Former Member of Italian ‘Red Brigades’ Arrested in Argentina

Published on
September 15, 2024

4 min read

Leonardo Bertulazzi, a former member of the Italian radical left group “Red Brigades” (“Brigade Rosse” in Italian), has been arrested in Buenos Aires, according to reports in Yeni Demokrasi, an Argentine political newspaper. (1)

According to the report, Interpol, Italian police and Argentine intelligence stripped Bertulazzi of his political refugee status and went to his home, where he had lived for the past 20 years. They searched the house and confiscated personal belongings. Minutes before the arrest, the activist was contacted by his lawyer and told that his refugee status had been revoked, indicating that the Italian and Argentine authorities were working closely together. (2)

Now the prisoner is awaiting extradition to Italy and can start his sentence. Given his age (he is now 72) his sentence will probably be a life sentence.

Bertulazzi’s arrest raises intense questions about the communist movement and in particular the history of the Italian revolutionary movement. Several “communist” organizations try to justify his actions and the actions of the Red Brigades, downright radical and often adventurer or even terrorist, by explaining his arrest as repression of revolutionary figures.

We do not deny that the arrest of Leonardo Bertulazzi represents an act of continuity of capitalist repression against those who wanted to overthrow the bourgeois order – it would be strange to think otherwise – but the problem lies in the tactics and strategy that the Red Brigades implemented in the last years of the 20th century. They operated in a context in which the strategy of armed struggle was increasingly isolated from the working class and the mass movement, which led to a progressive delegitimization of their actions. In short, their actions led to controversial conclusions in the eyes of the working class.

The reasons for the armed strategy are to be found in the incorrect theories of these militants, which largely stem from the historical context in which the organization developed: the post-war period, increasing inequality and poverty, the flourishing of the mafia and terrorist gangs seeking profit through the massification of workers. In addition, the so-called “Italian Communist Party” had a strong right-wing parliamentary bias.

In this regard, Franceschini, one of the founders and a leading exponent of the Red Brigades, wrote: «We remember that Italy was going through dark years. State murders, attempted coups (…) this was the context in which the Red Brigades began to act.» (3)

Workers and communists (who defend the rights of the proletariat) have always reacted and are obliged even today to defend themselves against the terror exercised by the ruling class with harsh class confrontation. However, this did not give them a reason to use this method of terrorist acts and assassinations of the ruling elite and state officials. This was completely counter-revolutionary on the part of such organizations and turns the masses away from the revolutionary path.

However symbolic they may seem, attacks on individuals (however regrettable) do not undermine the capitalist system and, worse still, often alienate the working class from coordinated mass mobilization. Individual acts of terror cause confusion and panic among the population rather than inspire it, and often prompt the state to take repressive measures, thus further weakening the movement. Socialist revolution cannot come from the isolated actions of small armed groups; it must and can only come about as a result of the collective struggle of the masses of the working class realizing their interests. The role of the Communist Party is to identify these interests, to show them the way, to give the working class a theory with which to build a more progressive society.

Instead of gaining the popular support necessary for a successful revolution, the Red Brigades alienated the workers by presenting the revolutionary movement and communists as a group of violent fanatics rather than as representatives of their interests. This is especially evident because in cases where the leaders of genuine revolutionary movements have close ties with the masses, it becomes difficult for the authorities to arrest them for fear of mass strikes with political demands, including the release of these leaders – something that did not happen with the arrest of Bertulazzi. He relied instead on the Argentine civil status, its laws and “refugee status”, which was taken away as easily as it was given.

Therefore, the attitude of the Communists towards the Red Brigades should in many ways be a criticism of them. It meant that they neglected real revolutionary work in favor of conspiratorial, radical, spontaneous, and consequently opportunistic counterrevolutionary tactics.

The arrest of Bertulazzi is just another illusion for opportunists and ordinary people, who are not aware of the real strategy of communists based on the Marxist-Leninist theory of revolution and tactics of struggle in class confrontation. It is necessary to fight against opportunists who discredit the struggle for the overthrow of capitalism, the transfer of the means of production into the hands of the workers and the establishment of workers’ power.

Sources:

(1) ansa.it – ​​​​“Arrest in Argentina of former Brother Bertulazzi, sequestrò Costa“dated August 30, 2024;

(2) governoro.it – ​​​​“Arrest of Leonardo Bertulazzi, note from Palazzo Chigi“dated August 29, 2024;

(3) Alberto Franceschini, Pier Vittorio Buffa and Franco Giustolisi, Mara, Renato and I (Mara, Renato and I)Milan, 1988.