BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
X-WR-CALNAME:www.indybay.org
PRODID:-//indybay/ical// v1.0//EN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:Indybay-18539949
SEQUENCE:18575286
CREATED:20080919T205700Z
DESCRIPTION:Red & Black and Mouvement Communiste present this talk, to be followed by 
 discussion, on:\n\nFiat in the hands of the workers: The “Hot Autumn” 
 of 1969 in Turin\n\nThis presentation is based on Mouvement Communiste's 
 2005 French translation of the book of the same name (LA FIAT aux mains des 
 ouvriers. L’automne chaud de 1969 à Turin by Diego Giachette and Marco 
 Scavino, written in Italian in 1999). Since many of details of the 
 1968-1969 period of workers struggles in Italy are little known, this 
 account will situate the wildcat strikes at the FIAT Mirafiori factory from 
 May '69 through the "Hot Autumn" of that year within the context of the 
 massive wave of rebellion that shook the entire country and which 
 continued, with various levels of intensity, for the following 10 years. 
 Where the French general strike in May-June '68 only officially lasted 13 
 days, the strike wave in Italy crippled industry for nearly 2 years. In 
 1969 alone 300,000,000 hours of work time were lost due to strikes (compare 
 with the all-time record in the U.S. in 1946, when 116,000,000 hours were 
 lost), perhaps the greatest period of mass-based class struggle 
 ever.\n\nItaly experienced massive reconstruction after World War II with 
 large-scale migrations of the unskilled, often peasants, from the south to 
 work in the factories of the north. As industry grew so did cities like 
 Turin, but chronic housing shortages continued to plague workers. The Hot 
 Autumn was sparked at FIAT's Mirafiori plant in Turin as the class struggle 
 spilled past the factory gates as workers coordinated movements for 
 self-reduction; in September '69 FIAT workers refused to pay for the trams 
 and buses, as well as going into stores to demand 30, 40 & 50% reductions 
 in prices, backed only by showing their factory ID badges. They squatted 
 houses, formed neighborhood committees that self-reduced their rents, 
 occupied government offices, and thousands of workers collectively burned 
 their electricity bills. The social wildcat moved from factories to 
 universities, from working class districts to the entire social terrain. 
 Young workers made demands for more pay with less work; massive 
 worker-student assemblies made unconditional demands for "workers' power" 
 and even began to question the nature of work itself. The government and 
 the unions were helpless in stopping these new forms of working class 
 offensive.\n\nThe state's secret service responded with its strategy of 
 tension which reached its first climax in the killing of 16 people and 
 wounding of 87 in a bombing attack at Piazza Fontana in Milan on December 
 12, 1969. Yet the struggles continued throughout the 1970s and resulted in 
 many inspiring examples of working class self-organization in the struggle 
 against capital. Presentation to be followed by questions and answers.\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/19/18539949.php
SUMMARY:FIAT Strike in “Hot Autumn” of '69 Turin, Italy
LOCATION: Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library\n6501 Telegraph Avenue (at 65th Street), 
 Oakland\n(510) 595-7417\nhttp://www.marxistlibr.org/\n\nWheelchair 
 accessible
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/19/18539949.php
DTSTART:20081115T030000Z
DTEND:20081115T060000Z
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR