Originally published in Socialism Today, magazine of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales). Giorgia Meloni’s coalition government in Italy has been in power for over three years now. If she lasts to the end […]
The Israeli state’s capture and arrest of aid workers, peace campaigners, workers representatives and parliamentarians on the Global Sumud Flotilla has sparked a general strike across Italy. The flotilla vessels, which were aiming to break […]
The Italian working class are beginning to take centre stage in the fight for the end to the brutal genocide inflicted on the people of Gaza by the Israeli state. In the middle of August […]
Since 9 July 2021, a remarkable story of a working-class fightback has developed in Campi Bisenzio, on the industrial outskirts of Florence, Italy. On that day, the entire 500-strong workforce of GKN Driveline Firenze, a […]
On 29 October 1922, King Victor Emmanuel lll appointed Benito Mussolini prime minister as his blackshirts organised to march on Rome – beginning 20 years of fascist rule in Italy. The 100th anniversary of the […]
As predicted, the right-wing coalition of Brothers of Italy (FdI), Lega, and Forza Italia won the general election in Italy – with 44% of the vote, writes Christine Thomas. The ‘post-fascist’ FdI, led by Giorgia […]
The Italian coalition government of Mario Draghi has become the latest political victim of the cost-of-living crisis. The government’s collapse at the end of July triggered a fall on the stock exchange and a rise […]
Italy is in lock-down in the fight against coronavirus. Bars, restaurants and shops are closed, with the exception of supermarkets, pharmacies and newsagents. And yet, under pressure from the bosses’ organisation, Confindustria, workers are still […]
With confirmed coronavirus cases in the thousands, the government of Italy has placed the entire country on lockdown. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte first quarantined 16 million of the country’s 60 million population in infected ‘red […]
Christine Thomas, CWI After just 14 months in power, the populist coalition government of the far-right Lega and Five Star Movement (M5S) in Italy has collapsed. Matteo Salvini, Lega leader and interior minister, pulled the […]
In Italy, all of the ‘unions of the base’ responded to Non Una Di Meno’s call for strike action on 8 March. Female and male workers walked out in hundreds of private workplaces around the […]
The unprecedented budget showdown between the Italian government and the European Union, which risked provoking a serious eurozone crisis, has ended with a compromise. However, all of the economic and political problems underlying this latest […]
The clash between the Salvini-Di Maio government and the European Commission on the budget law has been at the centre of the Italian political situation for more than two months. The draft submitted by the […]
Capitalist thirst for profits responsible
Three months after the general election of 4 March, Italy has a government again. On June 1, the yellow-green government, was officially given birth to by the lawyer Giuseppe Conte and the two vice-premiers – […]
What was a severe crisis for Italian capitalism, following the rejection in March’s general election of the establishment parties, has now developed into what can be seen as a time-bomb also threatening the European Union […]
After almost three months of tortuous negotiations and horse-trading, an Italian government finally seems to have been agreed and now just needs parliamentary approval. The reaction of the markets – a fall in the stock […]
The 4th March general election has caused the biggest shake-up of the Italian political landscape in over 20 years. Not since the ‘clean hands’ corruption scandal of the early ‘90s have the establishment parties been […]
A few weeks before the 4 March general election, the country is still dominated by a profound economic crisis and serious social consequences. On the political plain, the centre-right coalition of the Lega and Berlusconi’s […]
Class struggle can build real left force. After the defeat of Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, in the referendum on constitutional reform on 4 December, the crisis of the political system in Italy has accelerated. In late […]
No party in Italy has solution for long-term problems of workers and youth
Resignation opens opportunity for workers and youth to fight for a better future
Five Star mayors elected in Rome and Turin
Five Star Movement can gain
CWI youth campaign "Resistenze Internazionali" takes the lead!
Myth of Prime Minister’s invincibility exposed
From Mare Nostrum to Triton
New political voice vitally needed
Renzi seen as last chance for way out of impasse
His decline has already begun
Activists banished from Bologna on trumped up charges
Article first published in Socialism Today
Privatisation of local transport delayed
Letta government faces continuing economic and social crisis
In his ‘tsunami’ election tour Grillo began to give voice to the deep discontent at economic crisis and austerity
Political instability, crisis and new opportunities ahead
Plethora of parties and coalitions but none that represent workers’ need for a fight
CWI holds enthusiastic week-end of discussion and planning
Genoa traditions celebrated with film and music
Reports from February edition of Resistenze, paper of the CWI in Italy
The repression will not stop the movement!
General strike sets the pace
Paul Murphy Challenges ECB President Mario Draghi
Monti government will face mass opposition to austerity
Workers, students, pensioners – all in the firing line
Debt crisis hits Eurozone’s third largest economy
Violence of a few used to try and curb growing opposition
New initiative to build a fighting alternative
Paul Murphy MEP and others visit militarised zone at Maddalena
The CGIL, the main trade union federation, has called an 8 hour general strike for 6 September
Big opportunities lost to build new mass party of workers
Controcorrente holds important day of discussion in Genoa
2,000 police mobilised in Val di Susa
Second major defeat for beleaguered government
Rome, Turin, Naples, Milan, Reggio Emilia, Padova, Palermo, Brescia, Trieste, Venice, Cagliari, Viareggio, Pavia, Florence, Sassari, Verona, Lecce, Bologna, Pisa – this is a rough list of the major cities where the “Italian revolution” movement […]
After FIAT, now the shipyard workers’ struggle
Left in Turin loses an opportunity
A fighting alternative to Berlusconi is needed
On 13 February, one million women (and men) marched in 230 towns and cities across Italy.
One day strike in engineering industry this Friday
“General strike” call on lips of protesters
A united movement with the working class is the way forward!
Metal mechanics’ leaders point to political programme needed
Towards a wave of struggle?
Struggle at Pomigliano brings out need for workers’ party
A week-end of discussion on perspectives for the left – in Italy and in Europe – against the background of international capitalist crisis.
Space opens on the left
Joe Higgins visits NO TAV campaigners who are building a mass opposition against a high speed rail link
Joe Higgins MEP supports struggle of Val di Susa inhabitants
Workers fight to save 10,000 jobs
Italian socialists take stock of struggles and debate the way forward.
Workers’ fightback grows in Italy
Interview with Giorgio Cremaschi, National Secretary of the Metal Mechanics (Fiom)
Occupation ends with major job guarantees
International solidarity needed for Milan workers
Corruption kills
Public and private sector unite in angry mood
Controcorrente pushes party to break from coalition and capitalist politics
Clear programme for future struggle needed
Cgil calls a national general strike
General strike needed to unite struggles against Berlusconi
Chance to re-launch Rc as fighting workers’ party
Great potential squandered
A victory for the right led by Silvio Berlusconi and an electoral ‘bloodbath’ for the Sinistra arcobaleno (Rainbow Left).
New Berlusconi victory will provoke mass opposition
Re-establishing a tradition of struggle
Fighting workers’ organisations urgently needed
Mass disappointment underlines need for workers’ party with fighting programme
Workers need party that fights bosses’ system
Crisis and confusion remain
Why did workers vote in favour of an agreement which attacks their pension rights?
"The Prodi government has never been so weak"
A tale of two protests
After one year, no enthusiasm for Prodi government
Conference marks final demise of once powerful Communist Party
"Berlusconi and Prodi – two sides of the same coin"
Fight to maintain a force capable of genuine anti-capitalist struggle
From its foundation in 1991, Rifondazione Comunista (Prc) has been a point of reference and an expression of hope for the future, not just for the Italian working class but for workers throughout Europe.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has narrowly won a confidence vote in the Italian Senate by 162 votes to 157.
Turmoil in Party of Communist Re-foundation
Left lacks coherent alternative policies
"We don’t want a militarised city; we want to decide our own future".
On Tuesday, 16 January, five thousand people demonstrated and blocked the railway station at Vicenza in north-eastern Italy.
One and half million public and private sector workers in Italy went on strike on Friday 17 November.
Six months after it narrowly defeated the right-wing government of Silvio Berlusconi, Romano Prodi’s centre-left coalition in Italy is hanging by a thread.
‘Unione’ government plans pension ‘reforms’ and job ‘deregulation’
Letter from CWI’s councillors to ‘rebel’ Senators
Now workers and ’communist’ parliamentarians must mobilise to prevent attacks from ’centre-left’
Workers’ representatives will have to fight for real change
Silvio Berlusconi, the tycoon prime minister of Italy for five years, has finally tendered his resignation.
Workers must act to block the return of the tycoon prime minister
Text of CWI leaflet
Opposition to Berlusconi but ‘Unione’no real alternative
Deal finally signed after 13 months of negotiation and 60 hours’ of strike action.
Last Friday, 25 November, a general strike against budget cuts paralysed Italy.
Big defeats for Forza Italia in regional elections
On the 30th of November in Italy there was the fifth general strike against the Berlusconi government. It stopped the country.
The Party of Silvio Berlusconi, Forza Italia, took a beating in yesterday’s European and provincial elections. It went from 25.2% in the European election of 1999 to 21% yesterday. But compared to its vote in […]
"No Bush – No war", 100,000 strong week-day protest.
“Just the tip of the iceberg”
Millions take industrial action against Berlusconi’s pension “reforms”
Workers at the main production base in Italy of “Europe’s Enron” have no sympathy for those they call the “magnificent eight” now locked up in Milan’s notorious San Vittore prison.
Over a million and a half people from all parts of Italy crowded into Rome’s Piazza San Giovanni last Saturday (6 December) to attend the ’Defend Your Future’ rally organised by Italy’s three biggest union […]
1,500,000 take to the streets on day of general strike over pensions.
The latest venture of Italy’s right wing government onto the field of class battle is a blatant all-out attack on the whole of the working class.
It’s likely to be another ‘Hot Autumn’ for the working class in Italy this year. The ruling class plans a major attack on pensions. There will be further attempts to cut back workers’ real wages […]
The ‘SME’ case now running in the Milan courts, which includes il Presidente del Consiglio, Silvio Berlusconi, among the defendants, may never get to the stage where it sentences him to prison, as happened with […]
Following the official revelations of last month concerning the role of the "Italian intelligence services" in Iraq, the last fig leaf of Italy’s inactive participation in the invasion of Iraq has been taken away. Any […]
Half a million people demonstrated in bright Spring sunshine on the streets of Rome last Saturday, 12 April. A record-breaking peace banner in the colours of the rainbow – one kilometre long and 13 metres […]
Last week-end saw dramatic scenes of direct action in Italy to stop the movement of US military supplies in the country. One major rail convoy was forced to stop and to re-route in a number […]
Oggi i lavoratori hanno nuovamente fermato l’Italia. Gli effetti della crisi economica mondiale si fanno sentire anche in Italia,la cui economia deve affrontare anche motivi specifici di crisi. Su scala mondiale il sistema capitalistico sta […]
Even over Christmas and on New Year’s Day, there have been demonstrations of protest, with blockades, in a number of factories of the Fiat group (like Termini Imerese and Mirafiori).
The FIAT workers’ battle has taken on a European dimension. A two hour European strike of FIAT group workers has been called for 16/12, against the programme of group `restructuring’, already underway.
No ai processi politici !Verità su Genova! Libertà per tutti gli arrestati !No al governo Berlusconi!
Eye-witness report from Henry Silke, with references to the Irish links of the local fascists.
The many hundreds of thousands of Italian protesters were joined by tens of thousands of foreign participants in the European Social Forum assembly and by others, like the French CGT union, who came to Italy […]
In Naples, as everywhere else in Italy on 18 October, the general strike called by the Cgil trade union federation got support from a wide range of other organisations like Cobas, Sin.Cobas, the unemployed movement, […]
Last week’s general strike in Florence was very successful, with many factories practically empty. Local transport was on strike in the afternoon, when nearly everything stopped.
Yesterday’s general strike surpassed all expectations as literally hundreds of thousands of angry workers and youth took to the streets in 120 cities across Italy. This was the second general strike in defence of article […]
The Summer months in Italy saw only a temporary suspension of the open warfare between the classes provoked by the hated Berlusconi government. Now, with the World Cup and the August holidays well and truly […]
Today (October 5) 10,000 people, mainly youth, took part in an anti war demonstration called by the Florence Social Forum. This was part of a national day of action which saw over sixty demonstrations and […]
With a chant of ’Genoa Libera’ 150,000 youth and young workers marched through the streets of Genova on Saturday. They marched to commemorate the year since the G8 summit which saw a police riot and […]
The signing last Friday afternoon of a deal with the government and employers by the leaders of the two smaller trade union federations in Italy – the Uil and Cisl – has sparked a new […]
The crisis surrounding Mirafiori car plant and the whole Fiat Empire is sending shockwaves through Italian society. In America they say, “What’s good for General Motors is good for the USA”. In Italy the same […]
The second round of local elections affecting 25% of Italy’s electorate confirmed a big electoral swing against the Berlusconi forces after a year of his belligerent right wing government. Even in the North, the center-left […]
As all the first-hand reports make abundantly clear, 16 April 2002 in Italy was a day like no other. The first 8 hour general strike in the country for 20 years was solid. The response […]
Today saw Italy’s first united general strike in 20 years. All the unions were involved, even the CGT, a very right wing union. First reports are saying 95% of public sector workers took strike action. […]
Saturday 23 March will be one of the most memorable days in the history of Italy. Three million people made their way towards the Circus Maximus, not far from the world-famous Coliseum, at the heart […]
The basis for the return of Berlusconi was created by the complete failure of the previous government, the ‘Olive Tree’ coalition, composed of the ex-Communist Party, now ‘rechristened’ as the Democrats of the Left (DS), […]
The workers and young people of Italy are locked in a mighty battle with the Berlusconi government. 100,000 marched through the centre of Rome last Friday, 15 February, in a demonstration organised by the unions […]
Italy is the European country which has seen the biggest and most widespread protests against the US bombing of Afghanistan. It is also the only country that has seen its prime minister urging the population […]
Italy is the European country which has seen the biggest and most widespread protests against the US bombing of Afghanistan. It is also the only country that has seen its prime minister urging the population […]
The 300,000 strong 21 July demonstration and the state repression in Genoa are turning points both in Italy and for the growing worldwide opposition to capitalist globalisation.
The mid-May Italian election victory of Silvio Berlusconi’s right wing House of Liberty alliance grabbed the headlines. Some commentators, like the Wall Street Journal, hoped that the defeat of the Olive Tree centre-left government, along […]
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