Zitate von Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Geburtstag: 26. Juni 1908
Todesdatum: 11. September 1973
Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens [salβaˈðoɾ ɣiˈjeɾmo aˈjende ˈɣosens] war ein chilenischer Arzt und Politiker. Von 1970 bis 1973 war er Präsident von Chile. Seine Präsidentschaft war der Versuch, auf demokratischem Wege eine sozialistische Gesellschaft in Chile zu etablieren. Allende wurde durch einen Militärputsch im Jahr 1973 gestürzt, in dessen Verlauf er Suizid beging.
Zitate Salvador Allende
„Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny.“
— Salvador Allende
Final address (1973), Context: The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.
Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, great avenues will again be opened, through which will pass the free man, to construct a better society.
Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!
These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.
„Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!“
— Salvador Allende
Final address (1973), Context: The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.
Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, great avenues will again be opened, through which will pass the free man, to construct a better society.
Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!
These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.
„For you to be a Communist or a Socialist is to be totalitarian; for me no.… On the contrary, I think Socialism frees man.“
— Salvador Allende
Context: 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 in "Allende Sees Chile Finding Her Own Way to Socialism" by Joseph Novitski, in The New York Times (4 October 1970)
„I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country.“
— Salvador Allende
Final address (1973), Context: I address the youth, those who sang and gave us their joy and their spirit of struggle. I address the man of Chile, the worker, the farmer, the intellectual, those who will be persecuted, because in our country fascism has been already present for many hours — in terrorist attacks, blowing up the bridges, cutting the railroad tracks, destroying the oil and gas pipelines, in the face of the silence of those who had the obligation to act.
They were committed. History will judge them.
Surely, Radio Magallanes will be silenced, and the calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country.
„They have force and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested by neither crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.“
— Salvador Allende
Final address (1973), Context: Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seeds which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever. They have force and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested by neither crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.
„Surely, this will be the last opportunity for me to address you.“
— Salvador Allende
Final address (1973), Context: Surely, this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. The Air Force has bombed the antennas of Radio Magallanes. My words do not have bitterness but disappointment. … the only thing left for me is to say to workers: I am not going to resign!
„Now the question is, "Who is going to use whom?"“
— Salvador Allende
Context: Now the question is, "Who is going to use whom?" Even accepting the form of the question, the answer is the proletariat. If it wasn't so I wouldn't be here. I am working for Socialism and through Socialism.
As quoted in Conversations With Allende (1970) by Regis Debray
„Cuba came from a dictatorship, and I arrived at the presidency after being senator for 25 years.“
— Salvador Allende
Context: I have been to Cuba many times. I have spoken many times with Fidel Castro and got to know Commander Ernesto Guevara well enough. I know Cuba's leaders and their struggle. It has been difficult to overcome the blockade. But the reality in Cuba is very different from that in Chile. Cuba came from a dictatorship, and I arrived at the presidency after being senator for 25 years.
Interview with Saul Landau (1971)
„The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves.“
— Salvador Allende
Final address (1973), Context: The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.
Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, great avenues will again be opened, through which will pass the free man, to construct a better society.
Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!
These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.
„Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life.“
— Salvador Allende
Final address (1973), Context: Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seeds which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever. They have force and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested by neither crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.
„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.“
— Salvador Allende
As quoted in Conversations With Allende (1970) by Regis Debray
„We already had success in creating a democratic, national government that is revolutionary and popular. That is how socialism begins, not with decrees.“
— Salvador Allende
As quoted in Conversations With Allende (1970) by Regis Debray
„I am not the president of all the Chileans. I am not a hypocrite that says so.“
— Salvador Allende
Misattributed, Quoted by Chilean newspapers as a remark at a public rally (17 January 1971). Allende sent a public letter to El Mercurio newspaper to deny the quotation
Citied in Jonathan Haslam's "The Nixon Administration and the Death of Allende's Chile"
„I have experience and I am employing it in the service of a Chilean road for Chile's problems. We always take advantage of experience wherever it comes from, but adapting it to our reality. I am putting it to use in a Chilean way, for the problems of Chile. We are not anyone's mental colonists.“
— Salvador Allende
Interview with Saul Landau (1971)
„Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always had, the confidence that you deposited in a man who was only an interpreter of great yearnings for justice, who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law and did just that.“
— Salvador Allende
Final address (1973)
