Radical leftist intellectual Toni
Negri, a leading far-left ideologue of the 1970s, died in Paris
on Friday evening aged 90.
The political philosopher and university lecturer was one of the
leading theoreticians and organisers behind Autonomia Operaia
(Workers' Autonomy), an heir to the radical leftist groups that
emerged from the student and workers' movement in the late 1960s
and early 1970s.
The movement played an important role in Italy's so-called
'Years of Lead', the period of social turmoil and leftist and
rightist political violence that ran from the late 1960s to the
1980s.
Born in Padua in 1933, Negri took his first political steps in
the local section of the Socialist Party before launching the
Independent Socialist Movement and then joining the radical
leftist group Potere operaio (Workers' Power).
He founded Workers' Autonomy in 1973 and was its leader and main
theoretician until its dissolution in 1979.
In 1983 Negri was elected to parliament with the Radical Party
with over 13,000 votes, but in September of that year he took
exile in France to escape the '7 April' trials of Workers'
Autonomy militants for alleged terrorism.
Negri returned to Italy voluntarily in July 1997 to serve his
final sentence of 12 years.
In 1999 he was granted semi-freedom and in 2003 total freedom.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
