Cordón industrial

From ProleWiki, the proletarian encyclopedia
Workers of a cordón marching before the military coup of September 11, 1973

Cordón Industrial (or in plural Cordones industriales; English: Industrial Belts) was an organ of popular power or workplace democracy. Cordones were established in Chile by the working class during the Salvador Allende Popular Unity government (1970–1973).

Cordones were established to pressure the Allende government to socialize companies that refused to acknowldege basic workers' rights. The formation of these cordones accelerated in response to the bourgeoisie's attempt to destabilize Allende's democratically-elected government and the implementation of socialism. Each cordón was a group of factory and industrial workers; the first one was formed on June 19, 1972. At the time of Allende's government's overthrow, there were 31 cordones nationally, with 8 of them in the Chilean capital of Santiago.