Socialist Republic of Chile
| Socialist Republic of Chile | ||||||||||
| República Socialista de Chile (Spanish) | ||||||||||
| Socialist republic, provisional government | ||||||||||
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Anthem Himno Nacional de Chile National Anthem of Chile |
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.svg) Location of the Socialist Republic of Chile in South America.
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| Capital | Santiago | |||||||||
| Languages | Spanish | |||||||||
| Government | Provisional government | |||||||||
| President | Government Junta | |||||||||
| Historical era | Great Depression | |||||||||
| • | Established | 4 June 1932 | ||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 13 September 1932 | ||||||||
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The Socialist Republic of Chile (Spanish: República Socialista de Chile) was a short-lived (June 4, 1932 – September 13, 1932) political entity in Chile, that was proclaimed by the Government Junta that took over that year.
President Juan Esteban Montero had assumed office on November 15, 1931. By mid-1932, he was already in serious problems, due to the economic impact of the market crash of 1929. To the very grave social and economic problems he faced, he could add the growing political instability that was gripping the country. He was pictured as an inefficient and unpopular leader, and the number of conspiracies that sought to displace him was growing by the day.
On June 4, 1932, a group of young socialists under the leadership of Eugenio Matte; some air force personnel under colonel Marmaduke Grove; and some army personnel (followers of former president Carlos Ibáñez del Campo) under Carlos Dávila staged a coup d'état by taking over the Air Force base of El Bosque, in Santiago, demanding the resignation of President Montero.
Montero refused to call on the army to put down the coup, and instead chose to resign. That same night, the victorious revolutionaries organized a Government Junta composed of retired General Arturo Puga, Eugenio Matte and Carlos Davila, with colonel Grove as their minister of Defense. They immediately proceeded to proclaim the Socialist Republic of Chile.
The proclamation took by surprise and divided public opinion immediately. The Communist Party of Chile (PCCh) and the trade unions manifested their opposition, because they considered the coup as "militarist". At the same time, businessmen, professionals and students of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile also heatedly opposed it, also on ideological grounds. At the end the new republic received only the guarded support of the socialists and the employees' associations.
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