Salvador Allende Reader
Chile’s voice of democracy
Edited by James D. Cockcroft and Jane Carolina Canning
On September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet led a bloody coup against President Salvador Allende in Chile. Allende died in the Presidential Palace as it was attacked by Pinochet's army.
Controversy still surrounds the role of Washington and the CIA in the overthrow of the popularly elected government of Salvador Allende, a self-proclaimed Marxist. Just prior to Allende's election in 1970, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger commented: "I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people."
Allende's final words, broadcast from the Presidential Palace, are included here. For decades his name and the experience of the Popular Unity government was all but erased from history, not only in Chile but internationally. As Latin America is again beginning to assert its independence and resistance to the brutal imposition of neoliberalism, this book has many lessons for today.
James D. Cockcroft is the author of 25 books on Latin America, human rights, international affairs, and multiculturalism.
Jane Carolina Canning was a sociologist and freelance journalist who wrote extensively on issues of human rights and social policy in Latin America.
On September 11, 1973, the Chilean military, led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, seized the Chilean presidential palace, La Moneda, and put an end to the three-year government, as well as the life, of President Salvador Allende. A longtime political leader and advocate of a socialist Chile, Allende had been elected in 1970, and his presidency was characterized by his attempts to introduce socialist programs and the resultant internal and foreign opposition. This anthology, edited by Cockcroft (The Hispanic Struggle for Social Justice), a noted expert on politics in Latin America, is the first collection in English of Allende’s speeches and interviews, given primarily during his presidency. Most of this material has not been available previously in English. This reader will be of value for academic collections on Latin America.
—Library Journal
They killed the man, but they could not kill his ideas, while his spirit continues to haunt Chile and dog the footsteps of his murderer Augusto Pinochet… This book is an inspiration to read, telling in his own words one man’s attempt to construct socialism in Chile. There are many lessons here for progressive workers to learn from in our struggle to build a just, peaceful and equal society.
—Morning Star
