„Nehmen wir uns die Stadt“ – Die italienische Neue Linke entdeckt urbane Konflikte als Feld für revolutionäre Mobilisierung

Abstract

How did the New Left in the 1970s grapple with cities, urbanity, urban Living conditions and living environments? Which concepts did New Left organizations develop to make cities more liveable, democratic or even communist? What was the role of cities, its structures, and residents in their concepts of the New Left to revolutionize Italy? My contribution has its local focus in Milan, the center of the leftist radical movement in Italy during the early 1970s. I consider two case studies: the occupation of Albergo Commercio in November 1968, and in a more detailed case study the Campaign prendiamoci la città of the new left organisation Lotta Continua. After some spectacular successes in 1972 the campaign surprisingly petered out. The reasons for the success as well as the eventual failure of the leftist urban strategy are analyzed in my essay.