A Peaceful Revolution

Abstract

Salvador Allende’s victory in the presidential elections of 1970 brought about yet another attempt to achieve a social and economic revolution through constitutional means. Allende’s program of government, described as “a peaceful road to socialism,” was more radical than Frei’s “revolution in liberty.” It called for the establishment of a dominant state sector comprising large-scale mining, public utilities, and key firms in manufacturing, distribution, and finance. It also called for the rapid implementation of the agrarian reform law and the enactment of comprehensive social programs to benefit the wage earning population. The program also called for an effective transfer of power from the old ruling groups to workers, peasants and progressive sectors of the middle classes (De Vylder 1976:23–40).¹