Potere Operaio

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Potere Operaio (Workers' Power) was a radical left-wing Italian political group, particularly active between 1968 and 1973. Among the group's leaders were Antonio ('Toni') Negri, Franco Piperno, Oreste Scalzone, and Valerio Morucci, who founded the "operaismo" marxist movement.

Unlike the Red Brigades, Potere Operaio never enaged in large-scale terrorist acts, acting more as a harbour for intellectuals and other individuals connected to protests in factories, especially in the industrial North, and publishing newspapers and leaflets. It was probably one of the most influential groups from a political and ideological standpoint, and at one stage had broad support in the ranks of disenfranchised and arguably exploited industrial workers, even threatening mainstream trade unions.

Some members of the group began to consider the possibility of using violence to impose the revolutionary struggle. At that point, however, the Italian public had already started to overcome the tensions caused by reckless industrial development and had fully entered the consumer society, thus defusing much of the appeal of the communist revolutionary ideology. Potere Operaio's leaders quickly lost their grip on the organization and the organization disbanded after a number of investigations by the Italian authorities after 1973.

Potere Operaio officially ceased to exist on 3 June 1973, although some of the leaders later drifted towards more radical groups such as the Red Brigades, including Morucci and Adriana Faranda, who had a leading role in the Moro case (see Red Brigades). Negri and Scalzone, among others, were arrested in the late 1970's, allegedly in connection with violent acts.