Last weekend the formation of the single party of the Frente Amplio (FA) began, which will bring together the RD, Convergencia Social and Comunes militants. Before these communities disappear, we talk about the similarities between the Democratic Revolution and the MAPU (Unitary Popular Action Movement), which was born in 1969 and was very relevant in the early 70s, during the Government of Salvador Allende and the Popular Unity.
Fernando Marin He is a History professor who has worked researching the student movements of the second half of the 20th century in Chile and is now preparing a book about the MAPU.
-What are the similarities between the MAPU and the Democratic Revolution?
-In my impression, many. That they are enlightened youth vanguards (university students), where many of their members come from wealthy sectors, from progressive families and from elite schools. Many of them trained at UC, the most conservative of our universities. And a third similarity is the criticism of the traditional left-wing parties (perhaps hence this “moral superiority”), both for their methods – they see in these parties always the willingness to compromise – and in terms of the clientele they hope to reach. : peasantry in the case of MAPU; the so-called “diversities” in the DR.
-The MAPU did not last long, is the same thing happening with the DR?
-It is a question that already has an answer: it ends this week, when the merger with Convergencia Social takes place and the Frente Amplio party is created. However, interpreting the question from a broader dimension, it would have to be said that the contexts in which both parties are born and develop are different. For example, totalizing and exclusive ideas and strategies no longer have the impact of the sixties (reform or revolution?), which was, in an important part, the cause of their divisions.
-What happened to the MAPU leaders?
-Currently the majority is in the Socialist Party, as is the case of the Minister of Housing, Carlos Montes, and the ambassador to Venezuela, Jaime Gazmuri. Both were general secretaries of the MAPU and the MAPU-OC during the dictatorship. It is on the academic level where there was the great contribution of the MAPU in the renewal of the left in the eighties and during the Concertación. From different positions, Tomás Moulian, Manuel Antonio Garretón, Eugenio Tironi, among others, stand out.