Communist Comeback

In the Salon de Honor of Chile's National Congress Building, a room Chileans prize as a symbol of the system of representative democracy, a fanatic crowd of card-carrying Communists last week packed every inch of floor and gallery space. Wildly they cheered a group of leaders who promised to "make pacts even with the devil" to achieve their goal: the end of Chile's democracy. Legalized since last August, the Communist Party had come up from underground to meet in the open for its Eleventh National Congress. Cried El Diario llustrado: "It is a shame that the Reds are allowed to gather in the Chilean sanctuary of Democracy."

But under Chilean democratic custom, this was their right. Bouncing back with more zest than politicos thought possible, Chile's Reds proved that they had not slept during their decade of banishment. Each of the 300 delegates who met to choose their new leaders and reaffirm old lines represented 100 militant card carriers with three years of paid-up dues. With a new batch of young recruits, the party boasted 55,000 members.

Aware of their rise, the Eleventh Congress resounded with confidence. Delegates re-elected a secretary general, Schoolteacher Luis Corvalan, 48, and President Elias Lafferte, 72. Brought back into the party's politburo was world-famed Poet Pablo Neruda.

The Reds agreed to wage relentless war against the free-enterprise policies of Chile's conservative President Jorge Ales-sandri, against foreign (and specifically U.S.) investments. They pledged themselves to fight for the "national liberation" of Chile by adding to the popular front they have already formed with the Socialists. President Alessandri, who barely, beat Socialist Candidate Salvador Allende in September's election, will plainly have to deal with a threat that is growing faster than he could have guessed.

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