bonfires of Marxist books, curfews, firing squads, deaths, disappearances, massive arrests. At the conclusion of these seven weeks, we must begin to take stock of the situation. Even the sceptics and the cynics have to bow before the facts: the dead have to be counted in tens of thousands-20,000, perhaps even 25,000; those imprisoned must be counted in tens of thousands-about 30,000; those who have gone underground, seeking to flee this nightmare, this hell, must be counted in tens of thousands. The workers who have lost their jobs because they are suspected of leftwing sympathies and have been thrown into poverty, or are even on the verge of starvation, must be counted in hundreds of thousands. Seven weeks have passed but the repression continues to mount. Two days ago, according to officiai sources, the courts pronounced 32 death sentences.
Seven weeks have passed, without any organised and co-ordinated response -apart from isolated, spontaneous incidents-directed against General Pinochet and his confederates. These have been, then, seven weeks of real and deep demoralisation.
NATURE OF THE REGIME Beneath these shocking and unimaginable events, beneath the tears and blood of the Chilean workers, lie a multitude of political questions. The first of these questions, the one which sets the framework for most other debates, in particular that on the political lesks of the left, concerns the nature of the military regime. What is its social base, who are its supporters, what are its ultimate aims? It would be a mistake to look on the new Chilean mibtary regime as just another military dictatorship of the kind we have seen throughout Latin American history. The Chilean military regime difters from those military governments that have come to power in a context of general apathy in that it has -and this is no exaggeration genuine mass support. Capitalists and petty bourgeoisie, still shaking with the fear instilled by the working class mobilisations of the last months of the Popular Unity government, today support the military junta blindly and without reservation. Artisans, small and large traders, landowners threatened by the eventual extension of the agrarian retorm, administrative statt from commerco and industry, members of the liberal professions, compete with one another in exhibiting their slavish gratitude to the numerous masters of the country. There are all sorts of examples of this examples which anyone can see and experience daily in Santiago and throughout the country.
DENUNCIATIONS The most sickening, and the most widespread, are the denunciations. The newspapers and radio broadcast every day, in every Chilean city, the telephone numbers to ring in order to denounce someone or report anyone behaving suspiciously. Day and night, 24 hours a day, these numbers are busy, even though there are often many of them. Thousands of calls come in each day, we were told by one telephone operator. She was non-political, but close to nervous exhaustion after the calls she has to receive and record throughout the day.
The most grotesque are the women from the middle and upper classes who queue up for hour after hour to donate a portion of their jewellery or savings to the fund for national reconstruction. The most revolting is the unending file of thousands upon thousands of men and women, fatbers leading their offspring by the hand, who come to openly and rudely exhibit their joy in front of the ruins of the Moneda Presidential Palace.
Because of the specific features of Chile's social and economic structure, we are dealing here with a numerically important section: artisans tradesmen, small landowners represent about 30-40% of the total Chilean population. The fact of their support is a key element in analysing the nature of the regime that has been set up since 11 September, and for an understanding of certain of the policies of this regime, As far as the repression goes, only the total, at times even enthusiastic, support of these groups- which do not hesitate to play on occasion the part of useful auxiliaries for the policy of repression-allows us to explain and understand the massive, vindictive character this repression has had since the very first day of the coup.
ORGANISATIONAL PLANS Having said this, two further questions immediately anse, This support is, at present, essentially spontancous. It is not structured, organised or directed, Can it continue for very long! Are there any plans for the organisation of these masses into an actual fascist or semi-fascist party?
There are not at present any precise plans underway on the part of the military. Air Force General Leigh, who is described as the strong man of the military, has turned himself into a specialist in constitutional law and is drawing up a new constitution. The other day he offered the results of his first thoughtsds on Chilean television.
These had a surprising frankness. There were plenty of historical refererices: Mussolini? Not bad.. Franco! The man and the regimee to whom we feel the closest.. The Cortes [Parliament in Franco's Spain |" A model of democracy... Hitler? To be taken seriousiy. many things to be learnt from his example. Salazar [former fascist President of Portugal]? A master...
The military seem, in the long run, to be looking towards the establishment of a corporatist regime in which the professional associations those of the right and extreme right, to be sure — will play a fundamental role. The associations of the lorry owners, traders, artisans, and others of this sort will thus see themselves rewarded for the key role they played in the downfall of the Popular Unity But no one is seriously proposing the organisation of a fascist-type mass party to structure these bourgeois and petit-bourgeois groups. The reason for this is quite simple: no matter how massive the support for the military regime is among these sectors, it remains in many respects, superficial and subject to serious limitations. It is not support for a worked out political plan, or a long. or even medium term set of economic and political policies.
It is nothing more than gratitude-often of an hystarical sort-to those who have eliminated a serious threat. As far as the nedium and long terms are concerned, even in the absence of a clearly worked out plan at the present time, the first tentative moves made by the mintary allow us to evaluate the policies which they are putting forward with very considerable accuracy. in many cases will go against the interests of INTERESTS OF BIG BOURGEOISIE The Generals are not planning on policies that will serve the interests of the middle and petit-bourgeoisie, but policies that coincide with the interests of the big Chilean capitalists of a few great tamilies of the Chilean ruling class who, in conjunction with foreign (especially a remarkably concentrated fashion, the decisive sectors of the economy.
This is how we must understand the recent appointment of the director of Mercurio, the Journal of this big bourgeoisic, to the ministry of the economy. Besides its journalistic" activities, this publication is the source of the power of several of these great families, the most powerful of which is the Edwards family, one of whate members is a virepresident of the international operations of Pepsi Cola, Policies in the service of these groups, of this big Chilean bourgeoisie linked to international big capital, must eventually come into contradiction with the interests of the small and middle capitalists. These policies will necessarily invoive the rationalisation of the economy, a modernisation of the economic network, which the excessive number of small artisans, traders. intertediaries of all sorts, that characterises the Chilean economy, In the shorter terma the harsh measures taken by the junta to suppress me back market coe we trashe pr as sores that Nourished under Popular Unity-will mean a severe fall in the trcome of all these sectors.
As soon as the first moment of enthusiasm passes, the awakening promises to be harsh and bitter for all these backers of the massive Iepression. This makes it casier to understand why the Junta does not plan on orginising the present mass support for the regime into and that there is therefore no perspective for a mass fascist movement.
REPRESSION Anoier clement which must teature in the analysis of the military regime is the repression which it is carrying out, and which has become the very axis of its politics, It is not so much a question of the quantitative extent of this