Toni Negri in Francia. Frammenti d’un esilio dolceamaro

Antonio “Toni” Negri has been one of the most influential Marxist thinkers of his time, and theoretician of the Autonomia operaia (working class autonomy). Coherently with his ideological pattern, he was mentor of a generation of militants seeking to subvert capitalism through mass illegality and a sort of relentless urban guerrilla. Renowned academician in Padua and, at the same time, point of reference of far-leftist networks between Northern Italy and France, his life was marked by a political-judicial case known as “7 April”. That day, in 1979, the first arrests were accomplished of several exponents of the Italian far Left. He was accused to be responsible of the whole Italian armed struggle and of leading the Red Brigades. A long-lasting self-defence started, which involved a large range of allies, from lawyers-comrades to politicians. In 1983 Negri chose to leave Italy and seek refuge in France, where he lived until 1997 under the shelter of the Mitterrand doctrine.