[Minorcompositions] The Magneti Marelli Workers Committee – The “Red Guard” Tells Its Story (Milan, 1975-78)

[Minor Compositions]

Now available for direct ordering and/or free download…

*The Magneti Marelli Workers Committee – The “Red Guard” Tells Its Story 
(Milan, 1975-78)*
Emilio Mentasti

In a large factory in Milan in the mid-70s, a few dozen workers 
organized themselves against both the management and the unions in an 
autonomous Workers’ Political Committee. Soon, this “Red Guard” 
consisted of hundreds of workers fighting against layoffs and 
relocation. The Committee did not stay shut up within the walls of the 
factory. It participated in numerous other struggles, such as strikes 
and demonstrations, which were raging across the whole of Italy. 
Crucially, it took part in attempts to unify the movement of workers’ 
committees on a regional level. And it also participated in the radical 
struggle against inflation, where workers refused to pay ever increasing 
prices. This movement of autoreduction famously inspired Dario Fo’s play 
Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!

Magneti Marelli was not the only factory in Italy to create autonomous 
workers’ organizations, but its Committee served as a reference for all 
the others because of its bold initiatives and its capacity to help 
workers in the surrounding smaller workplaces to benefit from its 
experience. Its exemplary fight was a vital part of the revolutionary 
struggle in Italy during the hot decade 1968-1979, and one that still 
contains important lessons for class struggle militants today.

Bio: Emilio Mentasti is a historian who has published several books on 
the history and organization of the autonomous workers movement in Italy.

PDF available freely online: https://www.minorcompositions.info/?p=1002

Ordering Information: Available direct from Minor Compositions now for 
the special price of £10.

Release to the book trade May 2021

Released by Minor Compositions, Colchester / Brooklyn / Port Watson
Minor Compositions is a series of interventions & provocations drawing 
from autonomous politics, avant-garde aesthetics, and the revolutions of 
everyday life.


-- 
Minor Compositions is a series of interventions
& provocations drawing from autonomous politics,
avant-garde aesthetics, and the
revolutions of everyday life.

http://www.minorcompositions.info
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