Socialist Republic of Chile
The Socialist Republic of Chile was a short-lived political entity in Chile, that was proclaimed by the Government Junta that took over that year.
Background
President Juan Esteban Montero 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; and some army personnel under Carlos Dávila 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 and the trade unions 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 also heatedly opposed it, also on ideological grounds. At the end the new republic received only the guarded support of the socialists and the employees' associations.A few days following the proclamation of the new “Socialist Republic of Chile,” the Junta dissolved Congress and, among other measures, stopped evictions from low-rental properties, decreed a three-day bank holiday, and ordered the “Caja de Crédito Popular” to return clothes and tools which had been pawned there.
The new Junta ordered a half-million free meals served daily by the Government to Chile's unemployed. State pawnshops had to obey an order to return, free of any charge, sewing machines and all tools pawned by the "certified unemployed." After only a few days in office the Government began to run short of funds, so it ordered the police to raid all the jewelry shops in Santiago, seizing valuables from helpless jewelers. To avoid what it could be termed as a "confiscation", the police gave each jeweler "compensation" in the form of a receipt which they could cash in paper pesos. Credits and deposits in foreign currency in the national and foreign banks operating in Chile were declared the property of the State. They also pardoned all the people involved in the Sailors' mutiny. A General Commissariat of Subsistence and Prices was also established with the authority to fix the price of staple foods.
The division of public opinion was also present inside the Government Junta, where 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 Marmaduque Grove were arrested and exiled to Easter Island. Some authors consider this date as the true end of the socialist republic.
Define $ar = align:center
Define $sr = shift: align:left
Define $sl = shift: align:right
Define $fs = fontsize: 7
Define $end = 24/12/1938
Define $ini = 01/01/1924
- Do not use legends with the same beginning like "President" and "President_elected"
id:juntagove value:rgb
id:president value:rgb
id:interimpr value:green
id:coupdetat value:red
id:liteline value:gray
id:line value:rgb
id:bg value:white
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
ImageSize = width:500 height:130
Period = from:$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: color:black width:0.5
points: color:black width:0.5
points: color:black width:0.5
points: 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" $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" align:right shift: $fs
bar:0053 from:26/07/1931 till:27/07/1931 color:interimpr text:"Pedro Opazo" $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" $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:"Carlos Dávila" $sr $fs
bar:0058 from:13/09/1932 till:02/10/1932 color:interimpr text:"Bartolomé Blanche" $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:"Arturo Alessandri" align:right shift: $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 Bartolomé Blanche, 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.