Communist Party of Chile Partido Comunista de Chile | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | PCCh |
| President | Lautaro Carmona Soto |
| Secretary-General | Bárbara Figueroa |
| Chief of Deputies | Boris Barrera |
| Founded | 4 June 1912; 113 years ago (1912-06-04) |
| Headquarters | Vicuña Mackenna 31 Santiago |
| Newspaper | El Siglo |
| Youth wing | Communist Youth of Chile |
| Membership(2025) | 45,083[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Left-wing[3] tofar-left[6] |
| National affiliation | Government Alliance (since 2022) Formerly:
|
| Regional affiliation | São Paulo Forum |
| International affiliation | |
| Colours | |
| Chamber of Deputies | 10 / 155 |
| Senate | 2 / 50 |
| Party flag | |
 | |
| Website | |
www | |
TheCommunist Party of Chile (Spanish:Partido Comunista de Chile,PCCh) is acommunist party inChile. It was founded in 1912 as theSocialist Workers' Party (Partido Obrero Socialista) and adopted its current name in 1922. The party established a youth wing, theCommunist Youth of Chile (Juventudes Comunistas de Chile, JJ.CC), in 1932.
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2022) |
The PCCh was founded on 4 June 1912 byLuis Emilio Recabarren, after he left theDemocrat Party.[8] The party was initially known as the Socialist Workers' Party, before adopting its current name on 2 January 1922.
It achieved congressional representation shortly thereafter and played a leading role in the development of the Chilean labor movement.
The party was founded as Chile began toindustrialize. In the 1920s, thenitrate industry was booming, and many of its workers were among the first communists. The movement then gained momentum within the coal, textile, and port unions.[9]
Closely tied to theSoviet Union and theThird International, the PCCh participated in thePopular Front (Frente Popular) government of 1938, growing rapidly among the unionized working class in the 1940s. It then participated to the Popular Front's successor, theDemocratic Alliance.
Concern over the PCCh's success at building a strong electoral base, combined with the onset of theCold War, led to its being outlawed in 1948 by aRadical government, a status it had to endure for almost a decade until 1958 when it was again legalized. By the 1960s, the party had become a veritable political subculture, with its own symbols and organizations and the support of prominent artists and intellectuals such asPablo Neruda, theNobel Prize-winning poet, andVioleta Parra, the songwriter and folk artist.[10]At the time, theU.S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 27,500.[11]
It later came to power along with theSocialist Party in theUnidad Popular ("Popular Unity") coalition in 1970. Within the broad Unidad Popular alliance, the communists sided with Allende, a relative moderate from the Socialist Party, and other more moderate forces of that coalition, supporting more gradual reforms and urging to find a compromise with the Christian Democrats. This line was opposed by more radically leftist factions of the Socialist Party and smaller far-left groups. The party was outlawed after the 1973coup d'état that deposedPresidentSalvador Allende. Much of the Communist leadership went underground, and for a while the party's moderation continued even after the coup had taken place. Also, it has been argued byMark Ensalaco that crushing the Communist Party was not a top priority for the military junta.[12] In its first statement after the coup, the party leadership still argued that the coup could succeed because the Unidad Popular was too isolated, due to actions of the 'far-left'. Around 1977, the party changed direction.[12] The Communist Party set up aguerrilla organization, theManuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front. With the restoration of democracy and the election of a new president in 1990, the Communist Party of Chile was legalized again.
As part of the Popular Unity coalition the PCCh advocated a broad alliance; however, it swung sharply to the left after the 1973 coup, regretting the failure to issue arms to the working class and pursuing an armed struggle against Pinochet's regime. Since the restoration of democracy it has acted independently of its previous partners. Between 1983 and 1987 it was a member of thePeople's Democratic Movement.
Under Pinochet's regime, around 500 of its members were murdered.[9]
In the 1999/2000 presidential elections, the party announcedGladys Marín as their presidential candidate, becoming Marin asthe first female candidate to contest the first round of a presidential election in Chile, alongsideSara Larraín. Marín won 3.2% of the vote in the first round.
At the2005 legislative election, 11 December 2005, the party won 5.1% of the popular vote, but as a result of Chile'sbinomial electoral rules, no seats. The small but significant support of the PCCh is believed to have aided in the electoral victories of former socialist presidentRicardo Lagos in the 2000 elections, and in the more recent victory of Chile's first female president, the socialistMichelle Bachelet in January 2006, both of whom won in competitive second round runoffs.
From 2013 to 2018, the PCCh was a member ofNew Majority (Spanish:Nueva Mayoría), a leftist coalition led byMichelle Bachelet.
The Communist Party of Chile is considered a moderate and reformist party compared to some other communist parties. It has never sought to overthrow the Chilean democratic system, nor has it supported insurrectionary movements, nor has it been entirely subordinate to the Soviet Union. It embodies "Chilean-style communism: institutional, orderly, and open to dialogue."[9]
The PCCh faced criticism from several parties in Chile after congratulating Venezuelan presidentNicolás Maduro onhis party's victory in the2020 parliamentary election. Prominent members of theParty for Democracy,Radical Party, andSocialist Party questioned the PCCh's praise of the election as "flawless", echoing criticisms from opposition parties in Venezuela that the election was neither free nor fair.[13] However, some of its leaders have also publicly condemned the human rights abuses that have taken place in Venezuela under the government of Nicolás Maduro.[14]
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| General Secretary | Period | President | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ramón Sepúlveda Leal | 1922–1924 | Non-existent position | |
| Luis A. González | ?–? | ||
| Galvarino Gil | ?–? | ||
| Maclovio Galdames | ?–? | ||
| José Santos Zavala | ?–? | ||
| Isaias Iriarte | ?–1929 | ||
| Carlos Contreras Labarca | 1931–1946 | ||
| Ricardo Fonseca | 1946–1948 | ||
| Oyarzun Galo González | 1948–1958 | ||
| Elías Lafertte | 1956–1961 | ||
| Luis Corvalán | 1958–1990 | ||
| Non-existent position | |||
| Volodia Teitelboim | 1990–1994 | ||
| Gladys Marín | 1994–2002 | ||
| Guillermo Teillier | 2002–2005 | Gladys Marín | 2002–2005 |
| Lautaro Carmona Soto | 2005–2023 | Guillermo Teillier | 2005–2023 |
| Bárbara Figueroa | 2023–present | Lautaro Carmona Soto | 2023–present |
| Election | Votes | % | Chamber seats | Votes | % | Senate seats | Political position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1918 | 1,548 | 0.64% | 0 / 118 | Extra-parliamentary | |||
| 1921 | 4,814 | 2.16% | 2 / 118 | Opposition | |||
| 1924 | 1,212 | 0.49% | 0 / 118 | Extra-parliamentary | |||
| 1925 | as part ofUSRACh | 7 / 132 | as part ofUSRACh | 3 / 45 | Opposition | ||
| 1937 | 17,162 | 4.16% | 6 / 146 | 7,543 | — | 1 / 45 | Popular Front government |
| 1941 | 53,114 | 11.80% | 16 / 147 | 28,449 | 12.18% | 4 / 45 | |
| 1945 | 46,133 | 10.18% | 15 / 147 | — | 5 / 45 | Coalition(1945–1948) | |
| Banned(1948-1958) | |||||||
| 1949 | 5,721 | 1.25% | 1 / 147 | Opposition | |||
| 1953 | 38,371 | 4.93% | 2 / 147 | ||||
| 1957 | as part ofFRAP | 6 / 147 | |||||
| 1961 | 157,572 | 11.76% | 16 / 147 | 74,838 | 12.21% | 4 / 45 | |
| 1965 | 290,635 | 12.73% | 18 / 147 | 142,088 | 10.73% | 6 / 45 | |
| 1969 | 383,049 | 16.60% | 22 / 150 | 181,488 | 18.04% | 6 / 50 | Opposition(1969–1970) |
| Coalition(1970–1973) | |||||||
| 1973 | 593,738 | 16.36% | 25 / 150 | 380,460 | 17.29% | 9 / 50 | Coalition |
| 1973 Chilean coup d'état | |||||||
| 1989 | as part ofPAIS | 0 / 120 | as part ofPAIS | 0 / 38 | Extra-parliamentary | ||
| 1993 | 336,034 | 4.99% | 0 / 120 | 65,073 | 3.47% | 0 / 38 | |
| 1997 | 398,588 | 6.88% | 0 / 120 | 357,825 | 8.44% | 0 / 38 | |
| 2001 | 320,688 | 5.22% | 0 / 120 | 45,735 | 2.64% | 0 / 38 | |
| 2005 | 339,547 | 5.14% | 0 / 120 | 104,687 | 2.19% | 0 / 38 | |
| 2009 | 132,305 | 2.02% | 3 / 120 | Did not participate | 0 / 38 | Opposition | |
| 2013 | 255,242 | 4.11% | 6 / 120 | 6,423 | 0.14% | 0 / 38 | Coalition |
| Changes to electoral system in 2017 | |||||||
| 2017 | 274,935 | 4.58% | 8 / 155 | 20,217 | 1.21% | 0 / 43 | Opposition |
| 2021 | 464,885 | 7.35% | 12 / 155 | 335,673 | 7.21% | 2 / 50 | Coalition |
| Presidential | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Nominee | No. of votes | % of votes |
| 1920 | Luis Emilio Recabarren | 681 | 0.41% |
| 1925 | José Santos Salas | 74,091 | 28.4% |
| 1927 | None | — | — |
| 1931 | Elías Lafertte | 2,434 | 0.9% |
| 1932 | Elías Lafertte | 4,128 | 1.2% |
| 1938 | Pedro Aguirre Cerda (RP) | 222,720 | 50.5% |
| 1942 | Juan Antonio Ríos (RP) | 260,034 | 56.0% |
| 1946 | Gabriel González Videla (RP) | 192,207 | 40.2% |
| 1952 | Salvador Allende (SP) | 51,975 | 5.5% |
| 1958 | Salvador Allende (SP) | 356,493 | 28.9% |
| 1964 | Salvador Allende (SP) | 977,902 | 38.9% |
| 1970 | Salvador Allende (PU–SP) | 1,070,334 | 36.61% |
| 1989 | Patricio Aylwin (PDC) | 3,850,571 | 55.17% |
| 1993 | Eugenio Pizarro (Ind) | 327,402 | 4.70% |
| 1999 | Gladys Marín | 225,224 | 3.19% |
| 2005 | Tomás Hirsch (HP) | 375,048 | 5.40% |
| 2009 | Jorge Arrate | 433,195 | 6.21% |
| 2013 | Michelle Bachelet (NM–SP) | 3,466,358 | 62.15% |
| 2017 | Alejandro Guillier (NM–Ind) | 3,157,750 | 45.42% |
| 2021 | Gabriel Boric (AD–SC) | 4,620,890 | 55.87% |
| 2025 | Jeannette Jara | 5,218,444 | 41.84% |
(in Spanish)