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Original article: Manuel Riesco y Daniel Jadue presentan libro que cuestiona la ausencia de conducción revolucionaria en Chile

This Tuesday marked the launch of the book “Social Revolution in Chile” by Manuel Riesco and Luis Corvalán. The event featured Daniel Jadue, who commented on the work and hosted the occasion.

Riesco, speaking on behalf of his co-author Luis Corvalán, emphasized that the choice of venue for this pre-launch was intentional, reflecting solidarity with Daniel Jadue amid the lawfare targeting him.

He noted that the book is a collective effort based on conferences and telematic panels from the National Center for Alternative Development Studies (CENDA), commemorating the centenary of Lenin and Recabarren.

Riesco explained that the series, developed throughout 2024, stems from the rich revolutionary history of the Chilean people over more than a century, set against the backdrop of the country’s current deep political crisis and the global landscape.

The author further elaborated that the series aimed to analyze Chile’s revolutionary trajectory and the concept of social revolution, drawing on works like The Social Revolution: Lenin and Latin America and Strategy and Tactics by Marta Harnecker, to whom the book is dedicated. He credited Osvaldo Fernández and Hugo Fazio Rigazzi for promoting the publication, which is now dedicated to them in recognition of their legacy.

Additionally, he mentioned that the series was organized by the Gramsci Association, CENDA, and Ediciones Pueblo Unido, directed by Gonzalo Santón, Roxana Pey, and Carlos Gutiérrez, respectively.

Riesco highlighted the involvement and encouragement from notable intellectuals, whose names are mentioned in the book’s introduction. The series was inaugurated and wrapped up with keynote lectures from political scientist Manuel Monereo Pérez and former UNCTAD secretary Carlos Fortín.

Riesco remarked that the surge of the working class beginning with the social upheaval on October 18, 2019, appears for the first time in a century without a revolutionary political force to guide that process. He attributed this absence mainly to the participation of centrist and leftist parties in the governments that followed the dictatorship, which delayed necessary reforms and ultimately led to the current crisis of legitimacy and authority within the political system.

He stated that these parties, including those originating from the student movement of 2011, made progress but failed to confront the abuses inherited from the dictatorship, opting instead for agreements with those responsible.

For Riesco, this oversight is the primary cause of the October 18 uprising, encapsulated in the slogan «it’s not about 30 pesos, it’s about 30 years.» He pointed out that the historical and theoretical investigation within the text demonstrates that this inevitably resulted in the delegitimization of the democratic system, dragging those parties down and preventing them from leading a progressive exit from the current political crisis.

He further explained that the constitutional agreement of November 15, 2019, failed because — according to him — Boric’s government continued the same policies as its predecessors, postponing reforms and seeking agreements with major offenders, which aggravated the political crisis and contributed to the October 18 uprising.

Finally, Riesco noted that the Boric administration’s persistent strategy deepened the delegitimization of democratic authority, affecting the Executive branch, the Constitutional Convention, and other institutions, leading to rising social discontent and a perpetually tense citizenry.

On another note, Daniel Jadue explained that the book proposes a critical thread: major popular eruptions are part of the historical cycle. Though society has been taught to resign and view democracy merely as voting, reality shows that when exploitation and abuses accumulate, the people erupt in urban, social, and political realms in various forms, and the real question is who leads that movement and how far it wishes to take it.

In this context, Jadue asserted that the Revolutionary Party of the Working People is not just a label, a name, or a fetish, nor something listed on an electoral roll. It represents a real political force, rooted in the social base, capable of challenging common sense and channeling popular outrage toward structural reforms. Its purpose is to transform anger into program, organization, protest, and democratic power.

Jadue emphasized the relevance of the book’s assertion that mobilizations, uprisings, and popular eruptions occur periodically when the population grows weary of abuse. In Chile, these events are recent, and the text argues for a more self-critical analysis from this political sector.

“The book is harsh, and rightly so, in diagnosing that for the first time in a century, the most recent and massive eruption of the Chilean working people in the political arena appears to be orphaned of a revolutionary political force,” he stated.

For Jadue, this reflects an alarm call that the book raises not only as a self-critique but also as a future inquiry: Why does this lack of leadership emerge?

The former mayor suggested that the book offers an uncomfortable answer: Chilean politics, particularly the segments that claimed to be popular and democratic, fell into the trap of over-institutionalization, confusing governance with management, and accepting neoliberal frameworks as inevitable.

“Because it believed that the main problem was communicational rather than structural. And because, in addition, it became enamored with aesthetics while abandoning ethics,” he added.

Jadue explained that the book clearly identifies the historical cause of the revolt, indicating that it is not merely about a government but a mode of governance that drained democracy of its substance and legitimized agreements with abusers, postponing the needs of the majority. The resulting crisis is not just economic but also one of authority and legitimacy, with political responses attempting to channel that frustration downward.

He warned that the gravest issue is the absence of a revolutionary party of the working people to reclaim the direction of power when it diverts indignation downwards. Instead, artificial enemies — migrants, feminists, the left, the poor, indigenous peoples — are created to deflect real responsibility. This fosters a hollow patriotism and an authoritarian order, amplified in an ecosystem of memes and falsehoods, while the community lacks a force to disseminate the truth.

For the former mayor, it is crucial that the book not only critiques the right but also serves as a self-critique of the left. He believes that the Chilean left has lost ground, both in material terms — in neighborhoods, unions, housing committees, clinics, markets, etc. — and in symbolic territory, where the narrative has become excessively institutional.

“It arrived late to social media, late to cultural combat, and often, when it did arrive, it was with a tone that convinced no one: technocratic, never self-critical,” he added.

Jadue concluded by stating that the reaction offers a return to the past because it is unable to project a future, while the task is to reclaim it and prepare for the next social eruption. To achieve this, he argued, requires organization, program, everyday presence, and a cultural battle without ideological or class shame. A battle that recognizes a basic truth: the enemy is not down below, but in the structural abuses that have governed for decades.

You can watch the full launch below:

La entrada Manuel Riesco and Daniel Jadue Launch Book Examining the Lack of Revolutionary Leadership in Chile se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.