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On Chile
Speeches and interviews from Fidel Castro's 25-day visit to Chile in 1971. Castro warns of impending counter-revolution and stresses the example of Cuba, where workers and farmers mobilized to defeat imperialist intervention.
158 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1982
34 people want to read
About the author
Fidel Castro
511 books286 followersCuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro overthrew the regime of Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar in 1959, established a Communist state, served as prime minister until 1976 and then as president of the government and first secretary of the party, in declining health passed control de facto in 2006 to Raúl Castro, his younger brother, and officially retired in 2008.
Fidel Castro led a revolutionary movement that overthrew corrupt authoritarian regime of Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar on New Year's Day, 1 January 1959.
Raúl Castro assisted Fidel Castro, his brother, in overthrowing the regime of Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar in 1959.
United States in an attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro trained a force of 1,500 guerrilla troops, who landed at Bay of Pigs, the site, in an ill-fated invasion on 17 April 1961.
Castro, the illegitimate son of a wealthy farmer, adopted leftist anti-imperialist politics and meanwhile studied law at the University of Havana. He participated in rebellions against right wing in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, afterward failed in an attack on the barracks of Moncada, planned against the military junta, which the United States of America backed, and served imprisonment for a year in 1953. On release, he went to Mexico, formed the movement of 26 July as a group with Ernesto Guevara, his friend and doctor.
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, a politician, also served as the commander in chief of the armed forces. This politically Marxist-Leninist administered the socialist republic. People nationalized industry and businesses and implemented socialist reforms in all parts of society. Castro returned, ousted rivals in 1959, and brought his own assumption of military and political power.
Credentials of Castro and cordial relations with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics alarmed the Administrations of Dwight David Eisenhower and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who unsuccessfully attempted economic blockade, assassination, and even the invasion at Bay of Pigs of 1961 to remove him. In 1961, Castro proclaimed the socialist nature of his administration under rule of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. The press and suppression of internal dissent accompanied socialist reforms that introduced central economic planning and expanded care and education.
Castro countered these threats, formed an economic and military alliance with the Soviets, allowed them to place nuclear weapons on the island, and thus sparked sparking the missile crisis in 1962.
Internationally, Castro also served as general of the nonaligned movement from 1979 to 1983.
Abroad, Castro supported foreign groups in the expectation of toppling world capitalism, sent troops to fight in the wars of Yom Kippur, Ogaden, and Angola.
Following the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991, Castro went into economic "special period" and afterward forged alliances in the Latin American pink tide, namely with Venezuela of Hugo Chávez, and joined the Bolivarian alliance in 2006.
Due to failing, Castro in 2006 transferred his responsibilities to his vice, who assumed in 2008.
Supporters lauded Castro, a controversial and divisive world figure, as a champion of socialism, humanitarianism, and environmentalism against imperialism; critics viewed him as a dictator, who oversaw multiple rights abuses, an exodus of more than a million persons, and the impoverishment of the economy of the country. Through actions and writings, he significantly influenced the politics of various individuals and groups across the world.
Fidel Castro led a revolutionary movement that overthrew corrupt authoritarian regime of Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar on New Year's Day, 1 January 1959.
Raúl Castro assisted Fidel Castro, his brother, in overthrowing the regime of Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar in 1959.
United States in an attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro trained a force of 1,500 guerrilla troops, who landed at Bay of Pigs, the site, in an ill-fated invasion on 17 April 1961.
Castro, the illegitimate son of a wealthy farmer, adopted leftist anti-imperialist politics and meanwhile studied law at the University of Havana. He participated in rebellions against right wing in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, afterward failed in an attack on the barracks of Moncada, planned against the military junta, which the United States of America backed, and served imprisonment for a year in 1953. On release, he went to Mexico, formed the movement of 26 July as a group with Ernesto Guevara, his friend and doctor.
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, a politician, also served as the commander in chief of the armed forces. This politically Marxist-Leninist administered the socialist republic. People nationalized industry and businesses and implemented socialist reforms in all parts of society. Castro returned, ousted rivals in 1959, and brought his own assumption of military and political power.
Credentials of Castro and cordial relations with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics alarmed the Administrations of Dwight David Eisenhower and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who unsuccessfully attempted economic blockade, assassination, and even the invasion at Bay of Pigs of 1961 to remove him. In 1961, Castro proclaimed the socialist nature of his administration under rule of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. The press and suppression of internal dissent accompanied socialist reforms that introduced central economic planning and expanded care and education.
Castro countered these threats, formed an economic and military alliance with the Soviets, allowed them to place nuclear weapons on the island, and thus sparked sparking the missile crisis in 1962.
Internationally, Castro also served as general of the nonaligned movement from 1979 to 1983.
Abroad, Castro supported foreign groups in the expectation of toppling world capitalism, sent troops to fight in the wars of Yom Kippur, Ogaden, and Angola.
Following the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991, Castro went into economic "special period" and afterward forged alliances in the Latin American pink tide, namely with Venezuela of Hugo Chávez, and joined the Bolivarian alliance in 2006.
Due to failing, Castro in 2006 transferred his responsibilities to his vice, who assumed in 2008.
Supporters lauded Castro, a controversial and divisive world figure, as a champion of socialism, humanitarianism, and environmentalism against imperialism; critics viewed him as a dictator, who oversaw multiple rights abuses, an exodus of more than a million persons, and the impoverishment of the economy of the country. Through actions and writings, he significantly influenced the politics of various individuals and groups across the world.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 31, 2025
"The Other 9/11" (The September 11, 1973, US sponsored coup in Chile)
The victory of Allende in the fall of 1970 led to real, immediate gains for the working class of Chile. Coming out of the Trotskyist tradition (which the Socialist Workers Party never "renounced," all the claims notwithstanding), at the time we put too much emphasis on the popular front element in Chile, which certainly represented part of the problem, but shouldn't have been our main emphasis. Some of our writings at the time (which can be found in the 'Militant' and Intercontinental Press' on the 'Militant' website were sectarian toward Cuba and toward the MIR (Movement of the Revolutionary Left) which worked both inside and outside the Socialist Party, as well as providing bodyguards for Salvador Allende.
Fidel Castro was clear from the beginning that the victory of the Popular Unity coalition didn't represent the triumph of a revolution, but that it initiated a revolutionary process. He never suggested that the rulers of Chile (and especially of the United States) would simply give us power peacefully, but that didn't dictate what tactics were used.
Fidel visited Chile for a long trip, starting about a year after their initial electoral victory. This selection of the preface to the book by SWP National Committee member Elizabeth Stone outlines the Cuban approach to the situation, which was critical, but not so critical as to make it impossible to be seen as part of the unfolding movement in Chile:
"Cuba responded to the events in Chile in the following ways: 1) by solidarizing with Chile as a country that was charting a foreign policy independent of Yankee imperialism and taking its natural resources out of the hands of the imperialists; 2) by defending the Popular Unity government in the face of a concerted drive by imperialism and Chilean reaction to overthrow it; and 3) by attempting to bolster the positions of those in Chile who were trying to mobilize the masses to defeat the right-wing forces and to make a revolution, and to influence the broadest possible layer in the UP and Chilean labor movement along these lines.
"The Cubans jumped to the defense of Chile as soon as the U.S. attacks began, even before Allende became president. They sought to expose what the U.S. was doing and viewed the election itself as a victory against this. Granma [the daily published by the Communist Party of Cuba] carried a banner headline, "Anti-imperialist Victory in Chile."
"The Cubans recognized that one of the reasons for Washington's fury against Allende was his well-known support for the Cuban revolution. Allende was a friend of Che [Guevara] and Fidel [Castro] and he frequently spoke in support of Cuba in his speeches. More important, Chile's extension of diplomatic and trade relations to Cuba was the first big breakthrough against Washington's policy of isolating Cuba in Latin America. A year later come the invitation to Castro to come as an official guest of the UP government. This was the first time that Castro was able to visit another Latin American country in eleven years. During his three-and-a-half-week trip, Castro was greeted by hundred of thousands of Chileans. He spoke to large rallies of workers, peasants, and students.
"The Cubans and Castro identified themselves with the UP government and the anti-imperialist measures. At the same time, however, Castro's political line for Chile, and his projection of what the workers needed to do to carry the struggle forward, was in opposition to the line of the UP leadership. This is shown clearly in the speeches he gave while he was in Chile."
In speech after speech, Fidel explained why he didn't think the working class could win using their current methods. But as a guest in the country, he had to word his speeches somewhat diplomatically. He also didn't want to make it appear that the Cuban revolutionaries had all the answers. They had a correct approach--to expand the mass movement.
Just a few days after Allende was killed, at a rally in Havana, Castro explained how Allende had refused the army’s offer of a safe plane ride out of the country and instead had taken the rifle Fidel gave him and led a group of supporters in a desperate battle to defend the Presidential Palace from the army. Castro praised Allende as a hero and a “fighter for socialism,” and then went on to give his own view of how the coup could have been prevented:
“But, what can you expect of fascists? They’ve even made a big thing of the rifle Allende fought with, the automatic we had given him, using it for their despicable ridiculous propaganda. But the facts have shown that there could have been no present for President Allende other than that automatic, used in defending the People’s Unity Government! (Applause)
“We were right in our premonition in giving the President that rifle. Never before has any rifle been taken up in the hands of so heroic a constitutional and legitimate president of his people! (Applause) Never has a rifle better defended the cause of the poor, the cause of the Chilean workers and farmers! (Applause) And, if every worker and every farmer had had a rifle like it in his hands, there wouldn’t have been any fascist coup!" (Applause and shouts of “Fidel, For Sure, Hit the Yankees Hard!
Also read suggest The First and Second Declarations of Havana, and To Speak the Truth: Why Washington's 'cold War' Against Cuba Doesn't End. Visit pathfinderpress.com for more,
The victory of Allende in the fall of 1970 led to real, immediate gains for the working class of Chile. Coming out of the Trotskyist tradition (which the Socialist Workers Party never "renounced," all the claims notwithstanding), at the time we put too much emphasis on the popular front element in Chile, which certainly represented part of the problem, but shouldn't have been our main emphasis. Some of our writings at the time (which can be found in the 'Militant' and Intercontinental Press' on the 'Militant' website were sectarian toward Cuba and toward the MIR (Movement of the Revolutionary Left) which worked both inside and outside the Socialist Party, as well as providing bodyguards for Salvador Allende.
Fidel Castro was clear from the beginning that the victory of the Popular Unity coalition didn't represent the triumph of a revolution, but that it initiated a revolutionary process. He never suggested that the rulers of Chile (and especially of the United States) would simply give us power peacefully, but that didn't dictate what tactics were used.
Fidel visited Chile for a long trip, starting about a year after their initial electoral victory. This selection of the preface to the book by SWP National Committee member Elizabeth Stone outlines the Cuban approach to the situation, which was critical, but not so critical as to make it impossible to be seen as part of the unfolding movement in Chile:
"Cuba responded to the events in Chile in the following ways: 1) by solidarizing with Chile as a country that was charting a foreign policy independent of Yankee imperialism and taking its natural resources out of the hands of the imperialists; 2) by defending the Popular Unity government in the face of a concerted drive by imperialism and Chilean reaction to overthrow it; and 3) by attempting to bolster the positions of those in Chile who were trying to mobilize the masses to defeat the right-wing forces and to make a revolution, and to influence the broadest possible layer in the UP and Chilean labor movement along these lines.
"The Cubans jumped to the defense of Chile as soon as the U.S. attacks began, even before Allende became president. They sought to expose what the U.S. was doing and viewed the election itself as a victory against this. Granma [the daily published by the Communist Party of Cuba] carried a banner headline, "Anti-imperialist Victory in Chile."
"The Cubans recognized that one of the reasons for Washington's fury against Allende was his well-known support for the Cuban revolution. Allende was a friend of Che [Guevara] and Fidel [Castro] and he frequently spoke in support of Cuba in his speeches. More important, Chile's extension of diplomatic and trade relations to Cuba was the first big breakthrough against Washington's policy of isolating Cuba in Latin America. A year later come the invitation to Castro to come as an official guest of the UP government. This was the first time that Castro was able to visit another Latin American country in eleven years. During his three-and-a-half-week trip, Castro was greeted by hundred of thousands of Chileans. He spoke to large rallies of workers, peasants, and students.
"The Cubans and Castro identified themselves with the UP government and the anti-imperialist measures. At the same time, however, Castro's political line for Chile, and his projection of what the workers needed to do to carry the struggle forward, was in opposition to the line of the UP leadership. This is shown clearly in the speeches he gave while he was in Chile."
In speech after speech, Fidel explained why he didn't think the working class could win using their current methods. But as a guest in the country, he had to word his speeches somewhat diplomatically. He also didn't want to make it appear that the Cuban revolutionaries had all the answers. They had a correct approach--to expand the mass movement.
Just a few days after Allende was killed, at a rally in Havana, Castro explained how Allende had refused the army’s offer of a safe plane ride out of the country and instead had taken the rifle Fidel gave him and led a group of supporters in a desperate battle to defend the Presidential Palace from the army. Castro praised Allende as a hero and a “fighter for socialism,” and then went on to give his own view of how the coup could have been prevented:
“But, what can you expect of fascists? They’ve even made a big thing of the rifle Allende fought with, the automatic we had given him, using it for their despicable ridiculous propaganda. But the facts have shown that there could have been no present for President Allende other than that automatic, used in defending the People’s Unity Government! (Applause)
“We were right in our premonition in giving the President that rifle. Never before has any rifle been taken up in the hands of so heroic a constitutional and legitimate president of his people! (Applause) Never has a rifle better defended the cause of the poor, the cause of the Chilean workers and farmers! (Applause) And, if every worker and every farmer had had a rifle like it in his hands, there wouldn’t have been any fascist coup!" (Applause and shouts of “Fidel, For Sure, Hit the Yankees Hard!
Also read suggest The First and Second Declarations of Havana, and To Speak the Truth: Why Washington's 'cold War' Against Cuba Doesn't End. Visit pathfinderpress.com for more,
Displaying 1 of 1 review