on the region of Arauco where the workers were campaigning for better conditions and wages during which a subcontracted forestry worker Rodrigo Cisternas was assassinated. A leading role in the struggle was played by a trade union activist and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Jorge González.
Subcontractors working for a copper company, workers in the "third category", started a very strong campaign to be recognised in the same way as other workers in Codelco and escape the super-exploitation of their subcontactor status. It was a celebrated struggle in which a militant of our Party, Cristian Cuevas took a leading role along with other leaders from our Party and the left.
In the field of education, Pinochet left a law called LOCE (the Constitutional Law of Education). This permitted the formation of private schools on a commercial basis set up on the neo-liberal model. Teachers from the teachers college initiated a series of nationwide protests together with the university students and secondary students, the "penguins" [after their black and white uniforms]. It was a very strong manifestation in favour of public education.
Last week, they resolved to legislate over the general law of education after a national strike involving 96 percent of the sector. From Valparaíso, 100 buses arrived in the capital. More than 20,000 people protested in the city.
In August, there will be elections for a new leadership in the CUT [peak union council]. We will have candidates standing as Communists or for a progressive alliance of the left. An important develoment taking place at the instigation of the CUT at the moment is formation of a broad social and political spectrum who have become involved in the "social and political parliament" which looks to the political transformation of the country. For example, there is the call for the scrapping of the political inheritance from the Pinochet era, for a constitutional assembly and democratic elections from the Chilean authorities. Workers struggling for better wages and conditions need support in the political arena.
BB: What is the atmosphere like in Chile regarding the Allende centenary? How is he remembered by workers?
VT: We Communists regard the contribution of Allende very highly. We will never renounce the belief that he was the born leader of the country. At the time of the centenary of his birth, here in Australia the Party is doing what it can to put before the public the many achievements of Allende. Tomorrow in Melbourne there will be an event in homage to Allende.
The three years of the government of Salvador Allende were three years of hope for the workers. We called Allende "compañero presidente" ["comrade president"]. From that time till now, ordinary people recognise that the measures he took were the most significant ever in the interests of the workers. The "forty measures" taken by the Popular Unity government included free milk for the children, free education, respect for the needs of pensioners and retired people, the nationalisation of the basic resources of the country — copper, iron, coal, oil and so on — and reform in the area of agriculture. They transformed the lives of poor Chileans. Three million books were published and distributed among the people.
Institutions were set up where workers could get professional qualifications. The figure of Allende resides in the heart of every poor Chilean. The way Allende faced Fascism was in keeping with his revolutionary commitment. When we compare him to the dictator we see a comparison between a revolutionary Marxist and a Fascist traitor. You could see Pinochet who died robbing the people, while Allende died struggling and not for himself. In one of his speeches Allende said that he was elected by the people and that he would give his life for the people.
In politics today it is important to recall the significance of the achievements of Allende and not only for Chile but for Latin America and the world. Allende and Popular Unity were very concerned to achieve the sustainable development of the country. Today we see progressive forces struggling to achieve these very same things against the forces of capitalism and prevent the destruction of the planet.
The legacy of Salvador Allende, the project initiated by Popular Unity was for development guided by the workers, protection for the children, respect for the rights of women, respect for the original inhabitants, the nationalisation of the basic resources of the country. Things have changed since those times but something the progressive forces, whether in Latin America or Europe or elsewhere, are still trying to achieve is to bring under social ownership the basic resources of the country. Standing in the way of these efforts are forces aligned chiefly with the United States.
* Juntos Podemos Más — a coalition of more than 50 left and progressive parties and organisations, including the Communist Party of Chile, the Humanist Party (PH), Izquierda Cristiana (Christian Left), MIR, the MPMR (Movimiento Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez), and others.
** The five points agreed for the cooperation of Juntos Podemos Más in support for Bachelet in 2005 were: an end to the binominal electoral system, a new labour law, protection for the natural environment, reform of the pensions system, respect for human rights and the rights of Indigenous peoples.