Description
Book SynopsisTraces the history of the labor movement in Chile through the experiences of copper miners employed by the Anaconda Copper Company from 1945 to 1990. Covers the economic, political, and social history of the 45-year period when the Cold War dominated Chilean politics.
Trade Review“Vergara provides an easy-to-read and exhaustively researched account of the negotiations among labor unions, U.S. capital, and the state in Chile’s strategic copper sector during the critical Cold War era. She demonstrates how outlawing of the Communist Party and mounting political conflict over the power of foreign capital shaped labor relations and the copper industry. An important contribution to our understanding of nationalism, state policies, and transnational capital.”
—Karin Rosemblatt,Syracuse University
“A solidly researched and well-written history of the least known of Chile’s large copper mines. . . . A major original contribution to our understanding of Cold War Chile that demonstrates the centrality of copper miners, their unions, and leaders to Chile’s social, economic, and political history.”
—Peter Winn,Tufts University
“A wonderful portrait of Potrerillos and Salvador, one that was lacking in either English or Spanish. This book is a must-read for students of world copper history.”
—William W. Culver American Historical Review
“Vergara effectively weaves together the plentiful supply of existing scholarship on the Anaconda workers and mixes it with new data of her own, especially concerning corporate efforts to modernize both mines and towns in the post-war era and developments during the period of socialization in the early 1970s.”
—Thomas O’Brien Enterprise and Society
Table of ContentsContents
Illustrations and Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. From Montana to Potrerillos
2. The World of Labor
3. Copper, Labor, and Political Repression, 1945–1952
4. Making a New Deal: Copper Laws, Modernization, and Workers’ Rights, 1955–1958
5. Nationalism and Radicalization, 1958–1970
6. Experiencing Nationalization and Socialism, 1970–1973
Epilogue: Repression, Economic Transformations, and the Struggle for Democracy, 1973–1990s
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
