Poder Popular (Chile)

Poder Popular (Spanish for "people's power") is a form of direct democracy or grassroots democracy .

It can be contrasted with parliamentarianism , i.e. bourgeois-representative democracy. In contrast to this, Poder Popular is characterized by its collective, flexible and direct constitution. In Chilean history, it was the independently organized workers and marginalized sectors of society, such as the poor neighborhoods ( poblaciónes ), who advocated the development of Poder Popular. In contrast to representative democracy, where the act of politics is limited to periodically casting a vote in elections, political power in the Poder Popular is constantly renegotiated and is subject to much more direct control. Poder Popular can also be understood as a form of self-organization by workers.

The militancy of the social struggles of workers and small farmers in Chile increased as early as the 1960s during the government of the Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei. The moderate reforms of Frei sparked an increase in occupations in the countryside and factory occupations. The workers and peasants tightened their pace in order to achieve a radicalization of the social reform program (e.g. land reform, nationalization). The number of strikes also increased during this period. During the government of Salvador Allende, the number of occupations increased even further.

The most pronounced form of Poder Popular in Chile emerged during the short reigns of the Unidad Popular and President Salvador Allende (1970-1973). The cordones industriales (“industrial belts”) were particularly striking, and for some time they were able to organize significant sections of the workforce and opposed to traditional unions such as the CUT (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Chile). The Cordón Cerrillos-Maipú in the capital Santiago, which formulated the following requirements, can be regarded as an example:

1. the support of the Allende government in interpreting the struggles of the workers
2. the expropriation of all monopoly firms and all strategic industries, of foreign capital and of those factories that boycott production
3. Workers' control over all industries, farms and mines through councils that can be called up from the base at any time
4. the establishment of a popular assembly to replace the bourgeois parliament.

The Allende government initially articulated its rejection of the cordones, which it described as "irresponsible". Allende insisted on the reformist path to socialism through the institutions of the bourgeois state, whereas the cordones were rejected as an expression of “dual power”. The cordones industriales eventually established themselves in response to the sabotage and lockouts used by Chilean entrepreneurs to destabilize the Unidad Popular government.

This was particularly evident in October 1972 during the truck drivers' strike, who wanted to hasten the overthrow of the Unidad Popular. "The strike ends [..] with the strengthening of the poder popular, the" people's power ": Above all, workers organize themselves and take control of the production, distribution and guarding of factories." In the course of the strike, the workers took the Initiative into their own hands and kept the distribution of goods going. “They set up factory committees to organize distribution without the bosses and to protect production against sabotage. Huge marches and demonstrations were held with workers shouting "Crear, crear, poder popular" ("create, create people's power"). In short, the cordones reappeared and turned the tide against the bosses. "

Another form of Poder Popular were the Juntas de Abastecimientos y Precios (JAP, Committees of Supply and Prices), organizations of residents of the Poblaciónes , who were responsible for distributing food and controlling prices.

After the military coup of September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship smashed all structures of the Poder Popular.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ http://www.isreview.org/issues/06/chile.shtml
3. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ http://www.isreview.org/issues/06/chile.shtml
5. ↑ ibid.
6. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ http://www.akweb.de/ak_s/ak475/25.htm
8. ↑ http://www.isreview.org/issues/06/chile.shtml