The Society of Equality: Popular Republicanism and Democracy in Santiago de Chile, 1818-1851

摘要

The Chilean Sociedad de la Igualdad or Society of Equality (1850-1) was short-lived, but it has enjoyed a reputation far beyond its duration. Sympathetic historians have seen it as the cornerstone of labour organising in Chilean history, as the beginnings of a leftist political tradition in the country, and even as the start of Chilean modernity. James Wood asserts that all of this is well and good, but he makes it clear that he is most interested in how the association appeared on the scene in the first place, and not so much in what came after or how its long-term significance has been interpreted. His point is that there is a tradition of popular republicanism, going back to the very beginnings of independence (1818), that has led, through successive stages, to the emergence of artisans, not only as a significant political force but also as proponents of an alternative, more egalitarian view of republicanism and democracy. This evolution, in turn, has much to say about Chilean political history in the post-independence period.