The struggle for social rights, beyond the scope of the work, gave the keynote to the popular unrest that intensified in Chile from the fifties onwards. The purpose of this paper is to analyze a key aspect of these actions, which are part of the process of formation of the Chilean urban working class, consisting in the occupation of urban space. The mobilization was organized through direct action of the workers in the struggle for habitation. Another purpose is to demonstrate that these actions were vital to forge their collective identity, as well as to expand the political debate about the impacts of the capitalist structure on the workers living conditions. Such struggles, waged by the conquest of basic rights, contributed to a greater democratization of Chilean society.
social struggle; pobladores; Chile