Weavers of Revolution

In this compelling narrative history, Peter Winn tells the story of the Chilean revolution as it was seen through the eyes of the participants. Winn focuses on workers at the Yarur plant, Chile's largest cotton mill, who seized control of their factory and began to socialize its operations. Allende's plans were less radical than their own and the workers found themselves on a collision course with the government. Winn, who interviewed both the workers and Allende while many of these events were taking place, captures the turning point in Chile's "democratic road to socialism"--in both the presidential palace and the Yarur mill. He demonstrates how the revolution was "forged from below" and explains political complexities that arose from the workers' confrontation with Allende, complexities that have both eluded American understanding and frustrated U.S. foreign policy. Integrating oral history and penetrating analysis, the book offers a striking new explanation of how revolutions are radicalized. A major reinterpretation of the Allende era in Chile, this book is also a human drama that exemplifies "the new narrative history" at its best.