Comrade President Salvador Allende Gossens, May First 1971
Workers of Chile: This is not a day of celebration; this is a day of remembrance, of reflection. A day to look back, beyond and within the borders of our homeland, and to pay tribute to all those who, in different parts of the world, fell fighting to make human life more dignified and to achieve true freedom. Today marks the end of a week in which, through your intermediary, the People’s Government has engaged in dialogue with the most diverse sectors of the nation. We have spoken with the young people of the Popular Unity; with newly qualified doctors to highlight the responsibility that comes with practising their profession; we have visited an organisation as important as the CEPAL to convey our views and highlight the reality of small, developing countries in comparison with industrialised nations, to point out, once again, the harsh exploitation to which we have been and continue to be subjected, and to demand the right to self-determination and non-intervention. [...] We are here on this day, which holds profound and deep significance; a day that is momentous because you, the workers of Chile, are here alongside us; because we are here—Government and people—for the people are the Government, and, as such, they give voice to the hopes and aspirations of the vast majority. We have come to power and are moving forward to secure it. The difference from the past is striking, not only because of the massive gathering I can see from here—which is three times the size of, and perhaps even larger than, the gatherings held in previous years—but also because I see thousands upon thousands of women. I pay tribute to them through two elderly ladies whom I have been watching for over an hour, and who have come, weary as ever, to show us by their example how they feel and support the People’s Government. [...] And I greet all the Chilean trade union leaders, my fellow leaders of the CUT. And I pay tribute to those who, although they have already fulfilled their duty, have never ceased to stand alongside the workers, in the person of the first president of the CUT, my dear friend Clotario Blest. We have come to speak to the people; to speak to them of their rights, their fundamental duties, and their responsibilities. I want you to reflect on the scope and meaning of my words. Something great and momentous has taken place in our country with the victory of 4 September. It was no accident; it was the self-sacrificing and anonymous effort of thousands upon thousands of Chileans who had faith in themselves, who believed in the people’s parties and who understood the great historic task we must fulfil. This has been the fervour of generations upon generations who knew imprisonment, exile and death, to give us the chance to reach government and seize power. But the victory achieved at the ballot box entails a great responsibility, and I want this to be understood very well, very clearly. Of course, let it be known, appreciated and pondered what it means that, for the first time in history, within the legal framework and the laws of bourgeois democracy, a people has attained government to transform society and pave the way for the profound structural transformations leading to socialism. I repeat: this is the first time this has happened. We want the political freedoms thus won to be transformed into social freedoms. We want every worker to understand that revolutionary theory holds that a regime or system is not destroyed completely and utterly in order to build another; rather, we take the positive aspects in order to build on them, to make use of those achievements and expand upon them. It is important that this is understood and becomes ingrained in the consciousness of each and every one of you.
S. Allende. Speech on 1 May 1971. (Information from Archivo Chile, CEME website). 1CEME – Miguel Enríquez Study Centre – Archivo Chile
