Red Brigades

The Red Brigade (Brigate Rosse) is a militant group located in Italy. Formed in 1969, the Marxist-Leninist BR seeks to create a revolutionary state through armed struggle and to separate Italy from the Western Alliance.

History

Reputed founder of the Red Brigade was Renato Curcio, student at the University of Trento. In the beginning the Red Brigade were active mainly in Milan and Turin where they claimed to support labor unions against the far right. Members—mainly workers and students—sabotaged factory equipment and broke into factory offices and trade union headquarters. In 1972 they carried out their first kidnapping, a factory foreman who was held for some time but later released.

Related Topics:
Renato Curcio - University of Trento - Milan - Turin - Labor union

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Approximately at this point in time, the Red Brigades started differing from other extreme left political groups, such as Lotta Continua or Potere Operaio for having a much more determined political agenda, freer access to weapons and funding and a propensity for carrying out violent demonstrative acts.

Related Topics:
Lotta Continua - Potere Operaio

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After 1974, the Red Brigade expanded into Rome, Genoa, and Venice, and began to kidnap prominent figures. Its manifesto in 1975 claimed that its goal was a "concentrated strike against the heart of the State, because the state is an imperialist collection of multinational corporations". It switched its attacks to police and security forces and especially the Italian ruling party, Democrazia Cristiana. In June 1974, the Red Brigade made their first lethal attack, against two members of an Italian neo-fascist party, Movimento Sociale Italiano. It practically abandoned its political activities among the workers.

Related Topics:
Rome - Genoa - Venice - Democrazia Cristiana - Movimento Sociale Italiano

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In 1976 Italian police arrested a number of its members and killed one. The following year in April, the Red Brigade announced that they had set up a Communist Combatant Party to "guide the working class." Terrorist activities, especially against carabinieri and magistrates, increased considerably to pressure juries to dismiss cases against the imprisoned leaders of the organization. Membership switched from workers to the dominance of students. In 1978, the Brigade kidnapped and murdered former Prime Minister Aldo Moro, because he had created a compromise between Italian Communist Party and Democrazia Cristiana.

Related Topics:
Carabinieri - Magistrate - Aldo Moro - Italian Communist Party

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The murder of Moro began an all-out assault against the Brigade by the Italian law enforcement and security forces. The murder of a popular political figure also drew condemnation from the Italian left-wing radicals and even the imprisoned ex-leaders of the Brigade. The Brigade lost most of their social support and the public opinion turned strongly against them. Italian police made a large amount of arrests in 1980.

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In 1981, the Red Brigade kidnapped US Army Brigadier General James Dozier, who was later rescued in a police operation. Italian police arrested a number of members, many of who gave information about other members, which subsequently led to further arrests.

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In 1984, the Red Brigade had split into two factions: the majority faction of the Communist Combatant Party (BR-PCC) and the minority of the Union of Combatant Communists (BR-UCC). At the same year, four imprisoned leaders, Curcio, Moretti, Ianelli and Bertolucci, rejected the armed struggle as pointless.

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Also in 1984, the Red Brigade claimed responsibility for the murder of Leamon Hunt, US chief of the Sinai Multinational Force and Observer Group.

Related Topics:
Leamon Hunt - US - Sinai

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In 1985 some Italian terrorists who had lived in France, returned to Italy. At the same time, arrests increased. In February 1986, the BR-PCC killed the ex-mayor of Florence, and tried to kill Prime Minister's advisor Bettino Craxi. In March 1987, BR-UCC killed General Licio Giorgieri in Rome. On April 16 1988 BR-PCC killed Italian senator Roberto Ruffilli. After that the group activities all but ended after massive arrests of its leadership.

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The latest known actions of the Brigade (as of February 2004) are the 1999 murder of Massimo D'Antona, an advisor to the cabinet of near-left Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema. In March 20, 2002 the same gun that was used to kill D'Antona was used to kill professor Marco Biagi, an economic advisor to right-wing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and a key figure of Italian labour policies. The Brigade again claimed responsibility. On 3 March 2003 two followers, Mario Galesi and Nadia Desdemona Lioce, started a firefight with a patrol of police on a train at Terontola Station. Galesi and Emanuele Petri (one of the policemen) were killed, Lioce was arrested. In October 23 2003, Italian police arrested six members of the Red Brigade in early-dawn raids in Florence, Sardinia, Rome and Pisa in connection with the murder of Massimo D'Antona.

Related Topics:
Massimo D'Alema - March 20 - 2002 - Marco Biagi - Prime Minister - Silvio Berlusconi - Sardinia - Pisa

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