physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America
.
Allende's involvement in Chilean political life spanned a period of nearly forty years. As a member of the Socialist Party
, he was a senator
, deputy
and cabinet minister.
"The answer is the proletariat. If it wasn't so I wouldn't be here [...] As for the bourgeois state, at the present moment, we are seeking to overcome it. To overthrow it. [...] Our objective is total, scientific, Marxist socialism" — In an interview with French journalist Regis Debray in 1970.
"We already had success in creating a democratic, national government that is revolutionary and popular. That is how socialism begins, not with decrees." — Regis Debray interview.
(Attributed) "I am not the president of all the Chileans. I am not a hypocrite that says so." — At a public rally, quoted by all Chilean newspapers, January 17, 1971. President Allende sent a public letter to El Mercurio newspaper to deny this alleged statement.
"¡Viva Chile! ¡Viva el pueblo! ¡Vivan los trabajadores!" ("Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!") — last known words (in a radio broadcast on the morning of September 11, 1973)
"We start from different ideological positions. For you to be a Communist or a Socialist is to be totalitarian; for me no...On the contrary, I think Socialism frees man." — Quoted by the New York Times in 1970.