Customer Reviews

Weavers of Revolution: The Yarur Workers and Chile's Road to Socialism

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The seizure of Yarur factory on April 25, 1971 marked the beginning of a tumultuous struggle for socialism in Chile. Salvador Allende, of the popular unity party, ran on a platform that sought to unify the working population. Allende's vow to guide Chile down the democratic road to socialism is one of his greatest legacies. The democratic road to socialism was paved, at least symbolically, with the efforts of the working class. The failures and successes of Allende's travel through la "via Chilena" hinge on whether "the Chilean revolutionary process was of and by the workers or merely for the workers." Allende would die the death of a martyr: machine gun in hand in an enflamed national palace that had been besieged by a hostile coup. If Allende died the death of martyr, to whom was he a hero? Inconsistent with traditional revolutionary ideology Allende feared a rampant revolution. As a self-proclaimed Marxist his views irked both capitalists and the middle class. El presidente compañero, regardless, was a president for the people. His core constituency demanded a revolution from below and thus complicated the revolution from above that Allende attempted to impose. With these conflicts in mind Peter Winn analyzes the extent to which Allende (a socialist) both failed and succeeded as a revolutionary.

I agree with the last reviewer, except for her\his curious reference to this being a "Trotskyist" view. What I like about this book is the way one can see the dilemnas and perspectives of different actors within the coalition that backed Allende. Less an endorsement of any one tendency's political line, this book brings out the tragedy of various democratic revolutionary factions all trying to do the right thing and unable to unite the face of repression. Best of all, it links the perspectives of ordinary workers with the difficult choices face by leaders.

Winn's book gives a detailed (and Trotskyist) account of a "revolution from below" that transpired during Allende's "revolution from above." It depicts the struggles of textile workers as they grew conscious of their class standing, became unionized and, ultimately, siezed control of the nation's most prominant mill. In the end, however, Winn demonstrates how the Yarur workers and the Popular Unity government imagined different Chilean roads to socialism, and how this divergence brought the social revolution and the Ex-Yarur mill to a tragic conclusion. It is a well-crafted and readible book...a "must" for any student of Latin American history, social revolution or Marxist theory.