Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Protest in Chile from 1850 to 1970 emerged as the working class sought to improve labor and living conditions against a dominant national oligarchy, which had consolidated control over land and industry. To maintain its grip on power and control over natural resources and industry, the oligarchy repressed strikes and other forms of labor militancy, leaving the working class particularly receptive to radical political ideologies. This led to the emergence of strong anarchist, socialist, and communist movements. As labor's capacity to resist grew, the state and its oligarchic benefactors periodically advanced reforms to improve working conditions by legally expanding labor rights and permitting a process of negotiation and bargaining. In the years leading up to the civil war, the national oligarchy consolidated economic power through annexation of land in the north (Tarapacá and Antofagasta) and south (the Araucanía region in 1887) on the territorial frontiers, incorporating strategic mining and agricultural regions. In the late 1880s and early 1890s, tensions mounted between President José Manuel Balmaceda and the Chilean Congress over control of state resources, particularly the rich nitrate (saltpeter) industry. Balmaceda sought to advance the interests of national capitalists against foreign investors, chiefly from the United Kingdom and North America. Subsequently, the state ... log in or subscribe to read full text