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Revolution from below in Panguipulli: Agrarian reform and political conflict under the Popular Unity in Chile
Author(s) -
RoblesOrtiz Claudio
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of agrarian change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.63
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1471-0366
pISSN - 1471-0358
DOI - 10.1111/joac.12241
Subject(s) - peasant , grassroots , agrarian reform , socialism , agrarian society , politics , political economy , government (linguistics) , political science , land reform , mobilization , sociology , agriculture , communism , law , geography , archaeology , linguistics , philosophy
This article examines the political conflict in rural society during the Popular Unity Government (1970–73) by focusing on the mobilization of forestry workers in Panguipulli, a district in southern Chile. Adopting land invasions as their main strategy in the struggle for land and power, Panguipulli workers experienced a radical politicization by aligning themselves with the Peasant Revolutionary Movement, the “peasant front” of the Revolutionary Left Movement. Because of its relation with this emerging “new left,” rural mobilization was a significant expression of the “revolution from below”, which challenged the Popular Unity's “Chilean road to socialism.” Moreover, because rural mobilization also took place in other areas throughout Chile where the Revolutionary Left Movement was influential, it gave rise to a grassroots project for radicalizing the government's agrarian reform. As a result, the rural “revolution from below” strongly influenced the content and trajectory of political conflict under the Popular Unity Government.