The Payoff

For cold, disciplined unity of purpose, Chile had never seen anything like it. There were no angry demonstrations, no mass picketing, no bloody clashes with police. But by last week, some 100,000 determined participants in inflation-ridden Chile's first "chain strike" had succeeded in scuttling a government bill ostensibly aimed at freezing wages and prices. They had also forced the resignation of President Gabriel Gonzalez Videla's 1 1/2-year-old "National Concentration" cabinet.

The crisis had begun when white-collar workers of swarthy Edgardo Maass's Chilean Federation of Private Employees (CEPCH) struck telephone and electriclight companies (TIME, Feb. 6). President Gonzalez declared the strike illegal and moved in troops; Maass threatened a general strike. Gonzalez stood firm. On Tuesday, bank employees walked out. Next day, they went back to work, but white-collar workers in quasi-governmental institutions struck. On Thursday, the bank clerks went out again, joined this time by bus drivers and workers of 30 other private industries.

By then, Gonzalez, worn and haggard, was showing signs of panic. He charged the strikers with seeking "the overthrow of the government," threatened to form a military cabinet. Meanwhile, Maass had been pressuring Gonzalez' own Radical Party. Finally, the Radicals agreed to oppose the wage-freeze bill and leave the government coalition. In return, CEPCH ordered the strikers back to their jobs.

Next morning, Gonzalez accepted the resignations of his entire cabinet, and Santiago's torrid pavements echoed to the tramping feet of the telephone and light-company employees marching, cold-eyed and silent, back to their jobs. It was the only demonstration in twelve days of dangerous unrest.

This week, Gonzalez was expected to name a new cabinet of career public servants. It was still too early to tell how seriously the "chain" had weakened his grip on the government. But the week's events had made one thing clear: Gonzalez could no longer pull himself through by crying "Red plot!" He would have to find some immediate way of easing the burden of inflation for the working classes. If he failed, Gonzalez' government--and Chile's democracy--would be in danger.

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