[2] Between 1927 and 1931, Chile was governed by General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, who carried out a corporatist policy, in order to undermine the influence of leftist groups.

[3] This market volatility greatly affected Chilean politics and by 1931 the congress had given enough of their legislative powers to Ibáñez, that Chile became a dictatorship in a fashion.

On June 4, 1932, a group of young socialists under the leadership of Eugenio Matte; some air force personnel under colonel Marmaduke Grove; and some army personnel (followers of former president Carlos Ibáñez del Campo) under Carlos Dávila staged a coup d'état by taking over the Air Force base of El Bosque, in Santiago, demanding the resignation of President Montero.

That same night, the victorious revolutionaries organized a Government Junta composed of retired General Arturo Puga, Eugenio Matte and Carlos Davila, with colonel Grove as their minister of Defense.

At the same time, businessmen, professionals and students of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile also heatedly opposed it on ideological grounds.

A few days following the proclamation of the "Socialist Republic of Chile", the Junta dissolved Congress and, among other measures, stopped evictions from low-rental properties, decreed a three-day bank holiday (which was followed by strict controls on withdrawals), and ordered the "Caja de Crédito Popular" (a savings and loan bank for Chileans of modest means) to return clothes and tools which had been pawned there.

[4] These measures created dissent within the government and the followers of General Ibáñez opposed the radicalization of the socialist movement promoted by Grove and Matte.

The office was passed onto General Bartolomé Blanche, who was replaced, under threat of a military uprising, by the President of the Supreme Court, Abraham Oyanedel, who immediately called for presidential and congressional elections.