Deconstructing Point of View: A Common Core Strategy for Analyzing Allende’s Speech to the UN

In a 1972 speech to the United Nations, Salvador Allende, president of Chile, charged that multinational corporations posed a serious challenge to the sovereignty of nation-states. Elected in 1970, the embattled socialist president was dead by 1973, killed in a military coup partially engineered by the CIA. Nixon and his secretary of state Henry Kissinger viewed the Allende regime as completely unacceptable to the US, and the American president ordered the CIA “to prevent Allende from coming to power or to unseat him” in order to “save Chile.” Allende was naturally more popular in the Communist bloc. Fidel Castro advised Allende to mobilize “the Chilean working class” to “decide the fate of Chile.” Fate ended up favoring the anti-Allende forces, and brought the military regime of General Augusto Pinochet and its horrible human rights abuses.

Marchers for AllendeFor high school students studying the Cold War, the rise and fall of the Allende regime in Chile offers a good example of a third world nation caught in the pressures of the Cold War. It would not be difficult for students to identify the points of view on each side based on a brief secondary account. The Common Core standards, however, require students to go a step further, into analyzing texts for the structure of an argument, subtle details, allusions and underlying assumptions. Having students read and analyze Allende’s 1972 speech offers an ideal opportunity for students to go beyond the simple binary understanding of point of view. The excerpt teacher leader Adrienne Karyadi selected from the speech emphasizes the pressure put on Chile and other third world countries by multinational corporations, rather than by political organizations such as the CIA. As a socialist, Allende had nationalized the copper mines which were largely owned by American-based multinational corporations, such as Anaconda Copper. Allende identified the chief source of his opposition to be economic, a point that could easily be missed by students. Students have to grasp the connection between multinational corporations and capitalism, and associate the critique of these corporations with Marxism. In addition, they must deal with the economic and political challenges faced by the third world countries.

Here is the excerpt:



We are faced by a direct confrontation between the large transnational corporations and the states. The corporations are interfering in the fundamental political, economic and military decisions of the states. The corporations are global organizations that do not depend on any state and whose activities are not controlled by, nor are they accountable to, any parliament or any other institution representative of the collective interest.

In short, all the world political structure is being undermined. The dealers don’t have a country. The place where they may be does not constitute any kind of link; the only thing they are interested in is where they make profits. This is not something I say; they are Jefferson’s words.


Adrienne’s activity has students identify the points of view of both the US and the Soviet Union to the speech:

Allende Speech Activity

As they articulate what US and Soviet leaders might have responded to each part of Allende’s speech, students have to grapple with Allende’s points and perspective, and the viewpoints of the superpowers. For the Allendes Speech Activity (and a Key Allende Speech Activity), click here.

Quotes in the text:
Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 201.
Hal Brands, Latin America’s Cold War (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2010), p. 119.
Salvador Allende, “Speech to the United Nations, December 4, 1972,” The Marxist Internet Archive, (
Photograph: Marchers for Allende, photographed by James N. Wallace, 1964, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, U.S. News & World Report Magazine Collection, reproduction number LC-USZ62-134154,


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