The Years of Lead in Italy: Strategy of Tension, Operation Gladio, & the Long 1970s

Most people, even on the Left, only know fragments of Italy's "Years of Lead." This episode pulls the whole picture into focus: the mass worker upsurge after the boom years, the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing and the death of Giuseppe Pinelli, the rise of the Red Brigades, the kidnapping and execution of Aldo Moro, and the 1980 Bologna massacre. Alyson and Breht trace how far-right stragismo (mass bombings) intersected with far-left clandestinism, and how segments of the deep state, intelligence services, and the Cold War Gladio architecture shaped a strategy of tension that isolated the movements, kept the socialist and communist left from power, and cleared the way for the establishment of neoliberalism in Italy and beyond. Alyson and Breht then discuss what lessons we can learn from this history and if there are any similarities to the contemporary United States. Check out our episode on the Italian fascist Julius Evola HERE Check out our episode on Carl Schmitt's Concept of the Political HERE Learn more at

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The Years of Lead in Italy: Strategy of Tension, Operation Gladio, & the Long 1970s is an episode from Red Menace by Red Menace.

This episode is 01:47:01 long.

This episode was published on Nov 24, 2025.

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