Le origini delle Brigate rosse in base a nuove acquisizioni documentarie

This essay examines a series of documents found in the archive of the Istituto per la storia del movimento di liberazione in Italia (INSMLI), which shed new light on the origins of the Red Brigades, and on the first organization they participated in: the Collettivo Politico Metropolitano (CPM). The CPM was a small group that was in many ways similar to other Milanese groups of the extreme left. According to the archival material discussed here, it was founded before September 1969, earlier than hitherto supposed. In March 1970, the CPM started to issue a series of fogli di lotta, which were characterized by an increasingly radical point of view. In July 1970s, after confronting itself with other collectives, it changed its name to Sinistra Proletaria. The author traces the gradual drift of some of its members toward armed struggle, up to the first attack of the Red Brigades, which took place in September 1970.