The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-08-15
By ALBERT MOREAU

president Carlos Ibanez of Chile, one of the
most hated dictators of Latin America, was
forced out of the Presidential palace on July 2s
His forced resignation and subsequent escape
to Argentine primarily the result of the mass
pressure of the Chilean people who have bled
since 1927 through the most barbarous methods
of repression against them Thanks to Ibanez
Yankee Imperialism has almost doubled its in
vestments since 1927 Ever since his coup detat
that assembled him to power this representative
of the Chilean bourgeoisie has served the in
terests of Yankee exploiters.
The staple product of Chile, nitrates, has suf-
fered serious setback since the Guggenheirns
assumed control of the mines In contrast to
the gigantic development of the nitrogen pro-
duction, agriculture conserves it's most print
tive methods. In spite of the country being the
foremost in South America in the production of
metals such as iron, ore, nitrates, ETC., Chile is
basically an agrarian country. Serni-feudal re-
lations still remain in the village The agrarian
crisis that has hit SO severely the Latin Amer
lean countries for many years, has been consid-
erably aggravated by the economic crisis of cap
italiSn particularly by the economic crisis in the
United States.
The control of the nitrates by Guggenhem
was conditioned and preceded by a steady fl
nancial control of the government loans and
a series of network of municipal loans extended
throughout the country. The penetration of
American Imperialism at the expanse of the
British, neceSsitated a complete guarantee to
Wall Street bankers in the form of subduing
the revolutionary struggle Of the workers and
launching of heavy repression against the re-
evolutionary trade unions and the Communist
Party. Ibanez was the chosen strong man to
do the job for the United States inperialists.
The Chilean bourgeoise under Ibanez built a
strong army of mercenaries police force with
high salaried officers. After temporary sue /.
cessful crushing Of the militant working class
organizations, the cold blooded street assassina-
tons of the most valiant leaders and the hun
dreds of deportations and exile to the dreadful
Islands Mas Afuera Ibanez proceeded to install
fascist Labor Code whereby all workers were
compelled to receive their working card from
the government labor agencies
But all these repressive measures could only
dlsslpate the class struggle for while. Mono
poly imperialism cannot give solution to the cap
italistic contradictions In the attempt to solve
the crisis of nitrates in Chile, the Guggenheims
have performed the greatest merger ever known
in Latin America This merger is known as the
Cosach. More than $375 900 of the nitrates
were recently merged under the leadership of
the Guggenheims The company has a total
dSScO VI "A lew weeks alUer Jne
conclusion of the Cosach, this merger meant
deep slash into the national revenue of the
government Until then, the Chilean govern
nent received more than $30ooo,Ooo year from
the export tax the nitrates. The Cosach
makes the Chilean government partner" with
the result that the return from this partner.
ship" reduced the government revenue to $21,-
100000 for the first year.
The government is unable now to pay the in
terests on the loans owed to American and
British bankers The darkest picture OF the
situation in Chile is given to us by the robber
Ramirez, president of the Cosach. He saw the
present collapse of Chile in April when he said:
Few persons seems to have fully realized
the fact that, unless the Chilean nitrate in
dustry is radically reorganized, it will neces-
sarily cease to exist at not far distant date
and that, as a consequence, $4,000 men will
be thrown out of work, our fiscal revenues will
drop 1SO,000,00o pesos, our exports will fall off
800000,000 pesos, our fiscal assets will suffer
to the amount of 3,oooOoOy0O0 pesos repre-
sented by the nitrate reserves, and two inn
portant provinces of the country will be trans
formed into a desert"
What did the fascist government Of Chile do
in order to avert the catastrophep 1t has in
PRODUCED wage cut UP to 25% for the minor