Building Socialism Between Santiago and Belgrade: the Travels of the Chilean Left in Yugoslavia during the Cold War (1955-1965)

Abstract

This article offers a contribution to the study of relations between socialistYugoslavia and the Latin American left by examining a number of travels carried outby Chilean socialist and communist officials in Yugoslavia during the 1950s and 1960s.Drawing mainly on Yugoslav archival sources, I show that these visits allowed the Yugoslavregime to play on its unorthodox socialist image to impress Latin Americans. Moreover, Istress that the Balkan country’s sway had its limits, as all travelers were not equally receptiveto Yugoslav propaganda: socialists tended to be more open to Belgrade’s message, whilecommunists kept a more distant position; a telling contrast that should be explained notonly as a result of ideological differences, but also as the product of struggle and tensionstaking place within the Chilean left.