CHAPTER 22
CORSO TRAIANO: SERIOUS INCIDENTS AND ACTS
OF VIOLENCE
[Article from La Stampa, 30 October 1969]
“It has been another day of serious violence, with
incidents and acts of vandalism in the big engineering factories during the
strikes over the negotiations for the renewal of the national agreement...
The leading elements of these disorders are a minority
of workers (a few hundred) but they use intimidatory
methods in order to provoke panic and chaos. Those responsible for these acts
of hooliganism are to be reported to the magistrates immediately.
The worst events of the day took place at
FIAT-Mirafiori. Yesterday morning, during an internal strike, about 250 workers
marched out of the plant brandishing iron bars, sticks, iron railings and
steering wheel columns. The demonstrators invited other workers to follow them,
and a ‘corteo’ of about 1,500 workers formed
up and marched round the factory’s perimeter road. On the way, the strikers
turned over parked cars, broke windscreens and threw iron bolts. They then
gathered in front of the Administration Block and, shouting appeals and
slogans, called for the office workers inside to stop work. In order to avoid
incidents, management sounded the hooter early for the end of work. But only a
few of the office workers were able to reach the gates; the rest were blocked
inside by the strikers.
In the meantime, the 250 workers from the corteo inside the
factory had decided to march out of the factory and go to the nearby Salone dell’Automobile, where the
opening ceremony for the Turin Motor Show was in progress. At the gates they
were stopped by the police and asked to leave behind their sticks and bars.
Only if this were done could they leave the factory. There was some verbal
resistance. In the end, the sticks were deposited, and the police allowed the
workers through.
The demonstrators moved down Corso Traiano
towards the
Another group of 100 demonstrators set off for the Body
Plant. Here they smashed up completed car bodies with iron bars; about 30 are
now complete write-offs. The strikers then blocked the assembly lines for the
850 and 600 models. Using their iron bars they smashed the windscreens of two
cars and damaged others. Boxes full of bolts and components and piles of tyres
were upended and the materials scattered through the shop.
The Company reports that during the invasion of the
Paint Shop, groups of agitators armed with oxy-acetylene bottles and a blow
torch attempted to sever the pipes connecting the paint tanks with the spraying
machinery...
At the start of the afternoon shift, only one
production line was able to operate, due to the damage, and could only be
brought into production after a 2-hour delay. At 12.15pm calm returned to
Mirafiori, and in the afternoon work continued without interruption in the
sections where articulated strikes had not been called.
Other incidents occurred at FIAT-Rivalta. Yesterday
morning the articulated strike was scheduled to finish at 10.00am. But at 10.30
the factory’s 6,000 workers stopped work once again. They were incited to this
action by a group of extremists, who went around the various shops calling on
the workers to strike.
______________________________________
[INSERT
PICTURE]
Anno
105 Numero 252 – Giovedì 50 Ottobre 1969 .5
Gravi violenze durante gli
scioperi articolati Devastati a Mirafiori e a Rivalta i refettorie il reparto
Carrozzerie
Cento auto e scocche
rovesciate e colpite con mazze di ferro, sfasciati gli impianti di
scaldavivande per gli operai – Danni alle linee di montaggio della 600 e della
850 – A Rivalta impedita la ripresa del lavoro in tutto lo stabilimento – Bloccata
per 2 ore la strada provinciale – Oltraggi ad alcune dipendenti – I
responsabili degli atti di teppismo saranno immediatamente denunciati alla
magistratura
______________________________________
The demonstrators damaged machinery and dented parked
cars with blows from their iron bars. They also entered the canteen and
overturned the food-warmers containing cooked lunches. The carabinieri claim
that 3 workers were stripped naked by the strikers. At the end of the shift a
group of workers stayed inside the factory to hinder the re-starting of
production. The Company states that production was at a complete standstill for
the afternoon shift.
Another group of workers stayed outside the factory
where, in the meantime, a coachload of extremists
from the Potere Operaio group had gathered [t.n.
Workers’ Power]. At about 1.00pm a coachload of
workers from Cumiana arrived at Mirafiori. The
demonstrators forced the coach to stop, surrounded it and let down its tyres.
The coach was stranded between Gates 7 and 9 of Mirafiori. In the meantime
other extremists formed road blocks along the main road, which remained blocked
for 2 hours.
The sides of the coach, stranded, with its tyres
flattened, were used as a sort of blackboard, on which the extremists wrote slogans:
“Mirafiori, Lingotto, We Are With You – Rivalta
Workers In Revolt”; “Potere Operaio”; “Unity In Struggle”.
During the afternoon tension mounted and the news
reaching
At FIAT-Spa Stura a corteo
of workers broke down a gate and got into the spares department. At the starter
motor plant some workers broke into the Administration Block through the
canteen roof. In subsequent scuffles a supervisor suffered severe bruising.
FIAT has made a rough estimate of the damage arising
from the day’s disorders; they amount to about 100 cars and car bodies damaged.
In the evening the engineering unions (CISL, CGIL,
SIDA, UIL) distributed a leaflet claiming ‘the complete success of the day’s
strikes, which have seen a full participation by manual and clerical workers’,
and during which ‘marches, meetings and assemblies took place at FIAT-Grandi
Motori and Stura, and the factories of the Nizza and Bienasco areas. Pickets were put on the Turin Motor Show.
1,500 workers from Lancia, Spa, Tonolli,
Fergat, Osi, Ipra and Gustinelli marched from
San Paolo to the Motor Show, where they gave out leaflets to the visitors.
Articulated strikes were fully supported at FIAT-Mirafiori and FIAT-Rivalta,
where strike action was extended for the full day.’ In relation to the day’s events
the Union leaflet adds: ‘The employers continue with their provocatory
tactics, refusing and prolonging negotiations, and in the case of Mirafiori
announcing that non-productive time will not be paid to those workers not on
strike.’ The leaflet concludes: ‘The Union denounces these provocations as open
attacks on the right to strike.’”
[Translated from the
FIAT-owned newspaper La Stampa, 30 October 1969]
_______________________________________
Translated
by Ed Emery
Extracted from: THE BOOK OF FIAT: Insurrection,
insubordination, occupation and revolutionary politics at the FIAT motor
company – 1907-1982
Published:
Red Notes / May Day Rooms
First
published in 2020