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| Socialist Workers' Party (Chile) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Socialist Workers' Party (Chile) |
| Native name | Partido Obrero Socialista (Chile) |
| Founded | 2010s |
| Headquarters | Santiago, Valparaíso |
| Position | Far-left |
| International | Trotskyist Fourth International currents |
| Colors | Red, black |
| Country | Chile |
Socialist Workers' Party (Chile) is a far-left political organization in Chile associated with Trotskyist currents and extra-parliamentary activism. It emerged from splits in leftist groups active during the post-Pinochet period and has engaged in student movements, labor strikes, and municipal campaigns. The party has contested local and national elections while maintaining ties to international socialist networks and union federations.
The party traces roots to cadre from the student mobilizations of 2011, activists from the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, and militants expelled from the Partido Comunista de Chile and the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria in the late 2000s. Early organizing took place in neighborhoods of Santiago de Chile, Valparaíso Region, and Concepción, Chile, overlapping with protests around the Chilean education protests and demonstrations against policies of the administrations of Michelle Bachelet and Sebastián Piñera. It formally registered as a political grouping with municipal lists and joined coalitions with the Frente Amplio and splinter groups from the Partido Socialista de Chile in several local elections. The party's development paralleled transnational debates among factions linked to the Fourth International and involved exchanges with delegates from the Socialist Worker (UK) milieu and Latin American Trotskyist formations such as the Movimiento al Socialismo (Bolivia) and the Partido Obrero (Argentina).
The party advances a Trotskyist program influenced by theorists like Leon Trotsky and activists associated with the Fourth International (post-reunification), advocating for workers’ control of industry, nationalization with workers’ management, and revolutionary socialism. It opposes neoliberal policies associated with the Chicago Boys era and criticizes the Constitution of Chile inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship. On international affairs it has condemned interventions by the United States and expressed solidarity with movements in Venezuela, Cuba, and the Bolivarian Revolution, while also criticizing bureaucratic conservatism in the Communist Party of China and the leadership of the Cuban Communist Party. The party supports autonomous indigenous rights linked to the Mapuche conflict and advocates for women’s demands raised by the NiUnaMenos movement and labor protections advanced by sectoral unions like the Asociación Nacional de Empleados Fiscales.
Organizationally the party is built around local committees in municipal districts such as La Florida, Chile and Providencia, Chile, a national council, and specialized commissions for labor, student outreach, and electoral strategy. It maintains formal relations with trade unions including factions within the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores and youth wings rooted in the Universidad de Chile and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Internal debates have referenced documents from the Trotskyist Fraction and resolutions from conferences of the Fourth International (FI); the party practices democratic centralism in its internal statutes and publishes periodicals distributed in venues like Plaza Baquedano and during rallies at La Moneda Palace and the National Congress of Chile precincts.
Electoral interventions have been strongest at municipal and regional levels, with candidates competing in mayoral and council races in Santiago Province and Valparaíso; results have been modest, often below thresholds for district representation but notable in particular communes. The party has fielded lists for deputies in districts encompassing Ñuñoa and Maipú and ran campaign coalitions during elections contested by the Concertación and Nueva Mayoría eras. In national plebiscites, the party campaigned for a constituent process to replace the 1980 Constitution and supported protest-oriented referendum initiatives during periods of social unrest such as the 2019–2020 Chilean protests.
Prominent militants have included student leaders from the Confederación de Estudiantes Secundarios and union organizers formerly active in Codelco and the Metro de Santiago workers’ struggles. Leadership personalities have engaged in debates with figures from the Partido Humanista (Chile), Izquierda Autónoma, and critics from the Partido Comunista de Chile (Proletarian Action). The party has attracted activists who later joined international brigades to Cuba and Venezuela and who have been interlocutors with scholars at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and the Universidad de Santiago de Chile.
The party has formed electoral and protest alliances with the Frente Amplio (Chile), sections of the Partido Socialista de Chile, and neighborhood assemblies influenced by the Movimiento de Pobladores. It has maintained critical solidarity with international Trotskyist organisms including sections of the Fourth International and has liaised with the Socialist Appeal network in the United Kingdom and sections of the Socialist Workers Party (Argentina). Tensions have arisen with the Communist Party of Chile and centrist factions within the Concertación over tactics and participation in coalition governments.
Controversies include disputes over union endorsements involving the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores and confrontations with police forces such as the Carabineros de Chile during street demonstrations in Plaza Italia. Legal challenges have concerned registration of electoral lists, accusations of irregular financing during municipal campaigns, and injunctions related to occupation of public space in protests near La Moneda Palace. Internal splits produced breakaway groups that contested the party’s name and publications in administrative tribunals and engaged in public disputes with activists from the Partido Comunista (Reconstituted) and the Movimiento Autonomista.
Category:Political parties in Chile Category:Trotskyist parties Category:Far-left politics in Chile