A Letter from Italy: from Reform to Adventure

Rebellion in the Italian universities was already detectable in 1966. The crucible of the student movement, however, was the month-long occupation of the Turin campus in November 1967. From Turin the rebellion spread throughout the country, making a clean sweep of the old party-controlled organizations.’ Soon its unique traits began to take shape.

First of all, there is a flat refusal to participate in university decision-making. While the German SDS has sometimes laid claim to ...