Italy 60s-70s
Articles about the mass social upheaval and class struggle in Italy in the 1960s and 70s, sometimes referred to as the "creeping May ".
Autoreduction movements in Turin, 1974
Eddy Cherki and Michel Wieviorka's account of the workers' self-reduction of prices movement in the Italian city of Turin in the 1970s.
To consider the new developments in social struggle within Western Europe since 1968, one must turn to Italy. The organization of the worker's movement, often on a mass scale, has assumed original forms. Urban struggles have led to organized union and political neighborhood actions with stakes tied to consumption.
Institutionalization from below: The unions and social movements - 1970s Italy
The chapter of Robert Lumley's excellent book on the mass struggles in Italy of the 60s and 70s detailing how the unions re-gained control of the social movements and channelled them into "representative" politics.
States of Emergency
Cultures of Revolt in Italy from 1968 to 1978
Robert Lumley
First published by Verso 1990
Chapter 17
The working class struggle against the crisis: self-reduction of prices in Italy, 1975 - Bruno Ramirez
Bruno Ramirez's analysis of the Italian working class' response to the economic crisis of the 1970s, with particular focus on "the refusal to comply with price increases of essential services", also known as 'self-reduction'.
With an inflation rate of over 25%, widespread unemployment, and increasing repression, Italy's current economic crisis shows how far capital is willing to push its attack against the living conditions of the working class.
1962-1973: Worker and student struggles in Italy
A history of the wave of strikes and occupations that gripped Italian factories and universities during the 1960s. Coming to a head with the Hot Autumn of 1969, independent forms of struggle used by workers represented a significant attempt to break from restrictive trade unions.
Rising from a period of centre-left coalition that had been marked by a constant failure to bring promised reforms to Italian society, the struggles of the 1960s acted as a pressure gauge for many sections of the Italian working class, one which was to reach its climax during the mass strikes of 1968-1970.
Italy 1977-8: Living with an earthquake - Red Notes
A superb pamphlet from a time when a very high level of class struggle dominated Italian society. Despite their differences - the state, church, fascists, Communist Party and unions were all united in opposition to the the radical social movement. In text and PDF format.
Link to PDF of pamphlet.
Published by Red Notes, London, UK, late 1970s
Text version from www.classagainstclass.com, lightly edited by libcom.org
Cattivi Maestri: Some Reflections on the Legacy of Guido Bianchini, Luciano Ferrari Bravo and Primo Moroni - Steve Wright
Steve Wright's analysis of the ideas of three Marxists who, along with Antonio Negri, were accused of being the "evil masters" of red terrorism in 1960s and 1970s Italy.
Cattivi Maestri: Reflections on the Legacy of Guido Bianchini, Luciano Ferrari Bravo and Primo
Steve Wright
You were like one who, traveling by night,
Carries the torch behind - no help to him -
But he makes those who follow him the wiser.(1)
Reviewing the experience of Italy in the 1970s - Negri
Antonio Negri recalls the political experience of various aspects of the mass struggles of the 1970s in Italy, including the Strategy of Tension.
Between "historic compromise" and terrorism
Reviewing the experience of Italy in the 1970s
Classe Operaia - The birth of Italian Workerism
A history of the origins of the radical Italian theoretical current known as 'Operaismo' (Workerism), which began with Mario Tronti's Journal Classe Operaia.
An extract from Steve Wright’s book 'Storming Heaven'
The Workerists and the unions in Italy's 'Hot Autumn'
A brief history of the Italian Workerists in the 'Hot Autumn' of 1969, when unions succeeded in recuperating radical working class demands - leaving the Workerists to pursue the doomed road of all-or-nothing armed struggle
Extract from Steve Wright’s book 'Storming Heaven'
'We Are All Delegates!'
Obituary: Goliardo Fiaschi, 1930-2000 - Stuart Christie
Obituary of Italian anarchist Goliardo Fiaschi by Stuart Christie from the Guardian newspaper.
By Stuart Christie
From the Guardian, Wednesday August 16, 2000
- Goliardo's biography by Antonio Tellez on libcom.org/history
