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CHILE: THE POPULAR UNITY'S PROGRAMME
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The following is the political programme presented by a
coalition of six Chilean political parties led by the Socialist Party and the Communist
Party to the presidential election in 1970. The presidential candidate was Salvador
Allende. The coalition won the presidential election. Salvador Allende became president.
After 34 months of conspiracies, terrorism, and criminal activities led by the Chilean
capitalist class through their political parties, the Chilean generals (led by Pinochet,
Merino, Leigh and Mendoza), and supported by the U.S. Government and its main criminal
agencies, the C.I.A. and the Pentagon, succeeded in murdering Salvador Allende and
bringing the Chilean working class to its knees through the systematic use of political
assassinations and torture, opening the way to larger profits for transnational
corporations and the Chilean oligarchy ( For an account of this period read my book "The Murder of Allende and the of the Chilean way to socialism",
Harper&Row, N.Y, 1975). This political programme, in 1970, represented an alternative way for
development, based on ECONOMIC GROWTH WITH EQUAL ACCESS TO ECONOMIC RESOURCES AND SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT WITH EQUAL ACCESS TO POLITICAL RESOURCES for the Chilean population. Students
of development should take a close look to this text, because, today, more than thirty
years since the murderers led by the White House and the Chilean generals killed Salvador
Allende, still is a valid and consistent "programme for sustainable development"
alternative to the capitalist model which exclude a large portion of society from the
fruits of economic growth, and which also unleashes environmental destruction and
unhuman development.
(Róbinson Rojas, 2003)
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THE POPULAR UNITY'S PROGRAMME
Programme presented to the Chilean people for the Presidential
Election campaign in 1970
INTRODUCTION
The parties and movements of which the Popular Unity's Coordinating Committee is composed,
without prejudice to our individual philosophy and political delineations, fully agree on
the following description of the national situation and on the programme proposals which
are to constitute the basis of our common effort and which we now present for
consideration by the whole nation.
Chile is going through a grave crisis, manifested by social and economic stagnation,
widespread poverty and deprivation of all sorts suffered by workers, peasants(*), and
other exploited classes as well as in the growing difficulties which confront white collar
workers, professional people, small and medium businessmen, and in the very limited
opportunities open to women and young people.
These problems can be resolved in Chile. Our country possesses great wealth such as copper
and other minerals, a large hydro- electric potential, vast forests, a long coast rich in
marine life, and more than sufficient land, etc. Chile also has a population with a will
to work and progress and people with technical and professional skills.
WHY HAVE WE FAILED?
What has failed in Chile is the system - a system which does not correspond to
present day requirements. Chile is a capitalist country, dependent on the
imperialist nations and dominated by bourgeois groups who are structurally related
to foreign capital and who cannot resolve the country's fundamental problems - problems
which are clearly the result of class privilege which will never be given up
voluntarily.
Moreover, as a direct consequence of the development of world capitalism, the
submission of the national monopolistic bourgeoisie to imperialism daily furthers
its role as junior partner to foreign capital, increasingly accentuating its
dependent nature.
For a few people it is good business to sell off a piece of Chile each day. And
every day this select few make decisions on behalf of all the rest of us. On the
other hand, for the great majority of Chileans there is little to be gained from
selling their labour and brain power and, in general, they are still deprived of
the right to determine their own future.
The 'reformist' and 'developmentalist' solutions, which the Alliance for
Progress promoted and which the Frei Government adopted, have not changed anything
of importance in Chile. Basically, the Christian Democrat Government was nothing
but a new government of the bourgeoisie, in the service of national and foreign
capitalism, whose weak efforts to promote social change came to a sad end in
economic stagnation, a rising cost of living, and violent repression of the people.
This experience demonstrated once more that reformism cannot resolve the people's
problems.
The development of monopoly capitalism prevents the extension of democracy and
exacerbates violence against the people. As 'reformism' fails and the people's
capacity to struggle increases, the most reactionary sectors of the dominant
classes who, in the last analysis, have no recourse but to use force, become firmer
in their position. The brutal forms of violence perpetrated by the Frei
Government, such as the activities of the Riot Police Unit, the beating up of
peasants and students, and the killing of shanty town dwellers and miners, are
inseparable from other and no less brutal forms of violence which affect all
Chileans. People living in luxurious houses while a large part of the population
lives in unhealthy dwellings or has no shelter at all also constitutes violence;
people who throw away food while others lack the means to feed themselves also
commit violence.
Imperialist exploitation of backward economies takes place in a variety of ways:
through investments in mining (copper, iron, etc), industrial, banking and
commercial activities; through the control of technology which obliges us to pay
exaggerated sums for equipment, licences and patents; through American loans with
crippling conditions which require us to purchase from the U.S.A. and with the
additional obligation to transport these purchases in North American ships. Just
one example of imperialist exploitation is the fact that from 1952 to date, the
U.S.A. invested US$ 7,473 million in Latin America and received back US$ 16,000
million.
Imperialism has taken resources from Chile equivalent to double the value of the
capital accumulated in our country throughout its history. American monopolies,
with the complicity of bourgeois governments, have succeeded in taking over nearly
all of our copper, iron and nitrate resources. They control foreign trade and dictate
economic policy through the International Monetary Fund and other organisations.
They dominate important branches of industry and services, they enjoy statutory
privileges while imposing monetary devaluation, the reduction of salaries and wages
and the distortion of agricultural activities through their agricultural surpluses
policy.
They also intervene in education, culture and in the communications media and
they try to penetrate the Armed Forces, making use of military and political
agreements.
The dominant classes, acting as accomplices in the process and unable to defend
their own interests, have increased Chile's foreign indebtness over the last ten
years. It was argued that the loans and arrangements with international bankers
would increase economic development. But the only result is that today Chile holds
the record of being one of the world's most indebted countries in proportion to
its population.
In Chile government and legislation is for the benefit of the few -that is they
only serve the large capitalists and their hangers-on, the companies which dominate
our economy, and the large landholders whose power still remains almost intact.
The owners of capital are only interested in making more money and not in
satisfying the needs of the Chilean people. For example, if it appears to be a good
business proposition to produce and import expensive cars they use our economy's
scarce resources for this purpose, ignoring the fact that only a minute percentage
of Chileans have the means to purchase them and that there are far more
urgent needs to be satisfied. The improvement of public transport and provision of
machinery for agriculture are obvious examples of such urgent needs.
The groups of businessmen who control the economy, the press and other
communications media, the existing political system, and the threats to the State,
when it hints at intervention or refuses to favour all these interests, are an
expensive burden on the Chilean people. For these groups to deign to continue
'working' - since only they can afford the luxury of working or not - the following
conditions are necessary. They have to be provided with all kinds of assistance.
Important businessmen pressure the State under the threat that, unless the help and
guarantees they request are authorized, there will be no private investment. They
have to be allowed to produce the products they want with money belonging to the
whole Chilean people, instead of producing the goods needed by the great majority;
and to transfer the profits obtained to their foreign bank accounts. They wish to
be allowed to dismiss workers if they ask for better wages; and to be permitted
to manipulate food distribution and stockpile food products in order to create
artificial shortages and thereby raise prices in order to continue enriching
themselves at the expense of the Chilean people.
Meanwhile, a large proportion of those people who actually produce face a
difficult situation. Half a million families lack housing and as many or more live
in appalling conditions lacking sewage, drinking water, light, and healthy
conditions. The population's education and health requirements are insufficiently
provided for. More than half of Chile's workers receive wages which are insufficient
to cover their minimum vital needs. Every family suffers from unemployment and
unstable employment. The chances of employment are impossible or uncertain for
countless young people.
Imperialist capital and a privileged group not exceeding 10% of the population
receive half of the National Income. This means that out of every hundred escudos
produced by Chileans, 50 end up in the pockets of 10 of the oligarchy and the other
50 have to be shared among 90 Chileans from the poor and middle classes
The rising cost of living creates havoc in people's homes, especially for the
housewife. According to official statistics, the cost of living has risen almost
1,000% in the last 10 years.
This means that every day Chileans who live from the proceeds of their work are
robbed of part of their salaries or wages. The same happens to retired people,
craftsmen, independent workers and small scale producers, whose meagre incomes are
daily eroded by
inflation. Alessandri and Frei gave assurances that they would put an end to
inflation. The results are there for all to see. The facts prove that inflation
in Chile is the outcome of deeper causes which are related to the capitalist
structure of our society and not to increases in incomes, as successive governments
have tried to make us believe in order to justify the system and restrain workers'
incomes.
On the other hand, the large capitalist can defend himself from inflation and
what is more he profits from it. His property and his capital become more valuable,
his construction contracts with the State are revalued, and the prices of his
products always rise ahead of wage increases.
A large number of Chileans are underfed. According to official statistics, 50%
of children under 15 years of age are undernourished. This affects their growth and
limits their learning capacity. This shows that the economy in general and the agricultural
system in particular are incapable of feeding Chile's population in spite of the
fact that Chile could support a population of 30 million people right now - that
is, three times the present population.
Yet, on the contrary, each year we must import hundreds of thousands of dollars
worth of food products.
Most of the blame for the food supply and nutritional problems of the Chilean
people can be attributed to the existence of LATIFUNDIA which are responsible for
the backwardness and misery which characterize the Chilean countryside. Indices of
infant and adult mortality, illiteracy, lack of housing and ill health in the rural
areas are markedly higher than for the cities. The Christian Democrat
Government's restricted Agrarian Reform Programme has not resolved these problems.
Only the peasants' struggle, backed by the whole nation, will resolve them. The
present struggle for land and the abolition of the latifundio is opening up new
perspectives for the advance of the Chilean people.
The growth rate of our economy is minimal. In recent five year periods the
average rate of growth has been scarcely 2% p.a. per capita; and since 1967 there
has been no growth at all. On the contrary, we have moved backwards according to
the Government Planning Office's figures. This means that in 1966 each Chilean had
more goods than he has today, which explains why the majority are discontent and
are looking for an alternative for our country.
The only alternative, which is a truly popular one, and one which therefore
constitutes the Popular Government's main task, is to bring to an end the rule of
the imperialists, the monopolists, and the landed oligarchy and to initiate the
construction of socialism in Chile.
THE ORGANIZED PEOPLE IN UNITY AND ACTION
The growth in size and organization of the labour force and the growing struggle
and consciousness of its own power reinforce and propagate criticism of the
established order, the desire for profound change and conflicts with the
established power structure. There are more than three million workers in our
country whose productive efforts and enormous constructive capacity cannot be put
to good use within the present system, which only exploits and subjects them.
These organized forces, in a common effort with the people to mobilize those who
are not sold out to national and foreign reactionary interests, could destroy the
present system and, by means of this united struggle on the part of the large
majority of Chileans, progress could be made in the task of liberating themselves.
The Popular Unity alliance has been formed precisely for this purpose.
The imperialists and the country's dominant classes will struggle against a
united people and will try to deceive them once again. They will say that freedom
is in danger, that violence is taking hold of the country, etc. But each day the
popular masses are less and less taken by these lies. Social mobilization is
growing daily, and is now reinforced and encouraged by the unity of the left wing
groups.
In order to encourage and guide the mobilization of the Chilean people toward
the conquest of power, we will set up Popular Unity Committees in every factory,
farm, poor neighbourhood(**), office or school, to be run by the militants of the
left wing movements and parties and to be composed of the thousands of Chileans who
are in favour of fundamental change. These Popular Unity Committees will not
only constitute electoral organizations. They will interpret and fight for the
immediate claims of the masses and above all they will learn to exercise power.
This new form of power structure which Chile needs must begin to develop itself
right now, wherever people need to be organized to fight over specific problems and
wherever the need to exercise this power becomes apparent. This system involving a
common effort will be a permanent dynamic method for developing our Programme, constituting
a practical school for the masses and a concrete way of deepening the political
content of the Popular Unity at all levels. At a given point in the campaign the
essential contents of this Programme, enriched by discussion with and the support
of the people, and together with a series of immediate government measures will be
set out in a People's Act (Acta del Pueblo) which the new Popular Government and the Front
which sustains it will regard as an unrenounceable mandate.
Support for the Popular Unity's candidate does not, therefore, only involve
voting for a man, but also involves declaring oneself in favour of the urgent
replacement of our present society, the basis of which is the power and control
exercised by large national and foreign capitalists.
THE PROGRAMME
Popular Power
The revolutionary changes required by Chile can only be carried out if the people of Chile
take power into their own hands and exercise it in a true and effective manner.
In the process of a long struggle, the Chilean people have achieved certain democratic
liberties and guarantees which will require vigilance and constant battle if they are not
to be lost.
The revolutionary and popular forces have not united to simply fight for the substitution
of one President of the Republic by another, nor to replace one party by others in
Government but, rather, to carry out the profound changes which are required by national
circumstances, based on the transfer of power from the old dominant groups to the urban
workers, rural population and progressive sectors of the urban and rural middle-classes.
This popular triumph will therefore open up the way for the most democratic political
government in the country's history.
As regards the political structure, the Popular Government has the double task of
preserving and making more effective and real the democratic rights and achievements of
the working classes, and transforming present institutions in order to install a new
system of power in which the working classes and the people are the ones who really
exercise power.
The strengthening of democracy and working class progress
The Popular Government will guarantee the exercise of democratic rights and will respect
the social and individual liberties of all sectors of the population. The freedom of
worship, speech, press and of assembly, the inviolability of the home, and the right to
unionize will be made effective, removing the present obstacles put up by the dominant
classes to limit them.
In order to put this into practice, the unions and social organizations formed by manual
workers, white collar workers, peasants and rural workers, shanty town dwellers and
inhabitants of low income neighbourhoods(***), housewives, students, professional people,
intellectuals, craftsmen, small and medium businessmen, and other groups of workers, will
be called upon to participate in government decision making at the relevant level. For
example, in the social security institutions we will establish a system of management by
the contributors themselves, ensuring that the government bodies are elected
democratically and by secret ballot. As for firms in the public sector, their governing
committees and production committees must include direct representation of manual and
white collar workers.
The Neighbourhood Committees (Juntas de Vecinos) and other organized groups of inhabitants
of poor neighbourhoods will have ways and means of controlling the activities of the
pertinent national housing organizations and of participating in many aspects of their
activities. It is not just a question of these particular examples, but of a new
philosophy in which ordinary people achieve real and effective participation in the
different organisms of the State.
Likewise, the Popular Government guarantees the right of workers to employment and to
strike, and the right for all people to obtain a proper education and culture, fully
respecting all ideas and religious beliefs and guaranteeing the freedom to practise them.
All democratic rights and guarantees will be extended, by granting to social organizations
real means of exercising their rights and creating the mechanisms which will allow them to
participate in the different levels of the State's administrative apparatus. The power and
authority of the Popular Government will essentially be based on the support extended to
it by the organized population. This is our notion of strong government - the very
opposite of that held by the oligarchy and imperialists who identify authority with the
use of coercion against the people.
The Popular Government will be a multiparty one, composed of all the revolutionary
parties, movements and groups. The executive will therefore be truly democratic,
representative and cohesive. The Popular Government will respect the rights of the
opposition as long as they are exercised within the legal framework.
The Popular Government will immediately proceed to effectively decentralize the
administration which, in conjunction with democratic and efficient planning, will
eliminate the centralization of the bureaucracy, replacing it with real coordination
between all parts of the administration.
The structure of the municipalities will be modernized according to the plans for
coordinating the whole state administration, while granting them the authority due to
them. They will become local organs of the new political organization, possessing
sufficient finance and powers to enable them to deal with the problems of the local
districts and their inhabitants, in conjunction and coordination with the Neighbourhood
Committees. The Provincial Assemblies must begin to operate with the same purpose in mind.
The police must be reorganized so that they can never again be used as a repressive force
against ordinary people but, instead, ensure that the population is protected from
anti-social behaviour. Police procedures will be made more humane, effectively
guaranteeing full respect for human dignity and physical integrity. The prison system and
prison conditions at present constitute one of the worst aspects of the present judicial
system and must be radically transformed with a view to reforming the lawbreaker.
A NEW INSTITUTIONAL ORGANIZATION: THE POPULAR STATE
Political Organization
The new power structure will be built up from grass roots by extending democracy at all
levels and by organizing the mobilization of the masses.
A new political constitution will validate the massive incorporation of the people into
governmental power. We shall create a unicameral form of government with national,
regional and local levels, and in which the Popular Assembly will constitute the supreme
power. This people's Assembly will be the only parliament, expressing the sovereignty of
the people at national level and in which all the various currents of opinion will be
expressed.
This system will enable us to root out the evils suffered in Chile under dictatorial
presidencies and corrupt parliamentary rule. The powers and responsibilities of the
President of the Republic, the ministers, Popular Assembly, regional and local government
organizations and political parties will be precisely redefined and coordinated in order
to ensure the functioning of the legislature, efficiency in government and above all
respect for the will of the majority.
All elections will take place simultaneously in an orderly process so as to establish the
necessary harmony between the different expressions of the popular will and to ensure that
these are expressed coherently.
Organizations representing the people may only be created by means of secret and direct
universal suffrage of men and women of over 18 years of age, including civilians and
military personnel, and literate and illiterate people. The members of the Popular
Assembly and other organizations representing the people will be subject to control by the
electors through consultation procedures, which would also allow for their mandate to
withdrawn. A rigorous code of conduct will be established requiring deputies or high level
civil servants to lose their mandate or post if guilty of acting on behalf of private
interests.
The economic policy instruments to be used by the Government will constitute a national
system of planning, and they will be executive instruments to be used to direct,
coordinate and rationalize government activities. The operational plan must be approved in
the Popular Assembly, and workers' organizations will play a fundamental role in the
planning system.
The regional and local organs of government in the new People's State will exercise
authority in the relevant geographical areas and they will have economic, political and
social powers. In addition they will be able to make proposals to and criticize the higher
levels. However, in exercising their powers these regional and local bodies must work
within the limits set by national laws and by the overall social and economic development
plans. Social organizations with specific attributes will be integrated into each of the
different levels of the Popular State. It will be their duty to share responsibilities and
develop initiatives in their respective spheres of influence as well as analyze and solve
the problems within their competence. These attributes will not in any way limit the
complete independence and autonomy of these organizations.
From the very day the Popular Government assumes power it will provide ways of ensuring
that the influence of the workers and people is brought to bear on the administrative
decisions adopted and on the control over the operation of the state administrative
machinery. These constitute decisive steps in the elimination of an overcentralized
bureaucracy which characterizes the present administrative system.
The Organization of Justice
The organization and administration of justice must be based on the guaranteed principle
of autonomy and on real economic independence.
We visualize the existence of a Supreme Court whose members are appointed by the People's
Assembly, the only limitation being the natural suitability of the members. This Court
will be free to determine the internal, personal or corporate powers of the judicial
system.
It is our intention that the new administration and organization of justice will come to
the aid of the popular classes; it will operate more rapidly and in a less burdensome
fashion.
Under the Popular Government a whole new concept of the judicial process will replace the
existing individualistic and bourgeois one.
National Defence
The Popular State will pay special attention to the preservation of national sovereignty,
which it also views as being the duty of every citizen.
The Popular State will remain alert before those threats to our territorial integrity and
the country's independence, which are encouraged by the imperialists and by those groups
of the oligarchy in power in neighbouring countries who encourage expansionist and
retaliatory pretensions as well as repressing their own people. The People's State will
establish a modern, popular and patriotic concept of the nation's sovereignty based on the
following principles:
(a) The guarantee of the national integrity of all branches of the Armed Forces. In this
sense we reject the use of these forces to repress the people or their participation in
activities of interest to foreign powers;
(b) The provision of technical training with contributions from any modern military
science, as deemed convenient to Chile and in the interests of national independence and
of peace and friendship among peoples;
(c) The integration of the Armed Forces into different aspects of national life and the
increase of their contribution to social life.
The Popular State will find ways of making possible for the Armed Forces to contribute to
the country's economic development without prejudice to its primary task of national
defence.
Following these lines, it will be necessary to provide the Armed Forces with the necessary
material and technical means and to establish a just and democratic system of
remuneration, promotion and retirement, which guarantees economic security to personnel in
all ranks while serving in the forces and on retirement, and which provides real
possibilities for promotion through the ranks on the basis of individual merit.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW ECONOMY
The central policy objective of the united popular forces will be the search for a
replacement for the present economic structure, doing away with the power of foreign and
national monopoly capital and of the LATIFUNDIO in order to initiate the construction of
socialism.
Planning will play a very important role in the new economy. The main planning organs will
be at the highest administrative level, and the decisions, which will be democratically
determined, will be executive in character.
The Socially Owned Sector
The process of transformation in our economy will begin with the application of a policy
intended to create a dominant state sector, comprising those firms already owned by the
state and the business which are to be expropriated. As a first step, we shall nationalize
those basic resources like large scale copper, iron and nitrate mines, and others which
are controlled by foreign capital and national monopolies. These nationalized sectors will
thus be comprised of the following:
1. Large scale copper, nitrate, iodine, iron and coal mines.
2. The country's financial system, especially private banks and insurance companies.
3. Foreign trade.
4. Large distribution firms and monopolies.
5. Strategic industrial monopolies.
6. As a rule, all those activities which have a strong influence on the nation's social
and economic development, such as the production and distribution of electric power, rail,
air and sea transport, communications, the production, refining and distribution of
petroleum and its by-products, including liquid gas, the iron and steel industry, cement,
petrochemicals and heavy chemicals, cellulose and paper.
In carrying out these expropriations, the interests of small shareholders will be fully
safeguarded.
The Privately Owned Sector
This area includes those sections of industry, mining, agriculture and services where
private ownership of the means of production will remain in force.
In terms of numbers these enterprises will constitute the majority. Thus, for example, in
1967 out of 30,500 firms (including artisan establishments) just 150 firms
monopolistically controlled the entire market, received most of the assistance from the
State, and most of the bank credit, and exploited the rest of the country's businessmen by
selling them raw materials at high prices while buying their output at low prices.
The firms which compose this sector will benefit from the overall planning of the national
economy. The State will provide the necessary technical and financial assistance for the
firms in this sector, enabling them to fulfil the important role which they play in the
national economy, when the number of people they employ and the volume of output they
generate is taken into account. In addition, the patenting system, the customs tariffs,
and the social security and taxation systems will be simplified for these firms and they
will be assured of adequate and just marketing of their products.
These firms must guarantee the rights of workers and employees to fair wages and working
conditions. Both the State and the workers in the respective firms will make sure that
these rights are respected.
The Mixed Sector
This sector will be termed mixed because it will be composed of enterprises combining both
State and private capital.
The loans or credits granted to the firms in this sector by development agencies may take
the form of contributions, thereby making the State a partner rather than a creditor. The
same holds in those cases in which the firm obtains credits with the backing or guarantee
of the State or one of its agencies.
Intensification and Extension of the Agrarian Reform
In our view the Agrarian Reform process should be complementary to, and simultaneous with,
the overall transformation which we wish to promote in the country's social, political and
economic structure, such that its implementation is inseparable from the rest of our
overall policy. Existing experience in this matter has shown up gaps and inconsistencies
which suggest a reformulation of the policy for the distribution and organization of land
ownership on the basis of the following guidelines:
1. Acceleration of the Agrarian Reform process, expropriating the holdings which exceed
the established maximum size according to the characteristics of the different regions,
including orchards, vineyards and forests, without giving the landowner the priority right
to select the area to be retained by him. The expropriation may include the whole or part
of the expropriated farm's assets (machinery, tools, animals, etc.).
2. The immediate cultivation of abandoned and badly exploited state lands.
3. Expropriated land will be organized preferably on the basis of cooperative forms of
ownership. The peasants will be given titles which confirm individual ownership of the
house and garden allocated to them, and the corresponding rights over the indivisible land
of the cooperative as long as they continue to be members. When the circumstances warrant
it, land may be allocated to individual peasants, with the organization of work and
marketing being promoted on the basis of mutual cooperation. In addition, lands will be
allocated to create state agricultural enterprises using modern technology.
4. In certain qualified cases land will be allocated to small farmers, tenants,
sharecroppers and trained agricultural workers.
5. Minifundia properties will be reorganized by means of progressively cooperative
forms of agricultural work.
6. Small and medium peasants will be given access to the advantages and services provided
by the cooperatives operating in their geographical area.
7. The defence of the indigenous Indian communities which are threatened with usurpation
of their land will be ensured, as will be the democratic conduct of these communities, the
provision of sufficient land and appropriate technical assistance and credit to the
Mapuche people and other indigenous groups.
Policy For Economic Development
The Government's economic policy will be carried out by means of a national system of
economic planning and through control mechanisms, guidelines, production credit, technical
assistance, tax and foreign trade policies, as well as through the management of the state
sector of the economy.
The policy objectives will be:
1. To resolve the immediate problems of the working classes. In order to achieve this we
shall divert that part of the nation's productive capacity at present used to produce
expensive and unnecessary products for high income groups to the production of cheap, high
quality mass consumption goods.
2. To guarantee work and adequate wages to all Chileans of working age. This will involve
devising a policy which generates a lot of employment while making adequate use of
national resources and adapting technology to national development requirements.
3. To free Chile from subordination to foreign capital. On the one hand, this means
expropriating imperialist capital and implementing a policy for increasing our capacity to
self-finance our activities and, on the other, it means that we must determine the
conditions under which non-expropriated foreign capital may operate, and achieve a greater
degree of technological independence and greater independence in international transport,
etc.
4. To secure rapid and decentralized economic growth, which will develop the country's
productive forces to a maximum, achieving the optimum use of the available human, natural,
financial and technical resources in order to increase labour productivity and satisfy the
need for greater independence in the development of the economy, as well as those needs
and aspirations of the working population which are compatible with a dignified human
life.
5. To implement a foreign trade policy which will tend to develop and diversify our
exports, open up new markets, achieve growing financial and technological independence and
put an end to the successive scandalous devaluations of our currency.
6. To take all necessary measures to achieve monetary stability. The fight against
inflation is already implicit in the announced structural changes. But it must also
include measures which adjust the money in circulation to the real needs of the market and
include the control and redistribution of credit and efforts to keep interest rates low.
Measures must also be taken to rationalize marketing and commerce, to stabilize prices and
to prevent price increases which emanate from the demand structure and reflect expenditure
patterns of the high income groups.
The achievement of these objectives is guaranteed by the fact that it will be the
organized masses who will exercise economic and political power, a situation which is
represented by the existence of the public sector and of the overall planning of the
economy. Government by the people will ensure the fulfillment of the indicated targets.
SOCIAL TASKS
The Chilean people's social aspirations are both legitimate and possible to satisfy. For
example, Chilean citizens want decent housing without crippling rent increases, schools
and universities for their children, adequate wages, a once and for all end to increases
in the cost of living, stable employment, appropriate medical atention, street lighting,
sewers, drinking water, surfaced roads and pavements, a just and efficient social security
system, which is not based on privilege and which does not provide starvation level
pensions, telephones, police, nursery schools, sport fields, holidays, tourism and popular
beach resorts.
The satisfaction of these rightful aspirations, which in fact constitute rights which
society must recognize, will be the principle concern of the Popular Government.
The basic aspects of Government action will be:
(a) The definition of an income policy, with the immediate creation of committees, which,
with the participation of workers, will determine what constitutes a subsistence wage and
minimum wages in different regions of the country. As long as inflation continues, wage
readjustments related to the cost of living will be decreed by law. These adjustments will
be made every six months or whenever the cost of living rises by more than 5%.
High level salaries in all Government departments, and above all the salaries of those
appointed directly by the President, will be limited to levels which are compatible with
national circumstances. Within a certain technically determined period, we shall begin to
set up a system of equal minimum wages and salaries for equal work, wherever the work is
done. This policy will first be introduced in the public sector, gradually being extended
to the rest of the economy respecting, however, the differences made possible by varying
levels of productivity in different firms. In the same way we intend to eliminate wage and
salary discrimination between men and women or for reasons of age.
(b) To unify, improve, and extend the social security system, maintaining all the
legitimate advances made so far, eliminating the abuse of privilege, inefficiency and
bureaucracy, improving and speeding up treatment and attention, extending social security
to groups of workers not yet included, and making the contributors responsible for the
administration of their Social Security Schemes, which should function within the overall
planning framework.
(c) To provide all Chileans with preventive and curative dental and medical care financed
by the State, by employers and by social security institutions. The whole population will
join in the task of protecting public health. Medicines, etc. will be provided in
sufficient quantities and at low cost, on the basis of a strict control of laboratory
costs and the reationalization of production.
(d) Sufficient funds will be provided for a large housing programme. The industrialization
of construction will be developed, controlling prices and limiting the amount of profits
made by the private or mixed enterprises operating in this field. In emergency situations,
plots of land will be allocated to those families requiring them, also providing them with
technical and material assistance to build their own houses.
One aim of the Popular Government's housing policy is for every family to become a house
owner. The system of readjustable rents will be eliminated. The monthly mortgage or loan
repayment and rents, to be paid by house purchasers and tenants respectively, will not
exceed 10% of family income as a general rule. We shall undertake the remodelling of
cities and suburbs to prevent poor people being forced to the outskirts, respecting the
interests of such inhabitants of redeveloped areas as small businessmen, by assuring them
of a future in the same area.
(e) Full civil status of married women will be established, as will equal legal status for
all children whether born in or out of wedlock, as well as adequate divorce legislation
which dissolves legal ties and safeguards the woman's and children's rights.
(f) The legal distinction between workers and white collar employees will be ended, both
being classed as workers in future and the right to unionize will be extended to all those
who do not have this right at present.
CULTURE AND EDUCATION
A New Culture For Society
The social process, which will begin when the working class wins power, will develop a new
culture which considers human labour with the highest regard, which emphasises the desire
for national assertion and independence and which develops a critical understanding of
present reality.
The profound changes which have to be undertaken require a socially conscious and united
people, educated to exercise and defend their political power, and scientifically and
technically prepared to develop the transitional economy towards socialism, and a people
wide open to creativity and the enjoyment of a wide variety of artistic and intellectual
activities.
If, today, the majority of intellectuals and artists fight against the cultural
distortions of capitalist society and attempt to convey their creative efforts to the
workers and link themselves to the same historical destiny then, in the new society, they
will continue this effort but from a vanguard position. A new culture cannot be decreed.
It will spring from the struggle for fraternity as opposed to individualism, for the
appreciation rather than disdain of human labour, for national values rather than cultural
colonization, and from the struggle of the popular masses for access to art, literature,
and the communications media and the end of their commercialization.
This new State will involve the whole population in intellectual and artistic activities
not only by means of a radically transformed educational system but also through the
development of a national system to promote popular culture. A large network of Local
Centres for Popular Culture will encourage ordinary people to organize themselves and
exercise their rights to participate in and promote culture. This system of Popular
Culture will stimulate literary and artistic creativity and it will multiply the links
between writers and artists and a very much larger public than their existing one.
A Democratic, Integrated and Planned Educational System
Action by the new Government in this field will concentrate on providing the best and most
extensive educational facilities possible.
Both the general improvement in the working classes' living conditions and the recognition
of the responsibilities borne by teachers at different levels will influence the extent to
which these proposals are fulfilled. Also, a National Scholarship Programme will be
established which will be sufficiently broad as to ensure the inclusion and continued
education of all Chilean children, especially the children from working class and peasant
backgrounds.
Furthermore, the new Government will implement an emergency plan for the construction of
schools, relying on contributions of national and local resources mobilized by grass roots
organizations. Luxury buildings which are needed as premises for new schools and boarding
schools will be expropriated. In this way, it is hoped to create at least one integrated
school (both basic and middle levels****) in each rural district, and in each urban
residential district and low income neighbourhood.
In order to provide the special requirements needed for the proper development of
pre-school age children, and to facilitate the incorporation of women into productive
work, we shall rapidly expand our nurseries and nursery school systems, granting priority
to the most needy groups in our society. As a result of this policy, the children of urban
and rural workers and peasants will be better prepared to start school and continue to
benefit right through the normal school system.
To make the new teaching system a reality, new methods are required which put emphasis on
the active and critical participation of students in their teaching, instead of
perpetuating the passive attitudes they are expected to adopt at present.
In order to rapidly repair the widespread lack of culture and education resulting from the
present system, we shall set in motion an extensive popular mobilization campaign aimed at
the rapid elimination of illiteracy and the raising of the educational level of the adult
population. Adult education will be mainly organized around work centres, until it is
possible to have a permanent system of general, technical and social education for
workers.
The transformation of the educational system will not only be the task of
technically qualified people. It is also a task requiring study, discussion, decision and
implementation by teachers', workers', students' and parents' organizations within the
general framework of national planning. Internally, the planning of the schools system
will pay particular attention to the need for integration, continuity and diversification
in teaching.
In the executive management of the educational system there must be real representation of
the aforementioned social organizations, which will be integrated into the Local, Regional
and National Education Committees.
In order to achieve effective educational planning and turn the idea of a unified national
and democratic school system into a practical reality, the new Government will take over
responsibility for private educational establishments, starting with those educational
institutions which select their pupils according to criteria of social class, national
origin, or religion. This will be done by integrating the staff and other resources of the
private education sector into the state system.
Physical Education
The Popular Government will be constantly concerned to ensure that physical education and
participation in all kinds of sports is possible right from the earliest years at school
and in all youth and adult social organizations.
University Democracy and Autonomy and the Role of Universities
The Popular Unity Government will give strong backing to the University Reform process and
it will resolutely push forward this reform. The democratic outcome of this reform process
will constitute an important contribution by universities to the revolutionary development
of Chile. On the other hand, the reorientation of academic teaching, research, and
extension functions towards national problems will be encouraged by the Popular
Government's own initiatives.
The State will allocate sufficient resources to the universities to ensure the fulfilment
of their functions and to ensure that they become fully democratic public institutions. In
line with this, the memebers and employees of the universities will be responsible for
running their respective institutions.
As class privilege is eliminated from the whole of the educational system, it will be
possible for children of working class background to enter university and for adults to
gain access to higher education either by means of special scholarships or through a
system which simultaneously combines study and work.
The Mass Media
The mass media (radio, publishing, television, the press and cinema) are fundamental in
helping to develop a new culture and a new type of man. For this reason it is necessary to
redefine their purpose, putting emphasis on their educative role and ending their
commercialization, and to adopt measures which allow social organizations the use of these
communications media, eliminating the harmful effects of the monopolies. The national
system of popular culture will be particularly concerned with the development of the film
industry and the preparation of social programmes for the mass media.
THE POPULAR GOVERNMENT'S FOREIGN POLICY
Aims
The main lines of emphasis of the Popular Government's Foreign Policy are:
The assertion of full political and economic autonomy for Chile.
The establishment of diplomatic relations with all countries, irrespective of their
ideological and political position, on the basis of respect for self-determination and in
the interests of the Chilean people.
Ties of friendship and solidarity will unite Chile with dependent or colonized countries,
especially those who are fighting for their liberation and independence.
The promotion of strong interamerican and anti-imperialist sentiments based on
foreign policies which are the expression of entire nations rather than on policies
formulated solely by foreign ministries.
Efforts by nations to achieve or maintain self-determination will be given decided support
by the new Government as a basic condition for the existence of international peace and
understanding. As a consequence, our policy will be one of alertness and action in defence
of the principle of non-intervention and we shall resist any attempt by the imperialist
nations to discriminate, pressure, invade or blockade. We shall reinforce our
relationships, trade and cultural exchanges and friendship with socialist countries.
Greater National Independence
The active defence of Chilean independence means that we must denounce the present
Organization of American States as an agent and tool of American imperialism, and fight
against all forms of Panamericanism which are implicit in this organization. The Popular
Government will attempt to create an organization which is really representative of Latin
American countries.
It is considered absolutely necessary to review, denounce or renounce, as befits each
case, those treaties or agreements which involve commitments limiting our sovereignty,
and, in particular, treaties of reciprocal assisstance, pacts of mutual aid or other pacts
which Chile signed with the U.S.A.
The Government will reject and denounce foreign aid and loans which are extended for
political reasons, or involve conditions requiring the investments derived from those
loans to be made in ways which prejudice our sovereignty and are against the people's
interests. Likewise, we shall repudiate all types of foreign charges imposed on Latin
American raw materials such as copper and the obstacles put in the way of free trade
which, over time, have made it impossible to establish collective trade relations with all
countries of the world.
International Solidarity
The Popular Government will demonstrate effective and militant solidarity with those
struggles in which people are fighting for freedom and for the construction of a socialist
society.
All forms of colonialism and neo-colonialism will be condemned and we will recognize the
right of those peoples subjected to these systems to rebel. Likewise, we shall condemn all
forms of economic, political and military aggression provoked by imperialist powers.
Chile's foreign policy must be one of condemnation of North American aggression in
VietNam, and one of recognition of an active solidarity with the heroic struggle of the
Vietnamese people.
In the same way, the Chilean people will demonstrate meaningful solidarity with the Cuban
Revolution, which is the vanguard of revolution and construction of socialism in Latin
America.
The Middle Eastern Nations who are struggling against imperialism can count on the
solidarity of the Popular Government, which supports the search for a peaceful solution
based on the interests of both the Arab and Jewish peoples. We shall condemn all
reactionary governments which promote or practise racial segregation and anti-semitism.
Policy For Latin America
With regard to Latin America, the Popular Government will advocate an international policy
which asserts the identity of Latin America in the world.
It is our view that Latin-American integration must be built on the basis of economies
which have liberated themselves from imperialist forms of dependency and exploitation.
Nevertheless, we shall maintain an active policy of bilateral agreements in those matters
of interest for the development of Chile.
The Popular Government will take action to resolve frontier problems which are still
outstanding on the basis of negotiations which exclude imperialist and reactionary
intrigues, and which take into account both the interests of Chile and the interests of
the peoples in neighbouring countries.
Chilean foreign policy and its diplomatic expression must break away from its bureaucratic
habits and lack of initiative. Moreover, our foreign policy must derive from the peoples
of many nations with the double purpose of, on the one hand, taking up the lessons learned
from their struggles for application in the construction of our socialist society and, on
the other, of offering them our experience, in such a manner that it is in the very
practice of the idea that we shall build up the international solidarity for which we are
fighting.
THE POPULAR GOVERNMENT'S FIRST FORTY MEASURES
1. An End To Enormous Salaries! We shall put a limit on the high salaries earned by those
appointed directly by the President. We shall not allow people to hold simultaneously
various paid posts such as advisory posts, directorships, representatives.
We shall do away with administrative promoters and political mongerers who use their
official positions to promote their own ends and the interests of their friends and
business and political acquaintances.
2. More Advisors? No! All civil servants will belong to the normal staff grades and none
will be exempted from the Administrative Statute's conditions. We will not have any more
advisors in Chile.
3. Honest Administration. We shall put an end to favouritism and grade jumping in the
Public Administration. It will not be possible to remove civil servants from their posts
without due cause. Nobody will be persecuted for their political or religious beliefs. We
shall ensure the efficiency and honesty of government officials and the civil treatment of
the public.
4. No More Unnecessary Foreign Trips. Foreign journeys by government officials will not be
allowed except for those which are really necessary in Chile's interests.
5. No More Use Of Government Cars For Pleasure. Under no circumstances will the
government's cars be used for private purposes. Those vehicles which are available will be
used in the service of the public: for transporting school children, for transporting
people requiring medical attention from low income housing districts, or for police
duties.
6. The Civil Service Will Not Enrich Its Employees. We shall establish strict control over
the incomes and property of high level public officials. The Government will no longer
allow public officials to use their position to enrich themselves.
7. Fair Pensions. We must put a stop to millionaire level pensions wether they be for
parliamentarians or any other public or private group, using the resources to improve
pensions at the lower end of the scale.
8. Fair And Timely Retirement. We will give retirement rights to all people over 60 years
of age who have been unable to retire because their contributions have not been paid.
9. Social Security For Everyone. We shall incorporate into the Social Security system all
people in small and medium scale commerce, industry and farming, and independent workers,
artisans, fishermen, small scale miners and housewives.
10. Immediate And Full Payment Of Pensions And Benefits. We shall finally pay the
increases in pensions due to retired members of the Armed Forces and we shall arrange for
the proper and due payment of retirement pensions and widow's pensions under the Social
Security System.
11. Protection Of The Family. We shall set up a Ministry for the protection of the family.
12. Equal Family Allowances. All family allowances will in future be fixed at the same
level.
13. Children Are Born To Be Happy! We shall provide free education, books, materials,
exercise books, etc. for all children throughout the basic level.
14. Better Meals For Children. We will provide breakfast for all children in the basic
level and lunch for those children whose parents cannot provide it.
15. Milk For All Chilean Children. We guarantee a daily ration of half a litre of milk to
all Chilean children.
16. Family Welfare Clinics In All Poor Areas. We shall set up family welfare clinics in
all working class neighbourhoods, slums and squatter settlements.
17. Real Holidays For All Chilean Students. The best pupils selected from the basic
educational level throughout the country will be invited to the Presidential Palace at
Vina del Mar.
18. Control Of Alcoholism. We shall overcome alcoholism, by providing possibilities for a
better life and not by repressive means. We shall stop abuse of the drinking laws and
licensing regulations.
19. Housing, Lighting And Drinking Water For All Chileans. We shall undertake an emergency
plan for the rapid building of houses. Also, we shall ensure the provision of drinking
water and electric lighting in every block.
20. No More Readjustable 'CORVI' Payments. CORVI, the Housing Corporation's dividends and
the loan repayments it receives will no longer be readjusted in line with rising prices.
21. Fixed Price Rents. We shall fix rents at an amount corresponding to 10% of family
income as a maximum. Key rights will be abolished immediately.
22. Vacant Sites, No! Housing, Yes! We shall build on all disused public, semi-public and
municipal sites.
23. Property Taxes On Mansions Only. We shall free from the payment of property taxes the
owners of dwellings with a surface below 80 square metres as long as the owner lives there
permanently and the house is neither a luxury house nor a beach villa.
24. A Real Agrarian Reform. We shall intensify Agrarian Reform, which will also benefit
medium and small scale farmers, MINIFUNDIA holders, sharecroppers, employees and temporary
rural labourers.
25. Medical Attention Without Bureaucracy. We shall eliminate all the bureaucratic and
administrative obstacles which hinder or make difficult the provision of medical attention
to contributors and unemployed people.
26. Free Medical Attention In Hospitals. We shall abolish payment for medicines and
examinations in hospitals.
27. No More Artificially High Prices For Medicines. We shall drastically reduce the price
of medicines by lowering the import duties and taxes on the raw materials.
28. Scholarships For Students. We shall establish the right of all good students to obtain
a scholarship for the basic and middle school levels and university education, taking into
account performance and the family's economic resources.
29. Physical Education And Popular Tourism And Holidays. We shall promote physical
education and we shall establish sports fields in schools and all neighbourhoods. Every
school and low income urban or rural housing district will have a sports field. We shall
organize and promote low income tourism and holidays.
30. A New Economy To Put An End To Inflation. We shall increase the production of items of
popular consumption. We shall control prices and prevent inflation by immediately setting
up the new economic structure.
31. No More Links With The International Monetary Fund. We shall renege the
commitments with the International Monetary Fund. We shall put an end to the continual
shameful devaluation of the escudo.
32. No More Taxes On Food. We shall stop increases in taxes which affect basic food
necessities.
33. Abolition Of The Sales Tax. We shall abolish the sales tax and replace it by another
more just and expedite tax system.
34. No More Speculation. We shall severely penalize economic crimes.
35. No More Unemployment. We shall ensure the right of all Chileans to work and we shall
prevent unjustified dismissals.
36. Wor For All Chileans. We shall immediately create new sources of employmwent by
implementing plans for public works and house building, by setting up new industries, and
by carrying out development projects.
37. The Riot Police Unit Will Be Disbanded. We shall ensure law and order in lower and
middle class residential areas and the protection of the individual. The police and
detectives will be restricted to crime prevention duties. We shall disband the Riot Police
Unit incorporating its members into the normal duties of police vigilance against
delinquency.
38. An End To Class Justice. We shall set up a rapid and free legal procedure, in which
the Neighbourhood Committees will cooperate, to examine and resolve special cases such as
quarrels, ruffianism, abandonment of the home and acts which disturb the community.
39. Legal advice bodies in all neighbourhoods. We shall set up Legal Advice Bodies in all
low income neighbourhoods and districts.
40. The Creation Of A National Institute Of Art And Culture. We shall create a National
Institute of Art and Culture and schools for training in the arts in all districts.
THE TWENTY BASIC POINTS OF THE POPULAR UNITY GOVERNMENT'S AGRARIAN REFORM
ONE. Agrarian Reform and agricultural development will not be isolated factors, but will
form an integral part of the overall plan for transforming the economy into one which
serves the whole people. This implies that Agrarian Reform will not only involve the
expropriation of all LATIFUNDIA, the distribution of land to peasant producers and rural
labourers and the provision of the technical assistance and credits which are necessary to
enable them to produce what Chile requires, but also includes the transformation of
commercial and industrial relationships for the sale and purchase of products required by
peasants for consumption and for production. The marketing and processing of agricultural
output must be in the hands of the State or peasant or consumer cooperatives.
TWO. The benefits of Agrarian Reform will be extended to the groups of medium and small
farmers, smallholders, employees, sharecroppers and temporary labourers who have so far
been excluded from these benefits.
THREE. The peasantry, represented by unions, cooperatives and small scale farmers'
organizations will replace the representatives of the large estates in all Government
departments and agencies. The Popular Unity Government will only deal with these
representatives of the rural population because it is they who are the true
representatives of the 98% of the population which lives from agricultural activities or
depends on an income from agriculture.
At the level of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, as it will then be
called, under whose direct responsibility will be placed all branches of the State which
deal with the agricultural sector, a National Peasant Council will be set up to advise the
Minister and top civil servants and officials of the various government agencies. This
Council will be democratically elected by the grass roots peasant organizations.
At the same time Regional Peasant Councils will be formed in each of the country's
agricultural zones in which the officials responsible for the zone and the elected peasant
representatives will participate on an equal footing. All the measures necessary for
implementing Agrarian Reform and agricultural development, will be adopted in these
National and Regional Peasant Councils - i.e. expropriations, land distribution, credits,
marketing of products and inputs, etc.
FOUR. Agrarian Reform will no longer be implemented on a farm by farm basis but by areas
and, in each of these areas, productive work will be guaranteed for all peasants and rural
labourers in the area either in direct work on the land, or in the processing and
distribution of the products, or in the provision of the general services required in
production.
FIVE. We shall employ new legal concepts to help us to achieve integration and cooperation
by the united action of the various rural organizations of wage earners, employees,
sharecroppers, temporary labourers and small and medium scale farmers. This will involve
an increase in the number of tasks to be carried out by the unions, agrarian reform
settlements (ASENTAMIENTOS)*****, rural cooperatives, indigenous Indian communities, and
other types and forms of small farmers' organizations, such as the small farmers'
committees.
Furthermore, the Popular Government will end the present mockery of the law whereby
agricultural employers refrain from paying the 2% employer's contribution required by the
law governing peasant unions inducing the bankruptcy of the rural workers' trade unions.
SIX. Areas under forest will also be included in the Agrarian Reform.
SEVEN. Only small and medium scale farmers will be excluded from expropriation, and only
those larger scale farmers whose social and economic contributions to agricultural
production and rural community development are recognized by the peasants will have the
right to retain some land. And in any case, the right to retain some land will not be
accompanied by the preferential right to select this piece of land, since it may be
necessary to offer other land so as facilitate the restructuring of peasant holdings.
EIGHT. Working capital will be included in expropriations so that, right from the
very beginning, expropriated holdings have the capital necessary for farming operations.
NINE. Technical assistance to peasants will be provided without charge and special credit,
technical assistance and training programmes will be drawn up for the most backward groups
especially the indigenous Indian communities.
TEN. Each peasant will have family rights to his house and garden. Production will be
organized preferably under the cooperative system, though in special cases individual
cultivation and ownership of land may be considered.
ELEVEN. By means of credit, technical assistance, regional and national planning, we shall
orient production towards high priced products both for export and for the home market.
Credits for certain types of labour intensive products, such as pigs and poultry, will be
reserved for small farmers and other peasants to help increase their income and improve
their social and economic situation.
TWELVE. At an early stage of the Popular Government the Agrarian Reform Law will be fully
enforced, making use of all powers that the present Government does not wish to use or has
not been able to use, such as allocating land to cooperatives, defending the interests of
sharecroppers and tenants, reorganizing irrigation areas and systems, etc. The necessary
amendments to the present Agrarian Reform Law will be discussed and approved by the
National and Regional Peasant Councils before being sent to Parliament.
THIRTEEN. The State will guarantee the purchase of that part of the peasants' output which
is not marketed at official prices through the normal channels, and gradually the State
will make anticipatory contracts for all livestock and agricultural output which is
planned according to the country's needs.
Advance credits for production will be granted to small peasants in cash only, and not in
the form of credit notes as happens in most cases at present and which involves the
further exploitation of those peasants who can only get their credit notes discounted at
burdensome rates and on unfavourable terms.
FOURTEEN. Agriculture-based industries will preferably be located in the agricultural
regions which at present suffer most severely from agricultural unemployment or
underemployment.
FIFTEEN. The State will nationalize all monopolies controlling the marketing, preparation
and processing of livestock and agricultural products of the necessary inputs for
agricultural production. These enterprises will be either directly managed by the State,
with advice from the Peasant Councils, or they will be handed over to rural cooperatives.
SIXTEEN. A national social security system for all rural workers will be set up,
especially including those small farmers who are at present excluded from social security.
In the same way, we shall ensure that social security arrangements for farmers and
agrarian reform settlements will be continued.
SEVENTEEN. Special programmes will be undertaken to improve and to construct rural housing
because, until now, peasants and rural workers have been excluded from all previous
housing improvement programmes.
EIGHTEEN. We shall set up rural hostels in the principal towns in agricultural areas, so
that passing migrants and temporary labourers or peasants on business in town have
somewhere to lodge which also provides them with support and guidance in carrying out
their tasks, especially in relation to public services, education, health, etc.
NINETEEN. A general policy for education will be developed through adult literacy
programmes, publications of books, newspapers and radio programmes for the rural
population, and through courses on agricultural technology in line with the region's
production plans. At the same time, theatre, arte and other cultural activities will be
promoted, which will help develop the character of rural communities.
TWENTY. A special effort will be made to push ahead with plans for the protection of
natural resources, forestation plans, etc., and with plans for making better use of
irrigated areas.
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NOTES:
(*) The word peasants and peasantry should be taken to include small proprietors,
agricultural wage labourers, sharecroppers, migrant and temporary rural labourers,
smallholders who rent their land and other types of agricultural workers. (The translator)
(**) The word used in the original Spanish text is 'poblacion' and refers to various types
of low income housing areas in towns and villages. These include slums, illegally occupied
squatter settlements, temporary shanty towns and permanent but poor housing developments
promoted by the government and housing associations or constructed by means of self-help
programmes in which technical and material assistance is provided by the government. In
the rest of this document references to low income housing districts or low income
neighbourhoods should be taken as referring to all these different low income housing
areas. (The translator).
(***) The original Spanish text refers to 'pobladores' which generally means 'settlers'.
But in this context reference is being made to both inhabitants of shanty towns and
squatter settlements and to the inhabitants of new low income housing estates constructed
for or with the aid of working class people who are often immigrants from the countryside.
In the rest of the text the word 'pobladores' will usually be translated simply as
inhabitants of poor neighbourhoods and should be read as including the various categories
just listed. (The translator).
(****) The basic level of education lasts 8 years commencing at 6 years of age, and the
middle level lasts 4 years, following completion of the basic level. (The translator)
(*****) ASENTAMIENTO. This was a transitional system adopted during the Christian Democrat
Government and during the first year of the Popular Unity Government to manage the
expropriated estates for a three to five year period. The ASENTAMIENTO coincides with the
boundaries of the old estate and is run as a unit on a cooperative basis by the agrarian
reform corporation and ASENTAMIENTO members. During the transitional period the peasants
are trained to take over full management responsibilities and Government agencies provide
technical assistance and credit. According to the law the peasants may decide whether the
land will be divided into individual holdings or be organized and operated on a
cooperative basis on the expiry of the ASENTAMIENTO period, though the Government may
impose cooperative ownership operation if there are overriding technical reasons for doing
so. (The Translator)
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end of Popular Unity's Programme (Chile, early 1970)
RRojas Research Unit/1997
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