Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0078/00789.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 27KB | 446 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00789}
$Pretitle{277}
$Title{Chile
Chapter 1B.   Parliamentary Government, 1891-1919}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Andrea T. Merill}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{government
congress
president
ibanez
political
alessandri
constitution
labor
military
power}
$Date{1983}
$Log{}
Country:     Chile
Book:        Chile, A Country Study
Author:      Andrea T. Merill
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1983

Chapter 1B.   Parliamentary Government, 1891-1919

     Chile's transportation and communication routes had expanded from the
middle of the nineteenth century onward. A nitrate boom after the War of the
Pacific provided renewed impetus for this modernization of Chile's
infrastructure. By the end of the nineteenth century, Chile had developed into
one of the leading economies of South America. British and North American
businessmen dominated that development, particularly in the northern mining
regions. Chile prospered from the nitrate boom until the development of
synthetic substitutes during World War I curbed demand. Railroads, telegraphs,
banks, and industries continued to expand. Whereas earlier transportation and
communication systems had mainly served to link Santiago to its port at
Valparaiso, they now extended north and south to deliver minerals to the ports
for export.

     But the accompanying upheaval in politics, exacerbated by Chile's first
general strike in the northern mining area, and the pressure of incipient
organized labor pressure for legislative concessions caused many to worry
about the stability of Chile's economic and political systems, earned at great
cost and effort earlier in the century. Resentment against strong presidents
had been building for decades. In 1890 it exploded over the annual budget
request the president was required by the constitution to submit to the
National Congress. Congress refused to approve President Jose Manuel
Balmaceda's request. Previously, Congress had used the authorization procedure
to elicit some concessions from a president. In this instance, however,
Balmaceda asserted that he would continue to draw revenues and spend money at
the rate of the previous year's appropriation. He declared it his
constitutional right to do so. Of course Congress objected. The unusual aspect
of its objection was that it attempted with the support of the navy to seize
nitrate export tax revenues, while the army joined the president to defend his
government.

     Although the relative powers of the executive and the legislature were
surely at issue at this time, some historians, particularly Luis Galdames,
believe that the revolt of Congress may have been aimed largely at recapturing
power for provinces and municipalities lost to an expanding central government
under aggressive presidents. Congress had obtained considerable power under
the 1833 constitution, but presidents had retained dominant control over
elections to Congress, the appointment of succeeding presidents, and complete
power to appoint public officials, including judges and officers of the armed
forces. Despite the constitutional and budgetary issues at stake during the
1890 Congress, their revolution, at least in part, sought to weaken the
president's great powers of patronage and to reduce the president's control
over provinces and municipalities. Balmaceda was eventually defeated in this
skirmish with Congress; proud and defiant to the end, he shot himself the day
after his term expired. Congress remained the dominant power in Chilean
politics until a new constitution in 1925 reestablished the strong executive
power of the president.

     Chile's laboring classes began to organize between 1890 and 1920. Their
discontent was evident in sporadic strikes and street violence. During
Balmaceda's term (1886-91), Santiago was hit with a wave of protests and
strikes. The nitrate workers in the north were in the forefront of early labor
agitation, and they were soon joined by dockworkers serving the nitrate ports.
During the 1890-91 political crisis, a general strike of dockworkers at
Iquique was joined by other workers in the area. Chile's first general strike
was settled peacefully and partially to the workers' satisfaction, but with
troops present. In 1907, however, government troops massacred workers at
Iquique, and there were similar incidents at Puerto Nogales in 1919 and at
Magallanes in 1920. In 1909 the first Chilean workers' federation was founded
by railroad workers; it was joined later by other transport workers and
mineral workers. Minor labor legislation was passed during this period, but it
took several decades for an advanced labor code to be developed.

     In the midst of political upheaval and labor agitation, Chile's army was
revamped under the direction of a Prussian lieutenant colonel hired in 1885 to
train the Chilean officer corps at the national Military School. The number of
men enrolled in the military increased, and modern equipment was purchased
(see Position in Government and Society, ch. 5). Although they remained
nationalistic, they objected to congressional budget deliberations that
resulted in delays of their salary payments.

The Beginning of the Modern Era, 1920-32

Arturo Alessandri, 1920-25

     Accelerated modernization of communications and transport, rapid
urbanization, significant expansion of industrial labor forces, an economic
boom and bust associated with World War I, and continuing
congressional-presidential disputes set the stage for a populist candidate
who, having defeated the political bosses of the north, rode his fame as the
Lion of Tarapaca to the presidency. The Liberal alliance that elected this
man, Arturo Alessandri Palma, represented the middle and lower classes. After
a bitterly fought campaign, Alessandri received 179 electoral votes and his
Conservative opponent 174. Congress then appointed a "tribunal of honor" to
pass on the validity of the election and declare a winner. By a majority of
one vote this commission awarded the victory to Alessandri. Although as a
senator he had advocated congressional power, as president he advocated
executive power. During his term, the 1925 constitution was adopted, which
restored the strong executive power of the president. It guided Chilean
politics until the military coup in 1973.

     Alessandri's troubles began as soon as he took office in December 1920.
In the face of hostility from Conservatives in Congress, he was at first
unable to obtain the passage of most of the reform legislation he had
promised. Congress passed a law for compulsory public education but balked at
creating a national bank, imposing an income tax, or enacting protections for
labor. Alessandri tried to appease Congress by changing cabinet ministers
frequently, but Congress continued to delay action on his reform proposals.

     In 1924 Congress took up a bill to grant itself pay, an action that
contravened the 1833 constitution. Some junior army officers attended that
session and rattled their sabers in protest; the bill was withdrawn. A process
of negotiation with the officers produced immediate passage of Alessandri's
reform package. Nevertheless, because the legislation was passed under
military duress, Alessandri resigned and Congress, while refusing to accept
his resignation, granted him a six-month leave of absence. He left for
Argentina, and a military junta dissolved Congress, appointed a new cabinet,
and decreed new laws, many of which were designed to favor the laboring class
and to improve social conditions in general.

     The assumption of political power by the military in 1924 was significant
in a country that had been governed almost entirely by civilians for the
better part of a century. The armed forces had participated in the civil wars
of 1851 and 1891 but had not taken over the government. Between 1924 and 1932
the military played the role, unusual in Chile, of creating and overturning
governments.

     In January 1925 the junta that had assumed power when Alessandr