This paper examines the political reflection of the journalist Emilio Corvalan Somoza (1840-1893) on the problem of democracy in Chile during the 1870s. From the perspective of intellectual history, and analyzing a documentary corpus of pamphlets, books, press and letters of the author, this research analyzes the classist conceptualization of the people and their link with the development of workers' associationism of the period. It also studies the political thinking of the publicist in relation to democracy and equality, aspects that led him to defend the need to separate the Church from the State, implement federalism and support the universal suffrage.