Chile 1970-73 - Unidad Popular Experience

Today, Chile left-wing remembers the coup d'etat in 1973 Chile. I dont know if this was discussed extensively before in the forum (I'm rather new) but what were the lessons of 1973 chile?

To start the ball rolling, I believe the main problem was the Allende position against repression of the right wing parties and initiating an Army purgue. He disarmed the workers to avoid 'civil war' (and revolution is civil war, anyway).

You're right. It was the same mistake Perón did when he refused to arm the CGT. But, unlike Perón, Allende had little support. He won the presidency with 36% (2% more than the 2nd). And so the other parties (and the right wing of the army) allied against him.

One thing we can all learn from Allende's Chile is Cybersyn Project. This attempt to centrally control the whole country's production through computers is something to keep in mind. This has been discussed several times in this forum.

The lesson of the coup is that it is not enough to win control of the existing bourgeois state machinery, as it is still fundamentally bourgeois state machinery whether there is a communist or a fascist in government.

In Chile 1970 there were 3 main poles. UP, Christian Democrats and right wing National Party. Christian Democrats in the beginning gave their support to Allende's government. But after 1972 they refused with his policies and made a coalition with the right wing against him. Nevertheless it is worthy to point that allende's Popular Unity coalition actually increased its vote to 43% (from36% in 1970) in the parliamentary elections early in 1973