Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the competing doctrines and strategies employed by elements within the Chilean Marxist Left to overcome historic class and race inequalities during the period of Popular Unity government 1970-73.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the competing strategies employed by elements within the Chilean Marxist Left to overcome historic class and race inequalities during the period of Popular Unity government 1970-73. Based on doctoral research concerning social change in the indigenous heartlands of the south during the period of Agrarian Reform between 1962 and 1973, it contrasts the gradualist and constitutional approach epitomised by the Communist Party with the direct action tactics of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR).

Following the classic Marxist stages of history, the CP believed that wealth and mass support had first to be accumulated before fundamental changes in social structure could come about. The MIR, by contrast, modelled itself on the Leninist notion of a vanguard party. The idea that direct action by the few could achieve immediate revolutionary change seemed highly credible in the light of the recent Cuban revolution.

Social conflict in the impoverished and often lawless southern provinces, where terratenientes and displaced indigenous communities were involved in ongoing disputes over land, epitomised most starkly the continuities of power relations left unresolved by independence. These conflicts tested the Left's reformist and revolutionary strategies to the limit, ultimately leading to considerable disunity.

The contrast between the "slow-track" Popular Unity programme and the "fast-track" extra-parliamentary activities of the MIR and their sympathisers will be examined through reference to Agrarian Reform in the southern provinces, with a particular focus on the indigenous question.