9/11 1973

Salvador Allende made his last presidential speech, broadcast by Radio Magallanes at 9:10 on the morning of September 11, 1973, as the Chilean presidential palace was attacked.

My friends,

Surely this will be the last opportunity for me to address you.

The Air Force has bombed the towers of Radio Portales and Radio Corporación.

My words do not have bitterness but disappointment. May they be a moral punishment for those who have betrayed their oath: soldiers of Chile, titular commanders in chief, Admiral Merino, who has designated himself Commander of the Navy, and Mr. Mendoza, the despicable general who only yesterday pledged his fidelity and loyalty to the Government, and who also has appointed himself Chief of the Carabineros [national police].

Given these facts, the only thing left for me is to say to workers: I am not going to resign!

Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seed which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever.

They have strength and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested neither by crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.

Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always had, the confidence that you deposited in a man who was only an interpreter of great yearnings for justice, who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law and did just that. At this definitive moment, the last moment when I can address you, I wish you to take advantage of the lesson: foreign capital, imperialism, together with the reaction, created the climate in which the Armed Forces broke their tradition, the tradition taught by General Schneider and reaffirmed by Commander Araya, victims of the same social sector which will today be in their homes hoping, with foreign assistance, to retake power to continue defending their profits and their privileges.

I address, above all, the modest woman of our land, the campesina who believed in us, the worker who labored more, the mother who knew our concern for children. I address professionals of Chile, patriotic professionals, those who days ago continued working against the sedition sponsored by professional associations, class-based associations that also defended the advantages which a capitalist society grants to a few.

I address the youth, those who sang and gave us their joy and their spirit of struggle. I address the man of Chile, the worker, the farmer, the intellectual, those who will be persecuted, because in our country fascism has been already present for many hours — in terrorist attacks, blowing up the bridges, cutting the railroad tracks, destroying the oil and gas pipelines, in the face of the silence of those who had the obligation to protect them. They were committed. History will judge them.

Surely Radio Magallanes will be silenced, and the calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to [inaudible] the workers.

The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.

Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Go forward knowing that, sooner rather than later, the great avenues will open again where free men will walk to build a better society.

Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!

These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.

Why I joined the SSP

by new SSP Campsie member, Kevin Hattie

In the summer of 2010 I embarked on the journey of a lifetime to South America through the ‘World Challenge’ organisation which gives young people the chance to travel throughout the world and make a difference while they are doing so. 

The idea of the trip is not only to give young people the opportunity to see amazing countries with incredible cultures, but it is also about the personal development of the people who choose to be involved. The trip to Ecuador certainly helped me gain useful life skills such as leadership and better organisational ability but most importantly for me it made me think about the way I see the world.

Ecuador like most countries in Latin America has deep inequality and the difference between the wealthy and the poor is much greater than anything I have ever encountered before or even since. I was aware before I set foot on the continent that it was recognised as part of the developing world, but you can never really prepare yourself for the reality of poverty until it stares you in the face. Latin America has many famous places such as the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest, which I had the pleasure of visiting as well as the Galapagos Islands and the Andes mountain Range. But for me the most amazing thing about the continent is its desire to claim its own identity back from the Northern invaders who have played a role which rivals the Spanish in impoverishing it and making it almost a servant to its empire. I looked upon tropical rainforest as far as the eye could see and I saw an abundance of wildlife found nowhere else on the planet in the most bio diverse place on the earth, I even saw the great South American Condor glide over the rocky cliff tops of the Andes but this is all secondary to the lessons I learned from the people. 

One evening in a village on the edge of the cloud forest region of Golondrinas, I sat down with the woman who was hosting us and another 2 travellers who had been across the central belt of the continent to places such as Paraguay and Bolivia. I was expecting to hear stories of the sights they had seen and to be given recommendations for future travel on the continent, but the advice they gave me was much more valuable and I will always be grateful to them for sharing it with me. The female traveller who lived in France but was born in Chile had told me of her father’s story. He was a school teacher in Santiago and had been a great admirer of the work the then president Salvador Allende was doing in confronting social inequality throughout the country. She went on to explain how he raised the standards of living to even the poorest Chileans and how he pursued a program of mass literacy and nutrition. It was clear to me why her father would admire such a president because even in the developed world where I live problems at the bottom end of societies scale are often neglected and the most vulnerable people are forced to take the heaviest blows in times of economic hardship for the whole country. As she went on to tell me of President Allendes downfall, and how he was overthrow by a coup d’état led by General Pinochet and backed by Washington, I thought to myself why would anyone overthrow such a government? There was real hope for the people of Chile, so why did no one stop this from happening in the name of democracy and justice? She told me of how her father was forced to flee from his home in Santiago and seek refuge with his brother who lived in France. Pinochet had been rounding up Allende supporters and often this resulted in their death a fact that really hit home the brutality of what Chile had to endure after Allende was gone.  I could see the anger etched across her face as she told me of her families’ traumatic experience and this anger did not result in her turning out to be a violent person or anything of the sort, instead she used it to fuel her passion for helping the people of her rightful continent. She explained how she and her companion were travelling across South America working at project after project because they felt lucky in escaping the misery inflicted upon the people by right wing despots like Pinochet. I was inspired by her story and her passion but her desire to help the poor was not a rare characteristic among the communities I had visited in my time in Ecuador.

I travelled from Glasgow to Quito with a book for company. The book was called: From Mud Hut To Perpetual Revolution; The Hugo Chavez story. I read of how Chavez had grown tired of his countries wealthy elite getting rich off of the great resources which blessed Venezuela’s land. I read of how he had emerged from the bottom of Venezuelan society to leading the country into a brighter future. He confronted the large Oil companies who had stolen Venezuelan people’s right to prosperity and he demanded that the people of Latin America wake up and take control of their own destiny, all in the name of Socialism.  I decided being on the continent that Chavez had helped change that it would be a crime to leave without asking people who had first hand experience of the Bolivarian revolution what it was like and what their opinions were on Chavez and their own leader Correa. Back home people told me of how Chavez was another crazy dictator and how his people were not free while he ruled. The news also at times hammered home this message, but in reality the people whom I spoke to said we love Chavez. Chavez has given us a voice! He has given us hope! We are now proud to be Latin Americans! I was pleased to hear the people back home were wrong and that Chavez’ revolution, which had stretched beyond Venezuela to Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay, was embraced by the people who were needing change most.

When I returned home from Ecuador I became desperate to find out more about how Socialism was emerging in Latin America and how it was giving hope to the kind of people I had met. In my research I had found a history of US intervention and state sponsored killing in an effort to stop socialism. The strange thing was it didn’t seem as though they were trying to stop Socialism from becoming the dominant political ideology in the region because it was wrong or causing problems. They tried to stop it because it would be a model that the world could follow in order to create a more equal and just earth. It was an ideology that questioned the injustices and corruption which always seems to follow Capitalism. My reading had left me believing that in order for, not just Latin America but for the world, to become a fairer place that we need to find a way for Democratic Socialism, in its true form with no Greedy corrupt politicians abusing it, to replace Capitalism and end the sheer injustice which is ingrained in Capitalisms bloody and corrupt history.

As a new aspiring member of the SSP, I believe that this party holds the same belief that Salvador Allende of Chile had, the same desire to end Injustice that Che Guevara had, the same desire to join together in unity to fight corruption and greed that Hugo Chavez possessed and the same altruistic and humanitarian values which I feel are important.  Here in Scotland we face our own challenges, Independence and the right to control our own future, ending conservative rule and ridding our society of the values which are preached by people like David Cameron and were preached by Margaret Thatcher, and finally creating a more equal society with everyone having a voice, everyone having enough food on the table and a roof over their head. I hope that in joining the SSP I will be part of making this a reality, because in contrast to what people say about the world just being the way it is and there’s nothing you can do to change it I believe not for the first time they are wrong.

I visited Ecuador in 2010 believing I was going over to help people who were considered the have not’s of the world. When I returned I found I was a have not, and that they gave more to me than I could ever give to them with my material world. The only way I can ever repay the people of Ecuador for the life lesson they gave me is to do everything I can to make this world a better place. I believe the best way I can do this is through Socialism. So fuelled by the thoughts of the smiles of all the little kids that showed me how to be happy with having enough, I will hopefully be able to bring their message to the society I live in and be the change that I want to see in the world.

Join the Scottish Socialist Party HERE