The Socialist Republic of Chile ( es, República Socialista de Chile) was a short-lived (4 June 1932 – 13 September 1932) political entity in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, that was proclaimed by the Government Junta that took over that year.

Background

In July, 1925, the military junta led by

Arturo Alessandri Arturo Fortunato Alessandri Palma (; December 20, 1868 – August 24, 1950) was a Chilean political figure and reformer who served thrice as president of Chile, first from 1920 to 1924, then from March to October 1925, and finally from 1932 to ...

, created a project with the sole aim of constitutional reform. The Constitution of 1925 set forth a governmental system that eschewed the parliamentarian ways of the old constitution that had existed for some ninety-two years. Instead, the Constitution of 1925 reintroduced the position of President in Chilean politics. The new constitution created a strong executive and weakened the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. This new constitution deprived both chambers of much of their power to fire ministers. Instead, the Chamber of Deputies could bring accusations before the senate. Over the course of the years 1926 and 1927, General Carlos Ibanez maneuvered his way into power, first as the Minister of War, then Minister of the Interior, then Vice President, before finally on May 4, 1927, President Figueroa resigned as President. Between 1927 and 1931, Chile was governed by General

Carlos Ibáñez del Campo General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo (; 3 November 1877 – 28 April 1960) was a Chilean Army officer and political figure. He served as President twice, first between 1927 and 1931, and then from 1952 to 1958, serving for 10 years in office. T ...

, who carried out a

corporatist Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...

policy, in order to undermine the influence of leftist groups. The market crash of 1929 greatly affected Chile, vastly decreasing demand for Chilean exports. This market volatility greatly affected Chilean politics and by 1931 the congress had given enough of their legislative powers to Ibanez, that Chile became a dictatorship in a fashion. With resources becoming less and less available, political unrest began to manifest itself around the country. This political unrest came to a head in July 1931 when university students took control of the university grounds. With the political situation in Chile becoming more and more untenable, President Ibanez resigned and left the country. President

Juan Esteban Montero Juan Esteban Montero Rodríguez (February 12, 1879 – February 25, 1948) was a Chilean political figure. He served twice as president of Chile between 1931 and 1932. Early life He was born in Santiago, the son of Benjamín Montero and of Eug ...

had assumed office on November 15, 1931. By mid-1932, he was already in serious problems, due to the economic impact of the market crash of 1929. To the very grave social and economic problems he faced, he could add the growing political instability that was gripping the country. He was pictured as an inefficient and unpopular leader, and the number of conspiracies that sought to displace him was growing by the day. On June 4, 1932, a group of young socialists under the leadership of Eugenio Matte; some air force personnel under colonel

Marmaduke Grove Marmaduke Grove Vallejo (; July 6, 1878 – May 15, 1954), his name erroneously spelled Marmaduque Grobeh, was a Chilean Air Force officer, political figure and member of the Government Junta of the Socialist Republic of Chile in 1932. Early lif ...

; and some army personnel (followers of former president Carlos Ibáñez del Campo) under

Carlos Dávila Carlos Gregorio Dávila Espinoza (September 15, 1887 – October 19, 1955), was a Chilean political figure, journalist, chairman of the Government Junta of Chile in 1932, and secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS) from 1 ...

staged a coup d'état by taking over the Air Force base of El Bosque, in Santiago, demanding the resignation of President Montero. Montero refused to call on the army to put down the coup, and instead chose to resign. That same night, the victorious revolutionaries organized a Government Junta composed of retired General Arturo Puga, Eugenio Matte and Carlos Davila, with colonel Grove as their minister of Defense. They immediately proceeded to proclaim the ''Socialist Republic of Chile''.

Creation and fall

The proclamation took by surprise and divided public opinion immediately. The

Communist Party of Chile The Communist Party of Chile ( es, Partido Comunista de Chile, ) is a communist party in Chile. It was founded in 1912 as the Socialist Workers' Party () and adopted its current name in 1922. The party established a youth wing, the Communist Youth ...

(PCCh) and the

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s manifested their opposition, because they considered the coup as "militarist". At the same time, businessmen, professionals and students of the

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (''PUC or UC Chile'') ( es, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) is one of the six Catholic Universities existing in the Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical universities i ...

also heatedly opposed it on ideological grounds. Overall, the new republic received only guarded support from socialists and workers' associations. A few days following the proclamation of the “Socialist Republic of Chile,” the Junta dissolved Congress and, among other measures, stopped evictions from low-rental properties, decreed a three-day bank holiday (which was followed by strict controls on withdrawals), and ordered the “Caja de Crédito Popular” (a savings and loan bank for Chileans of modest means) to return clothes and tools which had been pawned there.A History of Chile, 1808-1994, by Simon Collier and William F. Sater The Junta pardoned those involved in the

Sailors' mutiny The Chilean naval mutiny of 1931 ( es, Sublevación de la Escuadra) was a violent rebellion of Chilean Navy enlisted men against the government of Vice President Manuel Trucco. Background In 1931 Chile was bankrupt. The situation had caused the d ...

. The new Junta ordered a half-million free meals served daily to the unemployed. State pawnshops had to return, free of charge, sewing machines and tools pawned by the "certified unemployed." The Junta quickly ran short on funds, so it ordered the police to confiscate jewelry from the jewelry shops in Santiago, giving each jeweler a receipt which they could cash in for paper pesos. Credits and deposits in foreign currency at the national and foreign banks operating in Chile were declared the property of the State. A General Commissariat of Subsistence and Prices was also established with the authority to fix the price of staple foods. These measures created dissent within the government and the followers of General Ibáñez opposed the radicalization of the socialist movement promoted by Grove and Matte. On June 13, Carlos Dávila resigned in protest. Three days later, on June 16, and with the support of the army, he proceeded to expel the socialist members of the government and replace them with his own supporters. Eugenio Matte and Marmaduke Grove were arrested and exiled to

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

. Some authors consider this date as the true end of the socialist republic. Define $ar = align:center Define $sr = shift: (30,-3) align:left Define $sl = shift: (-30,-3) align:right Define $fs = fontsize: 7 Define $end = 24/12/1938 Define $ini = 01/01/1924 # Do not use legends with the same beginning like "President" and "President_elected" Colors = id:juntagove value:rgb(0.9,0.6,0.6) id:president value:rgb(0.2,0.2,0.9) id:interimpr value:green id:coupdetat value:red id:liteline value:gray(0.8) id:line value:rgb(0.3,0.3,0.3) id:bg value:white DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy ImageSize = width:500 height:130 Period = from:$ini till:$end TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = left:1 bottom:20 top:2 right:0 ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:$ini ScaleMinor = gridcolor:liteline unit:year increment:12 start:$ini LineData = points:(1,1)(499,1) color:black width:0.5 points:(499,1)(499,129) color:black width:0.5 points:(499,129)(1,129) color:black width:0.5 points:(1,129)(1,1) color:black width:0.5 PlotData= width:8 align:center bar:0051 from:23/12/1925 till:07/04/1927 color:president text:"

Emiliano Figueroa Larraín Emiliano Figueroa Larraín (; July 12, 1866 – May 15, 1931) was President of Chile from December 23, 1925 until his resignation on May 10, 1927. He also served as Acting president for a few months in 1910. Biography Figueroa was born on July 1 ...

" $sr $fs bar:0052 from:07/04/1927 till:10/05/1927 color:interimpr bar:0052 from:10/05/1927 till:26/07/1931 color:president text:"

Carlos Ibáñez Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhe ...

" align:right shift: (140,-4) $fs bar:0053 from:26/07/1931 till:27/07/1931 color:interimpr text:"

Pedro Opazo Pedro Opaso Letelier (July 20, 1876 – April 9, 1957) was a Chilean politician and provisional vice president of Chile in 1931. He was born in Talca, the son of Ursicino Opaso and Margarita Letelier. He completed his studies in his native city ...

" $sr $fs bar:0054a from:27/07/1931 till:20/08/1931 color:interimpr text:" Juan E. Montero" $sr $fs bar:0054b from:20/08/1931 till:15/11/1931 color:interimpr text:"

Manuel Trucco Manuel Trucco Franzani (March 18, 1875 – October 25, 1954) was a Chilean politician and provisional vice president of Chile in 1931. He was born in Cauquenes, the son of Napoleón Trucco Morano and of María Franzani Monigette. He completed ...

" $sr $fs bar:0054c from:15/11/1931 till:04/06/1932 color:president text:" Juan E. Montero" $sr $fs bar:0055 from:04/06/1932 till:16/06/1932 color:coupdetat text:" Junta 1932" $sr $fs bar:0056 from:16/06/1932 till:08/07/1932 color:juntagove text:" Junta 1932" $sr $fs bar:0057 from:08/07/1932 till:13/09/1932 color:interimpr text:"

" $sr $fs bar:0058 from:13/09/1932 till:02/10/1932 color:interimpr text:"

Bartolomé Blanche Bartolomé Guillermo Blanche Espejo (June 6, 1879 – June 10, 1970) was a Chilean military officer and provisional president of Chile in 1932. Life He was born in La Serena, Coquimbo Region, where he completed his early studies. Later, he was ...

" $sr $fs bar:0059 from:02/10/1932 till:24/12/1932 color:interimpr text:" Abraham Oyanedel" $sr $fs bar:0060 from:24/12/1932 till:24/12/1938 color:president text:"

" align:right shift: (-120,-4) $fs With army support, Carlos Dávila, proclaimed himself provisional President of the “Socialist Republic of Chile”. At the same time he declared a state of emergency, press censorship, and a host of centrally-planned economic measures. Nonetheless, the lack of military and public opinion support forced him to resign on September 13, 1932. The office was passed onto General

, who was replaced, under threat of a military uprising, by the President of the Supreme Court, Abraham Oyanedel, who immediately called for presidential and congressional elections.

References

External links

History of the Socialist Junta
{{in lang, es
Historical Analysis of the Military Coups in Chile
Socialism in Chile Government of Chile Presidential Republic (1925–1973) 1932 establishments in Chile 1932 disestablishments in Chile

Background

Creation and fall

See also

References

External links