Crisis and Political violence: The Political Kidnapping in the rhetoric and action of the BR and GP

What I would like to show in this article is how the practice of the kidnapping moves from a movements practice to a strategy adopted by political groups. At the same time, it seems interesting to focus on how this change has been a sign of the change of political perspective of the political groups facing a new scenario within the economical and political fields, in 1968-1974. Through some cases of political kidnapping by Gauche Proletarienne operated in France and by the Red Brigades in Italy, the contribute shows how a repertoire of action of the labor movement has been revived by the two groups mentioned, and which changes it has undergone. This transformation follows and accompanies a long process of "crisis", understood as a profound change that was occurring in Western societies (Braun and Macdonald 1982). As all the processes of transformation also this one was better understandable in some places such as big plants. It is, at this point, no coincidence that in those situations, especially in industries such as automakers Renault and Fiat, the two organizations that we deal with were moving their first steps. The paper is based on documentation from the Italian and French archives: leaflets of organizations, court papers, archives of unions and parties.

Keywords: Political Violence; Political Kidnapping, Red Brigades; Gauche Proletarienne; Italy and Spain; Social Movements

Matteo Albanese, Crisi e violenza politica. Il rapimento politico nelle retoriche e nelle azioni delle Br e della GP in "PARTECIPAZIONE E CONFLITTO" 2/2012, pp 31-53, DOI: 10.3280/PACO2012-002002