Schnake was the grandson of a German immigrant from Kassel. In 1933, alongside
Eugenio González Rojas, with whom showed his anarchist affiliation, he founded the collective Acción Revolucionaria Socialista (ARS). Then, this association and another three merged into the current
Socialist Party of Chile in April 1933, so that he was a founder member next to
Marmaduke Grove,
Eugenio Matte,
Salvador Allende and González Rojas. He was the organizer of the Left Block, a political coalition which reunited left-wing political forces other with the exception of the
Communist Party (PC) or the centrist
Radical Party (PR). Nevertheless, the rising of both President
Arturo Alessandri Palma's
liberal-conservative right and
Chilean Nazis (MNSCh, «nacis») forced him to seal an alliance with the PC and the PR. That way, it was established
Popular Front of Chile, whose leader was
Pedro Aguirre Cerda, who triumphed the
1938 Chilean presidential election over
liberal-manchesterian economist Gustavo Ross Santa María. In 1948, he was part of the Chilean Anti-Communist Action board. After
1973 coup d'état led by
Augusto Pinochet, his nephew Eric suffered persecution under
Chilean dictatorship. He died in 1976 away from the political life as did his friend González Rojas. A year later, Raúl Ampuero made a tribute entitled «Óscar Schnake and Eugenio González: Not only history». ==Pictures==