CHILE: The National Stadium

Referring to the posting on the film "The National Stadium", Dwight Peterson says. "In your text you refer to Allende's brief experiment in democratic socialism. One of my friends owned an auto parts company and another a modest factory that produced auto parts in Concepcion, Chile where I lived for three years. Shortly after Allende's election both individuals arrived at their companies only to find themselves locked out of their own businesses. They were summarily informed those companies were confiscated and that under the new regime they now belonged to the State. It seems to me that without adequate compensation you could hardly refer to Allende's reign as an experiment in DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM"

RH: I agree entirely. The wording of the posting was taken verbatim from the Ford Foundation Report. I have not seen the film, but my guess is that it gives none of the background (the Cold War, Castro's visit, etc.). The Ford Foundation should have seen to it that there was a balanced presentation, but I doubt it did.

Ronald Hilton - 1/20/03