All language subtitles for Pasolini - Lotta Continua

Milan: 12th December 1970
1 year after the slaughter in Piazza Fontana

Milan: 12th December 1970
1 year after the slaughter

it's been 1 year since the slaughter here at the Agrarian Bank

who do you think it was?
-who knows!

who knows?

would you have anything to tell me about the slaughter?

I transported the man who blew up the bank

and here's the story the taxi driver told me:

I was at the taxi stand when I saw a man come out of the Corso shops a man

who was going towards the square

he has a suitcase in his hand and was coming to my taxi

he said to me "take me to the Agrarian Bank"

and I naturally told him, "but the bank is only 100m"
you'd be quicker to go by foot

but the man opened the door and got into the taxi

so naturally I took him in front of the Agrarian Bank

[L.Paolucci continues to relate the dialogue he had with the taxi driver Rolandi]

I waited in front of the bank for a minute and then he came out

I took him where he needed to go

and only after half a hour I found out about the explosion at the Bank

and in that moment I remember that

when he had gone into the Bank he had the suitcase and when he came out he didn't

I remembered that he had a very dark face

and he spoke a perfect Italian, without accent

?...my advice is that you leave immediately

and while leaving he said to me,

you met [drove?] me here, and if I go to the police

all will be talking about me, radio, television,
and at this point I have to say

that I'm asking myself if I was a servant of the truth

you will ask me why

so I will tell you immediately what my doubts are:

1. Why did the police, half an house after

ask me if I had asked the taxi driver what the man was wearing

why didn't the police question me directly?

why did I never meet Rolan?

Cornelio Rolandi,
sole witness in charge of Valpreda, died 16th july 1971, after 12th dec 1969

8 people had already died, all related to the slaughter

no interviews to anyone because

during the worse times, even for me
[C.Rolandi - Taxi driver]

when I was interviewed, it seemed like everyone was helping me

but instead nowadays, it's almost 6 months i'm unemployed

no one helps me

people who came to visit me are friends, journalists haven't come

i wait for proposals that are useful to me and family

but up to now i have found no one that has made any declaration

for the future, even for my son, and i don't know

I'm here, a man suspended from eveything

Sunday morning, the 14th

around 9.30, I don't know, I get a call from the police

and not from Pino, saying that Pino was at the station and ill

at 14:30 on monday, yet another phone call from the police

they said, "your husband has been stopped at the station for check ups"

he repeats this again

at 22:00 I get a phone call from Dr.Calabresi

who was asking for Pino's documents [license?]

ten minutes later I call saying i'd found it, should I bring it?

he says, no Miss, we are coming

but where is Pino exactly? - he's here where he is much better

at 23:00 a policeman came to get the document

at 1:05, of the 16th, journalists came to tell me that Pino had died

I phoned Dr.Calabresi asking him why he didn't tell me

he said, you know lady, we have a lot to do

At my house a policeman came, put his hand on my shoulder and said, lady, come with me

and he took me to Dr.Allegra's room

who asked me, who are you? I said, I am Pinelli's mother

lady, assure the mother of the children, that Giuseppe is not involved in anything

we were just following leads from Rome, because of the seriousness of the case

when I left I phoned his wife and my daughter assuring them that there was nothing on Pino

and telling them what Dr.Allegra had told me.

And at an earlier time, when Alice had said she was worried that Pino was too involved in his party...

with the anarchists, the movement

I observed him a little and said, "Pino be careful because, you know, anarchists not well considered"

And he replied to me,

"anarchy is not what they taught you when you were a child, it is not violence, we do not want violence

and we don't use it".

he assured me with those words, and that was the last time I saw Pino

in the evening, after the journalists had arrived

after Calabresi's reply, which I heard because I was near the phone

to hear the reply, I was the first to go to the hospital

so a nurse of the hospital took me to an inside room

she said, "lady, wait here, are you on your own?", I said, no, I'm waiting for my daughter-in-law

while we talk, a nurse (male) comes in and searches for a document and says,

"is this the council's certificate?"

when I heard that phrase I thought, Pino had died.

and the nurse says, "he was brought here in pretty bad shape"

they took us to see him, I remember very well

and I don't ever want to relive it

[Bridge of Ghisolfa Centre - (Anarchist)]

At that moment that the Ghisolfa was closing, Pinelli arrives on his motorcycle

"Do you want to follow us?"

"you know, it's a formal question, no pressure

we know you have nothing to do with it"

so in that way, a friend Artau go into the car

while Pinelli followed on the scooter

to the police station.

I started to be involved with Giuseppe Pinelli
[Milan Courts: first hearing on case of Lotta-Continua - Calabresi]

basically one year ago, the same night of the day that he died

Pinelli is invited to present himself at the polive station

and here, during the night between the 12t and 13th

that is, between Friday and Saturday

they interrogate until the early hours of the morning

the second day arrives, Saturday,

the night between Saturday and Sunday, Pinelli had stayed in a secured room

the next day is the day of the tragedy

according to the reconstruction by certain journalists

between 23:58, 23:59 and 24:00 hours

the body of Pinelli falls

in the courtyard of the station

he is taken to hospital

he arrives some 10 minutes after midnight

or 15, or some minutes later

he is treated by Dr. Fiorenzano

In the rooms of medical visits

we were brought a man of about 40 years old

whose conditions were extremely serious

with no pulse or pressure

in the meantime there was a movement of people, even in the medical room

the situation was such that to my questions of what happened how did it happen

someone explains that Pinelli, during the interrogation,

makes a precise murder charge, the phrase was unambiguous

someone else in this movement says, "he got up suddenly, went to the window and because of the heat, threw himself out"

operations were suspended, Pinelli had finished living.

Some say, to enter the history of this case

that Pinelli had a sudden impulse

[Lawyer Gentini - defending Lotta Continue - continues]

that he got up suddenly, threw himself towards the window

that he would have climbed the fence

hurting himself

to his family, to his political ideology, to everything

others say, that he went close to the window

that with a movement flicked the ash from his cigarette

after finishing to smoke

to fool the police around him.

and then threw himself

it was around...23:56

I remember because I looked at my watch, because I wanted to get the early edition of the newspaper

and when I decided to go, I said bye to my collegues

got the newspaper

I went as usual by the stairs

I lit a cigarette

arrived in the courtyard and just in that moment heard the noises

something hitting, a shout and then 3 consecutive noises

something that fell, hitting twice then the final impact on the ground naturally

then there were some muffled noises, two closer, and one further away

so much that after, I said,

this body that fell, must have hit the two edges

Hyphotheses...[?]

and they are these:

a rough meeting during the interrogation

that made the people present think that Pinelli was close to death

there in custody, under the eyes, those days, of the whole of Italy

in other words, they really sent him to death

they chose to drop the anarchist and talk of suicide`

rather than put into crisis, with the police of Milan, the whole investigation

with the facts of the 12th of December.

Another hypothesis:

Murder.

[Group of workers meeting in the headquarters of the Lotta Continue in Milan]

I think, the bombs, were exploded in that moment

only because the working class, was going through an excellent period

with regard to the socialist movement

So that these people, with the support of the government, of the State, exploded these bombs

to blame the left, the people who were fighting

when it was clear that the murders were fascist and nothing else

It was a reply, really, a reply to the advance of the workers

The case was in Milan, but within the factories, especially Fiore, the event was immediately understood

there were no doubts, that the bombs were put by anarchists or whatever, it was immediately understood that it was fascists

even the most unpoliticised worker knew this

It was a black thread that tied everything together

it tied parliament, the repression of workers, and all these things

[Group of ex-partisana of Sarzana]

I think that the right position

in this direction would be to do

towards directors of the Italian State

and all the parties

to talk about the illegality

the affairs of the fascists

we are always there

It's the Italian state that is fascist

how can it talk about laws?

Agnelli pays two: pays Colombo and pays Borghese

I came home in '45

and in May they were already home

they had come home, it was all over

and they waited for me because

they told me, look, Martini,

you suffered there, and we suffered here

now let's try and make an Italy with another regime

with another system, democratic system, an advanced system

get rid of tyranny, remove the monarchy

do the reforms, etc...etc...

I agreed, I listened to them

When we went to the hills, we were a nucleus of people

people who fought for an ideal, to really change the situation in Italy.

They fooled us

They sold what was the partisan movement

Things basically were not changing. I saw strikes, strikes started

fights started, they started to shoot again,

so I said basically "What republic have we made?"

When there are deaths, when the police shoot

When Togliatti gave amnesty to the fascists

What sort of republic have we made, I would say

So they would reply "Step by step, step by step"

For me, steps were taken but always in the same place

so that there must be a hole 2 metres big

in these steps that the Communist Party would take

to repress marches

or to divert them

For example, it was seen

the elections that took place in Sicily and Calabria

and why all those votes for [?] came out

It's not because they have just now emerged

it's not that they have just become fascist

They were fascists before but before they were hidden behind the mask of the D.C. [Christian Democrats]

[Colonnata village (in Carrara) - white murders and toxicity]

Every year, give or take, about 20 people come, 30..40..

How do people die here?

Under blocks of stone, squashed

Or some of the accidents have to do with fear

to lose their jobs, to lose the company, they have families and kids

They go for the dangerous tasks, I won't go, you go...

Bosses take advantage of us because the workers need the money, even just 30,000 lire

those 30,000 that the son brings, they need it

to pay for this and that, so they take more risks

When they say, "go and work there" and I see that it's dangerous, I am constrained to go

because if I say I won't go, I go home and my father says "now what do we do?"

"here we can't even eat"

And he takes advantage of us

The work we do each day, I work over there

It's already seven years that I work with one hand

and when one expresses an idea over there

that does not appeal to these bosses

they are threatened day by day

they are threatened when one goes on strike. Look lads, we have to fire 20 or 15 men

15 workers

People over here react when there is a deadly accident

Here even children react jumping out of bed naked and barefoot

each one tries to get inside where the father is

who works and brings the bread home

They all shout, and go home and tell everyone where they are

then they have more of a chance

he died here he died there

and the whole thing finishes like that you see?

Because here, even with the bosses, we can't have contact with them

They will always not care about us, so for the usual problem I think

the time has come to say "enough" even with rifles

you've exploited me until now, now you will give me back all you took

to me my father and grandfather

Let's listen to the young, I listen to the young because here we are fed up

I dream, every night I dream that in the morning something will happen

something big, maybe even the revolution

There was a time in my team, really tough work

So we had an meeting one evening saying "Guys, we need to strike, to ask for a 20 lire increase"

The workers, maybe some of these things they don't understand

I interrupted this meeting saying

it's fair to give them the 20 lire increase

but the most important thing is to strike, to put more men, 4 men instead of 3

but we have to let them realise that toxocity isn't removed with money, because work is always hazardous. It is removed with more workers

A specific case, where I work

these spraying machines last 30 years

30 years ago we used to work in twos

now we are 8 or 9, so we spray each other

and this provokes TB and illness

In a chain production line, where a worker works and does the same movements 8 hours a day

Always, from morning to evening, this individual after some time

is not capable of discussion certain things or understanding certain things

Toxicity is not only the smoke but also is able to repress the complexity of man

For me toxicity begins first thing in the morning because I get up at 3.30

and get to work at 5:45i

18 kilometres it was impossible that the parties and those who think they're doing something

they should also do those 18 kilometres

Because a man that gets up at 3.30 in the morning

when I do the first shift, which means I come home at 4

and because of this toxicity, beyond toxicity, also human satisfaction

I have to say, are you unemployed?

How many unemployed are there?

[Pasolini interview with the unemployed of Bagnoli]

Who are you protesting against? against who?

Against the bosses who exploit us all year round

He needs a lot of work

How many unemployed are there here?
-We are many
How many?

about 50

[Naples accent - incomprehensible!]

In all these discussion...we go to the employment office to ask for a job

A constitutional strike to make national contracts, they throw us out

They throw us out for a strike which is constitutional, so then we go to Rome

It doesn't exist

we went there, me and 5-6 workers

we went into a room with 8 of them

Mr.Torozzi and 4-5 employees

They replied, ok. If you want a place to work

you should be ashamed.

You in this room should because it's only 8 people talking to the representiatives of the unemployed in Naples!

The problem with kids, like this kid here

the problem of kids is that all in all

in a family of 8, where they earn 15,000 lire

because they can't even eat

This is the fight, the fight of the young

["La lotta, dura, senza paura!"]
["The tough fight, without fear!"]

Reggio Calabria [southern state] 1970
The fight for main town
The anger against bosses

a piece of watch or something

There's no work, there's nothing

everyone, all these guys are dying of hunger

-Why?-

Look at our condition!

In these shacks, the rats eat you

People who support the strikes are mostly poor people

They would descend to get beaten or killed, to get actually killed

while the bosses sat in their balconies to see the spectacle and make fun of us

When there were fights between youth and police

There was an old woman with her shopping bag who went to and fro picking bringing back thrown stones

When we heard that story about the bombs we fled

-You escaped?-

Some older friends had sea-masks they put on and ran away

They would have vans following behind them, they would shoot every 15-20 blocks

They would even shoot bullets

On their return they would find another barricade

and again, until they were forced to not enter St.Katherines

because they would die - I was so scared!

They didn't come in the nights, because it was scary

-The police were scared?-
Yes, because the lights were all broken here

We let the police pass over the bridge, but they managed to get past the barricade at St.Katherines then we held them back

-You did the republic?-
Yes we did the republic with barricades

Then we blocked it completely to not let the police pass at all

In each group there were about 100 of us, 150

but united we were about 500

-A large battle?-
Large because in the end....
-And who won?

We won because the police didn't go beyond the barricade

They would punch, spitting in the mouth, they would make the prisoners drink salt water

they would make them go up stairs and trip them over to break their teeth

If we were just 4 hoodlums as the TV said, why did they send in an army? Why did they send 8000 police and carabinieri

Then they stopped me and I said "don't arrest me, don't beat me, I'm an invalid"

They beat me, the ripped up my certificate and other things

The president of one of the occupied schools, found and documented with photos these things

Things that had been left behind

they would take all these things before loading

There were reasons for leaving, totally valid reasons for the protest

But on the other hand ione has to realise that there was a certain manipulation by people

by people who have particular interests

on Reggio and on the question of "Capoluogo" [main town]

The population did not identify these elements that were used for

that were used for provocation or manipulation

Shut up a second!

I wanted to say that...

There was...
-It's true, it's true!

The population combated and fought

and the same people have returned to power in the municipality and province

We want the "capoluogo" and that's all!, it will come, thanks anyway!

If they won't give it to us, we will take it by power

But I agree with you!

We were not pushed by anyway, we went down into the square [piazza]

But I'm saying that the ideal reasons are totally valid it's only that there was

some people who took advantage of this.

Let him speak!

No one exploited us, no one!

We descended into the piazza, not for the rich

but we descended for us, for the "capoluogo"

Who tells you that after all you've done, you went to prison, the other to hospital,

that those to benefit this shouldn't be us?....

[A worker of the Pirelli factory speaks]

This is the complicity of the Community Party`

Where there was hunger, there was desperation, and the fascist took advantage of this

When the proletariat is taken over by desperation

terrible things can happen

I have to say of the 100 clients I have, 99 of them are southern

and a Piedmontese, this is true isn't it?

They come here to work, hoping to make a house, when they arrive they put them in barracks

near Porta nuova, they don't have a house, they don't have anything

When you have 100 workers like that, find them a house, give them what they need

Otherwise what do these people do?

I am willing, in any moment, I am old but I am an old fighter, I am a revolutionary

and I am for sweeping away...to get rid of the bosses

They should go away, they should never be seen again

Here you become a robot, not a human any more and you have a wife and kids

Here instead you become a robot

you know that in the morning at 3:40 you have to wake up and go to work

you have to produce, produce and produce

The bosses exploit us from the morning to the evening

The owner Agnelli, who is he? who is he? He's the one who exploits us no?

We get 100,000 lire of salary while outside the cost of life is how much?

-And it's Agnelli who exploits you?-
Of course it is, of course

Listen - who increases production here?

If you found yourself face to face with Agnelli what would you do?
-I'd shoot him!

Immigrants are not only those who come from the south to work to find a better place

it is also a worker from here, a farmer from here who is exploitedi

I love my Sicily so I...

If I could return, I would return there

Sicily is beautiful but I think it's beautiful only for holidays

She is well here, there are no entertainments in Sicily

there really aren't

She got the habit of people in Turin

well, here I found another style of life

It's small but I like everything.../

The film you have seen was shot between the end of 1970 and the beginning of 1972`

A long time ago

The film has been restored, cut and remounted thanks to the collaboration of Enzo Ocone

of the authors and Pasolini Foundation

The original version is stored in the archives of the Pasolini Foundation