Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Acronyms
- 1 Political Violence and Social Movements
- 2 Escalating Policing
- 3 Competitive Escalation
- 4 The Activation of Militant Networks
- 5 Organizational Compartmentalization
- 6 Action Militarization
- 7 Ideological Encapsulation
- 8 Militant Enclosure
- 9 Leaving Clandestinity?
- 10 Clandestine Political Violence
- Primary Sources
- Bibliographical References
- Index
3 - Competitive Escalation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Acronyms
- 1 Political Violence and Social Movements
- 2 Escalating Policing
- 3 Competitive Escalation
- 4 The Activation of Militant Networks
- 5 Organizational Compartmentalization
- 6 Action Militarization
- 7 Ideological Encapsulation
- 8 Militant Enclosure
- 9 Leaving Clandestinity?
- 10 Clandestine Political Violence
- Primary Sources
- Bibliographical References
- Index
Summary
COMPETITIVE ESCALATION: AN INTRODUCTION
Militants who joined the underground were socialized to violence during harsh social conflicts that involved competitive relations not only with outsiders but also within the social movement family. Socialization to violence happened in action, especially around specific geographical areas, through the radicalization of specific forms of action.
In Italy, in the 1970s, competition between traditional unions and new, emerging rank-and-file ones led to escalating industrial conflicts at some factories. For example, a former militant remembers that before entering an underground organization he had already burned the cars of some bosses of the big Pirelli factory – where he worked and was a delegate to the factory council (Life History no. 3). Another militant also took part in actions of sabotage, which he described as actions “linked to the working class knowledge of the production” (Life History no. 9: 260). Yet another remembers “popular processes against the bosses, some of whom were acquitted, others expelled from the factory” (Life History no. 29: 24). Activists went to the headquarters of the Magneti Marelli and took files containing personal information on the workers (ibid.: 25).
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- Information
- Clandestine Political Violence , pp. 70 - 112Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013