Strategy of Tension

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

Pinelli, Giuseppe “Pino”, 1928-1969

A short biography of Giuseppe Pinelli, anarchist railway worker who was murdered by police in the Strategy of Tension. He was immortalised in Dario Fo's play Accidental Death of an Anarchist.

Giuseppe Pinelli, nicknamed Pino
Born 21 October 1928 – Milan, Italy, died 15 December 1969 – Milan, Italy

Valpreda, Pietro, 1933-2002

Pietro Valpreda, centre, on a demonstration in Milan, 1969

A short biography of the anarchist militant and dancer Pietro Valpreda who was caught up in the Strategy of Tension.

Pietro Valpreda was born in Milan in 1933. At the beginning of the 1960s he began to frequent anarchist circles in Milan and Rome. He worked as a dancer in theatrical reviews.

1958-1990: Operation Gladio, Italy

The history of the secret neo-fascist army in Italy set up ostensibly to resist Soviet invasion, but in reality to be used in the event of the working class growing too strong once again.

Following the end of World War II, the Italian workers’ movement was rapidly gaining strength. In some towns the fascists had been kicked out by Resistance forces (as before the war, these were usually led by socialists and anarchists), and embryonic workers’ councils were governing.

1969-?: The Strategy of Tension in Italy

August 2 1980 Bologna Central Station attack

Information about the Italian state's "Strategy of Tension" policy in which it carried out terrorist attacks against its own people in order to blame the left and anarchists.

Faced with a huge growth of working class power, with strikes, occupations, self-reduction of prices and mass squatting the intelligence services began carrying out terrorist acts with the help of fascist groups. Anarchists and the left were blamed, and working class militants were arrested.

Cassia, Salvatore, 1944-2002

A biography of Italian anarchist and electronics worker Salvatore Cassia.

Salvatore “Toto” Cassia was a Sicilian of Trapani, but born at Siena on 2nd February 1944 after his parents settled there for 2 years after leaving Tripoli.

Marini, Giovanni, 1942-2001

A biography of Italian working class poet, writer and anarchist Giovanni Marini, caught up in Italy's Strategy of Tension and unjustly convicted of the murder of a fascist.

The late 1960s and the 1970s were strange and violent years in Italy.

Reviewing the experience of Italy in the 1970s - Negri

Pinelli, Giuseppe “Pino”, 1928-1969

Valpreda, Pietro, 1933-2002

1958-1990: Operation Gladio, Italy

1969-?: The Strategy of Tension in Italy

Cassia, Salvatore, 1944-2002

Marini, Giovanni, 1942-2001

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