The mutual benefit movement in Chile from its origins to the present time (1853‐1992)

Abstract

The mutual benefit movement in Chile first appeared with the beginnings of industrialization and urbanization from the 1830s onwards. The first associations of urban workers emerged in 1853: this was followed by an initial period of expansion of mutual benefit activities until 1890. Almost all the urban trades were represented. During this period the mutual benefit movement was the principal organizing force for popular demands. From the 1890s onwards mutual benefit — linked with the workers’movement — grew rapidly and entered on a process of unification. Encouraging the development of the trade union movement, it took a leading part in determining the shape of the people's movements and maintained this role until 1924: this period marked the high point of mutual benefit activities in Chile. Mutual benefit organizations defended workers’demands and the boundaries between mutual benefit and trade union organizations were quite fluid. But the adoption of the social legislation and the support offered by certain leaders of the mutual benefit movement to the military dictatorship marked the beginning of the movement's decline. Efforts were then made to extend its scope of activities and unify the mutual benefit movement in Chile and in Latin America as a whole. The results of this were limited and the crisis continued after the Second World War. The 1973 coup d'état aggravated the situation still further. Today, with the virtual destruction of social security and its replacement by a system of private insurance schemes, one needs to ask whether the Chilean mutual benefit movement, which at one time was the principal form of popular organization, has a future.