Lotta Continua

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Lotta Continua was a far left political party in Italy, involved in the autonomism movement. It was founded in Autumn 1969 by a split in the student-worker movement of Turin, which had started militant activity at the University and at factories such as Fiat. The first issue of Lotta Continua 's eponymous newspaper was published in November 1969, a few weeks before the December 12, 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing, which is considered as the beginning of Italy's strategy of tension. Lotta Continua focused on spreading radicalisation from students and youth to workers, and played a large role in setting up social centres. Its influence was mostly on recently-immigrated, young, unqualified workers in large factories, while the "traditional" working class kept its allegiance to the Italian Communist Party and the trade union movement.

The group's leadership included Adriano Sofri, Mauro Rostagno, Guido Viale, Giorgio Pietrostefani, Paolo Brogi and Marco Boato. Other notable contributors included Gad Lerner and Alexander Langer. Since, for Italian law, any newspaper needed that a professional journalist act as its "responsible editor", for some time Pier Paolo Pasolini "gave his name" in order to allow Lotta Continua's publication ^[1]. At first a loose grouping with a focus on spontaneous action, it was centralised between 1972 and 1974, with its paper becoming a daily. As opportunities became more limited, it disbanded in 1976, after a national congress characterized by a severe ideological clash between male and female militants. The newspaper was published until 1982.

During the 1980s, most of Lotta Continua 's representatives abandoned their original ideology. Marco Boato and Mimmo Pinto went to the Radical Party, others worked on TV (RAI or Fininvest) or in various newspapers. Many joined the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), supporting in particular Bettino Craxi's positions. Only a few of them, such as Marco Revelli or Fulvio Grimaldi, joined Rifondazione Comunista.

Adriano Sofri, Ovidio Bompressi, Giorgio Pietrostefani, former leaders of Lotta Continua, were accused of organizing and carrying out the murder of police officer Luigi Calabresi in 1972, and condemned to heavy prison sentences, after a legal proceeding which raised many controversies.

Ovidio Bompressi is one of the rare political activists who has been pardoned (May 2006) by Italian President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano (Democrats of the Left, DS) because of health reasons.