In the mining emporium of that time and together with a couple of dozen workers in the nitrate sector and other local employees, Recabarren formed the Socialist Workers’ Party.
This organization modified its statutes during a congress held on January 2, 1922 in the city of Rancagua, currently the capital of the O’Higgins Region, and was officially renamed the Communist Party of Chile.
Throughout more than a century of history, the CCP went through various stages, from its first arrival in government positions during the administration of Gabriel González Videla, from 1946 to 1947, to the fierce persecution when he himself outlawed it a year later. .
The former ally proclaimed in September of that year, under pressure from the United States and the Chilean mining oligarchy, the Law for the Permanent Defense of Democracy, popularly known here as the “cursed law,” which forced the militants to go underground.
The great test for the Communist Party was, however, the military dictatorship after the coup d’état of September 11, 1973 against the Popular Unity government of President Salvador Allende.
As a result of the repression, the CCP lost many of its members, including three entire national leaderships, and yet remained at the forefront of the resistance and combat against the regime of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
In fact, one of the traditions of the Party, the Festival of Hugs, has its origins in this time when the militants, due to the fulfillment of a mission or by chance, met and gave each other a big hug as a sign of joy at knowing each other. alive.
It is currently the political group with the largest number of members in Chile and is part of the Government coalition, where it has three Ministers of State in the portfolios of Labor, Education and the General Secretariat of the Executive.
It also has representatives in the National Congress, including the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Karol Cariola, as well as numerous mayors and members of municipal governments.
The 112th anniversary of the creation of the Communist Party of Chile will be remembered this Tuesday with an event at the headquarters of the Unitary Workers’ Central.
Santiago de Chile, June 5, 2024
Digital Chronicle/PL
