e THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS AND THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLITIZATION
OF THE WORKERS
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL Chile
The last municipal elections of April 3rd, 1960, have shown an increase in the votes for the Socialist and Communist Parties, as compared with the municipal elections electoral a probe decorat sac cannot present themselves as vas expressly aimed at preventing the FRAP in orde o weaken the chances of the workers' parties in this last election and in the next one.
The total number of votes of the parties which constitute the FR A P amount to about 280,000. The Liberals and Conservatives won approximately 300,000 votes; the Radicals 283,00, and the Christian Democrats 224,000. That means that, with the exception of the Radicals, whose votes were raised by nearly 90,000, all the other parties obtained less votes than in the last presidential election
The Partido Obrero Revolucionario Trotskista (Revolu-
Workers' Party) has given its support to the Socialist Party, and has organized a campaign to put up FRAP candidates only, without bothering about the reactionary election regulations. It can be done by supthe Communist or Socialist parties, and by presenting them as FR A P candidates.
This position was widely accepted by the rank and file of both parties, but rejected by its leadership.
The Partido Obrero Revolucionario gave its support to the Socialist Party because it is more to the left of the communist farty; and in some places, for instance, Concepción, the POR and the Socialist Party worked dynamically together in a broad front. This brought about great and fraternity among the militants of both paries. The PO R-supported candidates emphasized at meet ings and in radio speeches the co-operation and support of the Trotskyists.
It is essential to say, in addition, that the 230,000 votes of the Communist and Socialist Parties are as significant as the 365,000 obtained by Allende. number of votes which the Communist and Socialist Parties ever received as separate parties.
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The votes for the Socialist and Communist Parties show the elevation and maturation of the political consciousness of a vast sector of the working class and the masses. Here we have a vanguard which has reached one of the highest political and revolutionary levels in Latin America - a level which is expressed in the existence and the strengthening of the Workers' Front in the form of the FRAP and CUT (Central Unica de Trabaiadores Chilean Trade Union Central); in the resolutions of the last National Congress of the Socialist Party; great degree of receptiveness of the workers' wards Trotskyist positions and policies.
It must be stated too, that the FRA P. and the workers' parties are handicapped by the reactionary electoral system: that is to say, qualified vote and voluntary registration — which eliminated more than one million voters from the electoral registers: voters who belong to the poor and exploited layers of the population. And now, in addition, the workers' parties are also handicapped by the ban on electoral alliances.
As a whole, the petty-bourgeoisie voted almost exclusively for the Radicals and the Christian Democrats. The Christian Democrats are in opposition to the reactionary government of Alessandri; and the Radicals, at the last minute, adopted a demagogical line of opposition to the governmental policy of a wage and salary freeze. But time, the petty-bourgeoisie has a combative attitude in the social field. So their vote for the bourgeois the. FRAP in these circles, owing to the lack anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist policy of the workers' leaderships.
In conclusion, we can say that the municipal elections have expressed the continuation of the process of polarization of the social forces. They show that the vanguard of the masses, organized and concentrated around the workers' parties, is sufficiently strong and conscious to push ahead in the fight for a workers solution of the crisis of the country, with a FRAP-CUT Government as its goal.