Towards a global history of the Unidad Popular

Abstract

Our understanding of the international and transnational history of Chile during the Unidad Popular (UP) government has expanded considerably since the early 2010s. But what has new research contributed to our understanding of events in Chile and Chile’s significance in a global context? Examining the historiographical advances and questions that have driven scholarship in recent years, this article argues that international and transnational studies that focus attention on Chile and Chileans can offer new perspectives on the rise and fall of the UP. Rather than reducing international histories to an account of a select group of foreigners acting on an empty Chilean stage, these approaches foreground local actors and processes, exploring the extent to which Chileans were shaped by a multiplicity of interactions, invitations and inspirations across borders. Localising the global in this way can help us understand the reasons many within Chile conceptualised their goals, projects and actions as they did. It challenges the idea of Chilean exceptionalism. It also undermines right-wing actors’ claims to be acting solely within national frameworks by revealing their own entanglements in translational networks and intellectual imports. Suggesting that we have much still to learn, the article also highlights possible avenues for further research and reflects on the contemporary relevance of the global in Chilean political discourse today.

¿Ideología o pragmatismo? Corea del Sur y el Gobierno de la Unidad Popular (1970-1973)

“…El Gobierno de Chile, aún bajo la dirección de Frei, extendió una invitación a Corea del Sur para participar de la ceremonia de transmisión de mando 35 . Aunque los documentos disponibles no arrojan luces sobre el debate en el interior de la cancillería surcoreana con respecto a la conveniencia de enviar una delegación a Chile, la solicitud de aprobación de presupuesto de esta esclarece el motivo que llevó a Seúl a aceptar la invitación: "De cara al futuro, y teniendo en cuenta los cambios en la política chilena y cómo estos podrían afectar las relaciones con nuestro país, se estima conveniente el enviar una delegación" 36 .…”

Unidad Popular chilena y el comunismo español. Análisis, solidaridad y lecciones políticas (1970-1973)

“…La victoria electoral de la up el 4 de septiembre de 1970 validó la "vía chilena al socialismo" como muestra de heterodoxia marxista, en especial por su gradualismo y carácter pluriclasista 36 España Independiente, conocida como La Pirenaica, destacó la unidad de los partidos obreros, encarnada en la alianza del Partido Comunista de Chile (pcch) y el Partido Socialista de Chile (psch), así como el triunfo de las masas obreras y progresistas 37 . También resaltaron otros puntos.…”

The Unidad Popular Process as Represented through Siglo XXI Publishers: Between Local Reception and the Construction of a Global Event

“…Finally, in what ways did these publications contribute to the configuration of the so called ‘Chilean road to socialism’ as a global event? A global approach involves, for one, a quest for the out‐of‐boundary scope and modulations of the Chilean socialist experience, but, more specifically, for those cross‐relationships and contacts which brought a domestic development across national borders, by spreading transnational cultural and political connections (Compagnon and Moine, 2015; Harmer, 2021). To deal with these matters, we have explored the Siglo XXI catalogue, analysed the paratexts of books about Chile, tracked their circulation and press reception in political‐cultural journals and magazines from Argentina and Chile, and finally, gathered the voices of some of the ‘mediators’ or ‘cultural carriers’ involved in the publishing process.…”