From Chile to Grenada, Socialism Is What Capitalists Are Really Afraid Of
The history of socialist politics in the Global South shows that all capitalists want a government that will govern unapologetically in their interests — and would prefer the intervention of foreign powers than democracy and socialism at home.
Salvador Allende. (Portada Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile via Wikimedia Commons)
Today, we too often study Salvador Allende’s government nostalgically, as a tale of heroic struggle and martyrdom. But Allende shouldn’t be remembered as someone who believed in a vague progressive future — we should remember him and the millions around him as those who sacrificed for socialism.
Taking up the mantle of socialism today means learning from our history and plotting routes to not just tame but overcome capitalism.
I live and organize in the United States, but my family is from the English-speaking Caribbean. And for our part of the Americas, the most significant attempt at socialist construction came out of the tiny island of Grenada, which saw a popular revolution against a brutal dictatorship in March 1979.
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