Armed Proletarians for Communism (Italian Proletari Armati per il Comunismo or PAC) was an Italian far-left terrorist group [1] founded in 1976 and disbanded three years later, during the "Years of Lead".
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Armed Proletarians for Communism (Italian Proletari Armati per il Comunismo or PAC) was an Italian far-left terrorist group [1] founded in 1976 and disbanded three years later, during the "Years of Lead".
Armed Proletarians for Communism was founded in 1976, as one of the numerous armed groups spun out of Italian Autonomism ( Autonomia Operaia ). As opposed to the Red Brigades, the PAC was structured "horizontally", with independently constituted cells with their own actions.
Most of the early members were young workers, unemployed people and teachers. An estimate 60 people were involved in the group [2] [3] in Lombardy and Veneto.
The leaders of the PAC were Sebastiano Masala and Arrigo Cavallina who was considered to be the ideologue of the group. [3]
The group was dissolved in 1979. [3]
Italian Autonomism held that the working class was a social group politically not represented, and exploited by ruling classes. A counter-power was to be organised by direct democracy and self-organisation. The movement drew upon theories of illegalism and propaganda of the deed formulated by the anarchist movement at the turn of the 20th century. [4]
The first actions of the PAC were, allegedly, in support of workers' revendications. They notably attacked and wounded physician Diego Fava, and committed around 60 armed robberies, ranging from store attacks to bank robberies (what they called "expropriations"). The PAC also organised attacks against companies which used illegal workers, people whom they accused of brutalising detainees, or self-defence groups.
Most of the "actions" did not cause victims, although the PAC did claim four murders:
Torregiani and Sabbadin had defended themselves during hold-ups. They were assassinated on the same day, so as to teach people to "allow the deeds of the Proletarians forced to steal to survive". [5]
From 1982, following Pietro Mutti's arrest, Cesare Battisti was accused of taking part in Santoro's and Campagna's murders, as well as being an accomplice in Torregiani's and Sabbadin's assassinations. He was judged and sentenced in absentia in 1988 and in 1993. Battisti has always denied being involved in the assassinations. In October 2017 he was arrested in Corumba, Brazil, near the Bolivian border.
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