The Party of Social Democracy of Chile (Spanish: Partido Social Democracia de Chile (PSD), until August 1973 Radical Left Party (Partido de Izquierda Radical) was a Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 of centre-left

Centre-left

Centre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...

 orientation, formed by dissident Radicals in 1971.

In its XXV Congress that took place from 31 July to 5 August 1971, the Radical Party confirmed the left-wing line it had taken already in 1967. The congress declared that the Radicals discard bourgeois democracy as an instrument of capitalist domination and the Radical Party is now a socialist party

Socialist Party

Socialist Party is the name of several different political parties around the world that are explicitly called Socialist. All of these parties claim to uphold socialism, though they might belong to different branches of the socialist movement and might therefore have different interpretations of...

, that subscribes to class struggle

Class struggle

Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....

 and historical materialism

Historical materialism

Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first articulated by Karl Marx as "the materialist conception of history". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans...

. Disquieted by the Marxist influence, on 3 August, the Senators Bossay, Baltra, Acuña, Juliet and Aguirre and deputies Ibáñez, Magalahes, Naudón, Basso, Clavel, Sharpe and Muñoz Barra left the Radical Party. They founded a new party of radicals, with more moderate political views, though paradoxically called Partido de Izquierda Radical - Party of Radical Left. The new party initially remained part of the Unidad Popular.

In March 1972, Allende and the Christian Democrats tried to forge a compromise. The Party of the Radical Left represented the UP coalition in negotiations. The radical minister of justice Manuel Sanhueza held talks with the Christian Democratic Party over regulations of nationalized firms, but ultimately failed, as the socialist minister of economy Pedro Vuskovic

Pedro Vuskovic

Pedro Vuskovic Bravo was a Chilean economist of Croatian descent, political figure, minister and author of the economic plan implemented by Salvador Allende during his government.-Life:...

 boycotted the negotiations and carried out legally dubious expropriations

Nationalization

Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...

. As a result, the Radical Left left the UP coalition.

The party then participated the 1973 election within the right-wing opposition bloc CODE. The party split in 1988. One faction called for Yes vote on the referendum

Chilean national plebiscite, 1988

The 1988 Chilean national plebiscite was a national referendum held to determine whether or not dictator Augusto Pinochet would extend his rule for another eight-year term in office. It was held on October 5, 1988...

 (for Pinochet), and formed a new ephemeral Chilean Social Demorat Party that soon merged with the Progressive Union of the Centrist Centre. The other faction called for a No vote and joined the opposition cartel Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia, and eventually merged with the Radical Party to form the Social Democrat Radical Party

Social Democrat Radical Party

The Social Democratic Radical Party is a social democratic party in Chile.The party is a member of Socialist International....

.