Solidarity and Italian Labor Movement Culture: CGIL Intellectuals and Revision of the CGIL’s International Relations (1980–1982)

The contribution aims to highlight the influence of the movement of Solidarność on the largest Italian trade union, the General Confederation of Labor during the peak of the Polish crisis (1980–1982). The author traces the ambivalences and contradictions of the debate that take place in the trade union, through an extensive study of the interviews, articles, internal reports and public speeches of intellectuals and main leaders. A clear picture emerges of both capacities and limits of Italian trade unionism (as of the whole Italian left) in understanding the real nature and depth of political and economic crisis in the socialist world.