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Chilean Communists, Radical Presidents and Chilean Relations with the United States, 1940–1947

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Andrew Barnard
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Extract

Founded in 1922, the Partido Comunista de Chile (PCCh) had a somewhat chequered career before the mid-1930s.1 Although the prestige of its founder, Luis Emilio Recabarren, and its close ties with organized labour gave the party an early significance, its progress towards becoming an important force in Chilean politics halted abruptly when General Carlos Ibáñez came to power in 1927. Forced into clandestinity by Ibáñez, the party emerged on his downfall in 1931 with its membership vastly reduced, its trade union arm, the Federación Obrera de Chile (FOCH), moribund, and its remaining activists deeply divided by ideological, tactical and personal differences.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , November 1981 , pp. 347 - 374
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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References

1 For accounts of the PCCh's early years, see Ramírez Necochea, H., Orígen y Formación del Partido Comunista de Chile (Santiago, 1965),Google ScholarElias, Lafertte, Vida de un Comunista (Santiago, 1957),Google Scholar and Barnard, A., ‘The Chilean Communist Party 1922–1947’ (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, London, 1978), Chaps 1–3.Google Scholar

2 For accounts of the Popular Front coalition, see Stevenson, J. R., The Chilean Popular Front (Pennsylvania, 1942);Google ScholarBande, A, ‘The Chilean Radical Party and the Popular Front’ (Unpublished B. Litt. thesis, Oxford, 1970);Google ScholarCorkill, D., ‘From Dictatorship to Popular Front: Parties and Coalition Politics in Chile, 1931–1941’ (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Essex,1974);Google ScholarBarnard, A., op. cit., Chapter 4.Google Scholar

3 In 1936, US investment totalled 484 million US dollars – 383 millions in mining and smelting, 5 millions in manufacturing, 12 millions in trade and 84 millions in other areas, including public utilities. Francis, M. J., The Limits of Hegemony (Notre Dame, 1977), p. 10.Google Scholar

4 In 1938, the US provided 27.7 per cent of Chilean imports and Germany 25.8 per cent. Washington, D.C.: US Department of State Archives (hereafter cited as DSA) 825.50/47, Faust, J. B. to State, 6 09, 1939.Google Scholar

5 For thorough accounts of US/Chilean relations during the war years and descriptions of the sorts of pressures which each country brought to bear on the other, see Francis, M. J., op. cit., and O'Brien, A., ‘The Politics of Dependency: A Case Study of Chile, 1938–45’ (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Notre Dame, 1976).Google Scholar

6 See Alejandro, Chelen Rojas, Trayectoria del Socialismo (Buenos Aires, 1967), pp. 96–103Google Scholar and Drake, Paul W., Socialism and Populism in Chile, 1932–52 (Illinois, 1978), pp. 242–4, for accounts of the socialist inconformistas.Google Scholar

7 La Hora,9 02, 1940.Google Scholar

8 See Frente Popular, 18 02, 1940; 28 04, 1940; 1 05, 1940 for Communist attacks on the SNA.Google Scholar

9 La Nación, 25 and 28 04 1940.Google Scholar

10 See Loveman, B., Chile The Legacy of Hispanic Capitalism (New York, 1979), p. 266, for strike statistics for 1939 and 1940.Google Scholar

11 The PCCh began to attack the US when neutrality laws were repealed to enable that country to supply arms to the Allies. Frente Popular, 28 10, 1939.Google Scholar

12 Frente Popular, 22 07, 1940.Google Scholar

13 Consigna, 6 07, 1940; La Hora, 23 07, 1940.Google Scholar

14 El Siglo, 13 12, 1940.Google Scholar

15 La Hora, 16 12, 1940.Google Scholar

16 See Foster, W. Z., History of the Communist Party of the USA (New York, 1968), pp. 392–3,Google Scholar for an account of the Smith and Voorhis Acts. In late 1940, Earl Browder, the Secretary-General of the CPUSA was also being tried for passport offences. See, The International Conferences of the American States, First Supplement (Washington, 1940), pp. 351–3, for the resolutions on subversive threats.Google Scholar

17 London: Public Record Office, Foreign Office Records (FOR) FO/371/26876 (Chile), A283/283/9, Orde to Halifax, 14 Dec., 1940.

18 DSA 825.51/1151, Bowers to State, 23 Sept., 1939; 825.00/1176, Frost to State, 30 Sept., 1939.

19 DSA 825.51/1226, Bowers, to Welles, , 7 07, 1940.Google Scholar

20 DSA 825.51/1141, Hull, to Bowers, , 19 09, 1939; 825.51/1227, Interdepartmental Memo., 14 06, 1940.Google Scholar

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24 El Siglo, 6 10, 1940.Google Scholar

25 See various reports from Bowers, to State. DSA 825.00/1204, 6 03, 1940. 825.00/1210, 8 05, 1940; 825.00/1239, 14 08, 1940; 825.52/1267, 11 10, 1940.Google Scholar

26 DSA 825.51/1267, Bowers, to State, 11 10, 1940.Google Scholar

27 FOR, FO 371/24182, A 2389/52/9, Bentinck, to Halifax, , 10 06, 1940.Google Scholar

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29 For examples of Communist attacks on Schnake, see El Siglo, 13–15, 30 01, 1941; 4 02, 1941.Google Scholar

30 La Hora, 1 03, 1941. Letter from Schnake to Aguirre Cerda.Google Scholar

31 DSA 825.51/1328, Bowers, to State, 29 04, 1941.Google Scholar

32 According to Bowers, Aguirre Cerda linked US reluctance in this matter directly to his own failure to take drastic action against the PCCh. DSA 825.00/1391, Bowers, to Welles, , 4 04, 1941.Google Scholar

33 DSA 825.5151/629, Bowers, to State, 30 06, 1941;Google Scholar825.5151/633/PS/RB; 825.51/1349, State to Bowers, , 3 06, 1941.Google Scholar

34 Andrés, Escobar Díaz, Unidad Nacional contra el Fascismo (Santiago, 1941), pp. 20–2.Google Scholar

35 See Drake, , op. cit., pp. 270–7, for an account of the PS's travails during the war years.Google Scholar

36 El Siglo, 5–7 08, 1944.Google Scholar

37 See Principios 03/04, 1945, pp. 10–15, article by Carlos Rosales.Google Scholar

38 El Siglo, 1 06 1945.Google Scholar

39 Ibid., 10 June, 1945.

40 Ibid., 9 Dec, 1945.

41 La Opinión, 30 07, 1945.Google Scholar

42 See, for example, La Opinión, 20, 22 and 31 10, 1945; 10 and 19 11, 1945.Google Scholar

43 Augustín, Alvarez Villablanca, Objectivos del Socialismo (Santiago, 1946), p. 1.Google Scholar

44 La Opinión, 17 01, 1946.Google Scholar

45 El Siglo, 23 01, 1946.Google Scholar

46 Ibid., 26 Jan, 1946.

47 Ibid., 29 Jan, 1946.

48 Ibid., 1 Jan, 1946.

49 Ibid., 2 Feb, 1946.

50 Ibid., 3 Feb, 1946; La Opinión, 3 Feb, 1946.

51 El Siglo, 8 02, 1946.Google Scholar

52 Ibid., 22 Feb, 1946.

53 Ibid., 15 April, 1946.

54 Ibid., 21 April, 1946.

55 See articles by Humberto, Abarca and Gab, González in Principios, 02/03 1946 and 04 1946 and El Siglo, 24 01, 4 04, and 8 05, 1946 for expressions of this viewpoint.Google Scholar

56 El Siglo, 18 11, 1945; DSA 825.00/12–1945, Hoover to Lyon, 19 Dec., 1945.Google Scholar

57 The nitrate union dispute involved important issues of trade union principle and practice. The unions in question had initially struck in sympathy with striking copperworkers and had been sued by their employers for lost production. The Labour Court found for the employers, awarding over 3,000 US dollars in damages – evidently the first time such an award had been made. In January, the nitrate unions struck against this award and set in motion the events described above. DSA 825.5045/5–646, Hoover to Lyon, 6 May, 1946.

58 DSA 825.5045/2–846, Byrnes, to Embassy, , 8 02, 1946; 825.6362/2–1146, Bowers to State, 11 02, 1946; 825.6362/3–946, Memo, 9 March, 1946.Google Scholar

59 DSA 825.00/1–1746, Braden, to Bowers, , 6 02, 1946.Google Scholar

60 DSA 825.51/9–1045, Burns, to Kennedy, , 10 09, 1945; 825.51/9–2045, Phelps, to Collado, , 20 09, 1945.Google Scholar

61 DSA 825.00B/10–1645AW, Memo, 11 Oct., 1945.

62 DSA 825.00/12–1945, Hoover to Lyon, , 19 12, 1945.Google Scholar

63 El Siglo, 3 07, 1946.Google Scholar

64 DSA RG 59, ARA Memo, 9 March, 1946. This was because the rumour that the US was pressuring Rios to outlaw the PCCh appeared in Ercilla, a magazine edited by the Peruvian Manuel Seaone.

65 DSA 825.51/3–946, Memo, 9 March, 1946.

66 La Hora, 27 07, 1946.Google Scholar

67 DSA 825.504/6–1145 CS/MAJ, Bowers to State, 11 06, 1946.Google Scholar

68 DSA 825.504/7–2645, Memo, 25 07, 1945; 825.504/9–1547, Bell to State, 15 09, 1945; 825.5043/4–3047, Bowers to State, 30 04, 1947.Google Scholar

69 Serafino, Romualdi, Presidents and Peons (New York, 1967), pp. 3–7, 21.Google Scholar

70 Ibid., p. 332.

71 For the story of CIA involvement in Latin American labour organizations see, George, Morris, CIA and American Labour (New York, 1967).Google Scholar

72 DSA 825.00/1391, Bowers, to Welles, , 4 04, 1941; 825.00/1392, Welles, to Bowers, , 2 05, 1941.Google Scholar

73 Office of Naval Intelligence Archive (ONI) C-10-M, 24075, Report from USNLO Tocopilla, 5 Oct., 1942; C-10-M,24284, Report from USNLO Valparaiso, 12 Dec., 1944.

74 This viewpoint was expressed in innumerable articles and statements in the Communist press. See, for example, El Siglo, 13 04, 8 05 and 30 06, 1947; Principios, 11 1947, pp. 3–4, article by Gab Gonzàlez.Google Scholar

75 For a succinct summary of this position, see Gabriel, Gonzàlez Videla, Memorias, (Santiago, 1975, 2 vols.), Vol. 1, pp. 707–9.Google Scholar

76 DSA 825.00/8–546, Bowers, to Braden, , 5 08, 1946.Google Scholar

77 La Hora, 25 10, 1946.Google Scholar

78 The PCCh not only supported Gonzàlez Videla's candidacy in 1946 but also in 1941.

79 DSA 825.00/11.1446, Bowers, to Acheson, , 24 11, 1946.Google Scholar

80 DSA 825.5045/11–1846, Bowers, to Braden, , 18 11, 1946;Google ScholarLuis, Corvalàn, Ricardo Fonseca, Combatiente Ejemplar (Santiago, 1971), p. 179; FOR, FO 371/52003, AS 6682/16/9 and A 7055/1619, dated 21 Oct., 1946 and 4 Nov., 1946 respectively, Leche to Bevin.Google Scholar

81 La Hora, 29 12, 1946; 10 01, 11 02,1947.Google Scholar

82 Ibid., 20 Jan, 1947.

83 El Siglo, 16 04, 1947.Google Scholar

84 See Ricardo Fonseca's article in Principios, 02/03 1947, pp. 3–4, for a Communist account of this incident.Google Scholar

85 For an account of this law and its repressive effects, see Brian, Loveman, Struggle in the Countryside (Indiana, 1976), Chaps 4 and 5.Google Scholar

86 According to Luis, Corvalan, op. cit., p. 196, all cabinet ministers were informed in February 1947 that the State Department would only approve economic aid to those countries which followed the US lead in foreign affairs.Google Scholar

87 Luis, Corvalan, op. cit., p. 196; El Siglo, 17 04, 1947.Google Scholar

88 Luis, Corvalan, op. cit., p. 191.Google Scholar

89 El Siglo, 17 04, 1947.Google Scholar

90 Ibid., 23, 29 May; 15, 19 06, 1947.

91 Ibid., 2 August, 1947.

92 Ibid., 11 August, 1947.

93 Ibid., 20 August, 1947.

94 Ibid., 23 August, 1947.

95 Ibid., 22 August, 1947.

96 DSA 825.5045/12–2347, Bowers, to State, 23 12, 1947. This dispatch enclosed a 53-page report on the coal strike by the Labor Attaché James, Bell. Pp. 17–19.Google Scholar

97 Ibid..

98 Ibid..

99 La Hora, 9, 22 10, 1947.Google Scholar

100 El Siglo, 6 10, 1947; La Hora, 7 10, 1947.Google Scholar

101 DSA 825.5045/10–2546, Bowers to State, 25 Oct., 1946.

102 DSA 825.51/11–646, Braden, to Clayton, , 6 11, 1946; 825.6352/11–2946, memo, 29 11, 1946.Google Scholar

103 DSA 825.5054/10–2246. memo, 22 Oct., 1946.

104 DSA 825.5045/10–2445, memo, 24 Oct., 1946.

105 DSA 825.5045/11–546, Bowers to State, 5 Nov., 1946.

106 DSA 825.5045/22–646, Braden, to Clayton, , 6 11, 1946.Google Scholar

107 DSA 825.5045/11–746, Bowers to State, 7 Nov., 1946.

108 DSA 825.5045/11–1246, Bowers to State, 12 Nov., 1946.

109 DSA 825.5045/11–1846, Bowers to State, 18 Nov., 1946.

110 DSAIbid.

111 Ibid..

112 DSA 825.5045/11–1246, memo, 12 Nov., 1946.

113 DSA 825.5045/12–246, Braden, to Briggs, , 2 12, 1946.Google Scholar

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115 DSA 825.00/11–1846, Bowers, to Braden, , 18 11, 1946.Google Scholar

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119 Luis, Corvalan, op. cit., p. 196.Google Scholar

120 DSA 825.00/4–1847, memo, 18 04, 1947.Google Scholar

121 Ibid..

122 DSA 825.00/4–2147, Bowers, to Braden, , 21 04, 1947.Google Scholar

123 DSA RG 59 memo, 5 05, 1947.Google Scholar

124 DSA 825.5019/7–2347, memo, 23 07, 1947; 825.5019/10–1047, memo, 10 10, 1947. Stannard complained in October that he had still not been paid for the coal he sent in July.Google Scholar

125 DSA 825.51/8–2647, McCloy, to Lovett, , 26 10, 1947.Google Scholar

126 DSA 825.00/8–2247, memo, 22 08, 1947.Google Scholar

127 DSA 825.5045/10–1447, memo, 14 10, 1947.Google Scholar

128 DSA 825.5045/10–1747, memo, 17 10, 1947.Google Scholar

129 DSA FW 825.51/10–1347, memo, 13 10, 1947.Google Scholar

130 DSA 825.51/2–448, memo, 4 02, 1948.Google Scholar

131 Admittedly the surcharge was only intended to last for two months but it is almost certain that the State Department attitude would have been very different had Gonzàlez Videla not made his move against the Communists. DSA 825.51/10–3047, Bowers to State, 30 10, 1947.Google Scholar

132 DSA 825.52/3–2548, memo, 25 03, 1948; 825.51/4–1348, memo, 13 04, 1948; 825.51/8–1648, memo, 16 08, 1948; 825.51/12–2148, memo, 21 2, 1948.Google Scholar

133 Three pieces of evidence suggest this. First, the British Ambassador reported that he thought it likely that the FBI had played a ‘considerable part’ For, FO/371/61232, AS6026/32/9, Leche to AS Dept, 20 Oct., 1947. Second, Gab Gonzàlez claimed that six US agents directed military operations in the coal zone from the Intendencia in Concepción. Third, CIA records and reports from Chile, which began to be fairly regular from May 1947 onwards, have proved resistant to the Freedom of Information Act.

134 Francis, M. J., op. cit.; O'Brien, A., op. cit.Google Scholar