Allende Assumes Office (1970)

Tue Nov 03, 1970

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On this day in 1970, Salvador Allende became the first Marxist to serve as elected leader of a Latin American liberal democracy. “We are seeking to overcome [the bourgeois state]…Our objective is total, scientific, Marxist socialism.”

As President, Allende sought to nationalize major industries, expand education and improve the living standards of the working class. Specific examples of his policies include giving educational grants to indigenous children, literacy programs in impoverished areas, and establishing a minimum wage for workers of all ages.

On September 11th, 1973, the military moved to oust Allende in a coup d’état assisted by the Henry Kissinger and the CIA. As troops surrounded La Moneda Palace, he gave his last speech vowing not to resign. Later that day, Allende died of suicide with a gun, according to an investigation conducted by a Chilean court with the assistance of international experts in 2011.

Following Allende’s death, General Augusto Pinochet refused to return authority to a civilian government, and Chile was later ruled by a military junta that was in power up until 1990. This junta dissolved the Congress of Chile, suspended the Constitution, and began a persecution of alleged dissidents, in which at least 3,095 civilians disappeared or were killed.

“As for the bourgeois state, at the present moment, we are seeking to overcome it, to overthrow it.… Our objective is total, scientific, Marxist socialism.”

- Salvador Allende, as quoted in Conversations With Allende (1970) by French philosopher Régis Debray