Cordón Industrial
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Cordón Industrial (or in plural Cordones industriales; English: Industrial Belts) is an organ of popular power or of workers democracy. Cordones were established in Chile by the working class during the Salvador Allende Popular Unity government (1970-1973).
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[edit] Historical context
These organs were established by the independent activity of working class people; their formation were extended and their creation-pace accelerated in response to sabotage and strikes organized by Employers Unions and the Capitalist class that aimed to destabilize the Salvador Allende democratically elected socialist government and derail the implementation of a socialist programme.
[edit] Structure
Each Cordón was a group of factories and companies, which coordinated the tasks of workers in the same zone. By the time the Salvador Allende government was overthrown on September 11, 1973 military coup 31 cordones had been established and were operational. Of the 31 cordones 8 of them were within the Chilean capital of Santiago.
[edit] Cordones and the State
The independent nature of these organs of poder popular from the bureaucracies of the official trade union body (C.U.T.), the state (parliament and congress) and the leadership of the parties forming the governing Popular Unity coalition (viz. PS, PCCh, etc.) created a complex situations for those attempting to implement socialism within the framework of existing bourgois democratic institutions. Some political organisations such as the MIR (which was not part of the popular unity coalition) and the marxist-leninist faction of MAPU saw these organs of popular power as embryonic social organs for a new more democratic form of (worker) state.
