Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The first major history of Chile's most significant peasant rebellion and the violent repression that followed R nquil explores the 1934 revolt of peasants against Chile's oligarchic political order and the brutal military counterinsurgency that ended the rebellion. Thomas Miller Klubock exposes the country's history of political violence and authoritarianism and chronicles peasant movements to build a more just and freer society. Klubock further demonstrates that repression in the countryside and the historical amnesia or olvido surrounding political violence produced by amnesties lie at the foundation of Chile's democratic political traditions and enduring social inequalities.
Synopsis
The first major history of Chile's most significant peasant rebellion and the violent repression that followed In 1934, peasants turned to revolution to overturn Chile's oligarchic political order and the profound social inequalities in the Chilean countryside. The brutal military counterinsurgency that followed was one of the worst acts of state terror in Chile until the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). Using untapped archival sources, award-winning scholar Thomas Miller Klubock exposes Chile's long history of political violence and authoritarianism and chronicles peasants' movements to build a more just and freer society. Klubock further explores how an amnesty law that erased both the rebellion and the military atrocities lay the foundation for the political stability that characterized Chile's multi-party democracy. This historical amnesia or olvido, Klubock argues, was a precondition of national reconciliation and democratic rule, which endured until 1973, when conflict in the countryside ended once again with violent repression during the Pinochet dictatorship.