Antonio Negri was an Italian political philosopher known as one of the most prominent theorists of autonomism, as well as for his co-authorship of Empire with Michael Hardt. Born in Padua, Italy, Negri became a professor of political philosophy at the University of Padua, where he taught state and constitutional theory. Negri founded the Potere Operaio group in 1969 and was a leading member of Autonomia Operaia, and published highly influential books, including Empire and Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire, urging "revolutionary consciousness."
Workerism is a political theory that emphasizes the importance of or glorifies the working class. Workerism, or operaismo, was of particular significance in Italian left-wing politics, being largely embraced in Italian political groups ranging from Italian communists to Italian anarchists.
Autonomism, also known as Autonomist Marxism, is an anti-capitalist social movement and Marxist-based theoretical current that first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism. Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tendencies became significant after influence from the Situationists, the failure of Italian far-left movements in the 1970s, and the emergence of a number of important theorists including Antonio Negri, who had contributed to the 1969 founding of Potere Operaio as well as Mario Tronti, Paolo Virno and Franco "Bifo" Berardi.
The 1968 Italian general election was held in Italy on 19 May 1968. The Christian Democracy (DC) remained stable around 38% of the votes. They were marked by a victory of the Communist Party (PCI) passing from 25% of 1963 to c. 30% at the Senate, where it presented jointly with the new Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP), which included members of Socialist Party (PSI) which disagreed the latter's alliance with DC. PSIUP gained c. 4.5% at the Chamber. The Socialist Party and the Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) presented together as the Unified PSI–PSDI, but gained c. 15%, far less than the sum of what the two parties had obtained separately in 1963.
The Primavalle fire was a political arson-attack that occurred in Rome in 1973. It resulted in the death of two people.
Autonomia Operaia was an Italian leftist movement particularly active from 1973 to 1979. It played an important role in the autonomist movement in the 1970s, alongside earlier organisations such as Potere Operaio, which was created after May 1968, and Lotta Continua.
Armed Proletarians for Communism was an Italian far-left terrorist group founded in 1976 and disbanded three years later, during the "Years of Lead".
In Italy, the phrase Years of Lead refers to a period of political violence and social upheaval that lasted from the late 1960s until the late 1980s, marked by a wave of both far-left and far-right incidents of political terrorism and violent clashes.
Paolo Virno is an Italian philosopher, semiologist and a figurehead for the Italian Marxist movement. Implicated in belonging to illegal social movements during the 1960s and 1970s, Virno was arrested and jailed in 1979, accused of belonging to the Red Brigades. He spent several years in prison before finally being acquitted, after which he organized the publication Luogo Comune in order to vocalize the political ideas he developed during his imprisonment. Virno currently teaches philosophy at the University of Rome.
Nanni Balestrini was an Italian experimental poet, author and visual artist of the Neoavanguardia movement.
Mario Tronti was an Italian philosopher and politician, considered one of the founders of the theory of operaismo in the 1960s.
Oreste Scalzone is an Italian Marxist intellectual and one of the founders of the communist organization Potere Operaio.
Franco Piperno is a former communist militant from Italy. He is an associate professor of Condensed Matter Physics in the University of Calabria.
Alvaro Lojacono is an Italian former communist militant and terrorist.
Adriana Faranda is an Italian former terrorist, who was a member of the Red Brigades during the kidnapping of Aldo Moro.
Lotta Continua was a far-left militant organization in Italy, during the historical period of social turmoil and political violence in the country known as the "Years of Lead". Its leaders Adriano Sofri and Giorgio Pietrostefani ordered the assassination of police officer Luigi Calabresi in 1972. Militant Cesare Battisti later joined other organizations and repaired in France after being convicted for four homicides. Some other militants later joined the more famous Red Brigades. After the disbandment of the organization, various former militants became influential Italian politicians, journalists or writers.
The Red Brigades was an Italian Marxist–Leninist armed terrorist guerilla group. It was responsible for numerous violent incidents during Italy's Years of Lead, including the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro in 1978. A former prime minister of Italy through the Organic centre-left, the murder of Aldo Moro was widely condemned, as was the murder of left-wing trade unionist Guido Rossa in January 1979. Sandro Pertini, the then left-wing president of Italy, said at Rossa's funeral: "It is not the President of the Republic speaking, but comrade Pertini. I knew [the real] red brigades: they fought with me against the fascists, not against democrats. For shame!"
Mikis Mandakas was a Greek nationalist student who was murdered by far-left activists in Italy during the Years of Lead.
Quaderni Rossi was an Italian political journal founded in 1961 which became one of the primary sources of autonomist Marxism. The journal had a pro-Chinese stance. Its first issue appeared on 30 September 1961. Raniero Panzieri played a central role in founding the journal alongside Mario Tronti, Romano Alquati, Antonio (Toni) Negri, Alberto Asor Rosa, and Danilo Montaldi. In August 1963, Classe Operaia, led by Tronti, broke away, leaving a group around Panzieri and Vittorio Rieser running Quaderni Rossi. Following the death of Panzieri in 1964, the journal continued until 1966 but without the same impact as it had previously enjoyed.
Franco Anselmi was an Italian neofascist terrorist who was active in the organization Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari. He was killed during an attempt to rob a gun shop in Rome.
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