In the wake of the First World War and the Russian Revolution, Italy was swept by a militant workers' movement that inspired and challenged Marxist theorists like Antonio Gramsci. This article, the first in a two-part series, explores how the factory council movement emerged.
Democracy was already under siege from Hungary's far-right government. Now the pandemic has provided Viktor Orbán’s government with the perfect excuse to pass a law ratcheting up repression to new levels.
Italy's coronavirus epicentre is also home to a tradition of working class militancy. Its factory workers are on the frontlines of the global class struggle to shut down non-essential production – and they're having to drag their union leaders behind them, kicking and screaming.
