Resumen

Within the context of Luis Emilio Recabarren's sojourn in the province of Tarapacá between 1911 and 1915, and the foundation there and then of the Partido Obrero Socialista, this article explores the origins of the close association established between the nitrate area and Chile's nascent socialism. The writings, lectures and regional press provide the media through which Tarapacá's socialists diagnosed the evils afflicting workingclass lives, the instruments through which these could be overcome, and the socialist utopia toward which they wished to direct workers' actions. The article concludes by reviewing the political and ideological consolidation of northern socialism, and its projection onto other sections of Chilean territory.