Movement of 1977

In this context a complex movement, libertarian and creative, was born where there were no leaders and where involvement and responsibility were closely personal, although a leading role in the struggles continued being played by the now dissolved Lotta Continua militants, and especially by the area of autonomy.

Some of the practices of struggle that characterized the movement were formalized during the 70s and tended to propose a model of direct action where change was to take place immediately, with the reappropriation of goods and areas claimed as a right.

Occupation of vacant and / or abandoned houses, proletarian expropriations, one-sided reduction of bills and services in general (from cinema to catering operations), became the typical practices of the movement, which stood alongside the separate actions of extra-parliamentary left as militant anti-fascism.

On February 17, 1977, Luciano Lama, secretary-general of the CGIL, the trade union closest to the PCI, gave a speech inside the occupied La Sapienza University.

In particular, on March 11 a militant of Lotta Continua named Francesco Lorusso was killed by a gunshot to the back (fired by a policeman), during charges to disperse a group of persons who had organized a protest against a mass meeting of Communion and Liberation, which was being held that morning at the university.

On October 1, 1977, after a procession had started with an attack on the headquarters of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a group of militants of Lotta Continua reached a downtown bar, L'angelo azzurro (The Blue Angel), frequented by young right-wing activists.

Another innocent victim of the riots of that year was Giorgiana Masi, who was killed in Rome by a gunshot during an event organized by the Radical Party to celebrate the third anniversary of the victory in the referendum on divorce.

Only a few organizations remained to uphold the principles of the movement: the most notable among them was Democrazia Proletaria (Proletarian Democracy), a newly-established party which occupied space to the left of the PCI and became a reference point for many young people involved in 1980s politics.

At the same time other new forms of organizing political struggle were born; they were very localized and congregated around self-managed social centers (Centri Sociali), which, in turn, gave birth to the Italian anti-globalization movement.