Table of Contents
I. Introduction……………………………………………..1
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II. History & Ideology………………………………………1
III. Activities……………………………………………….. 2
IV. Strength and Area of Operation…………………………3
V. Conclusion………………………………………………3
VI. Bibliography…………………………………………….4
Introduction
During the 1970’s and 1980’s, great fear had been spread throughout Italy. A group known as the Brigate Rosse, or Red Brigade, had developed and left its mark on the Italian political scene. Fear was commonplace as bomb plots, kneecappings, and assassinations became the norm. As we go through this paper, the fascinating yet horrifying story, including the history, ideology, and current activity of the Red Brigade will be told.
History & Ideology
The history of the Red Brigade can be traced back to the year 1969. It arose out of the student protest movements of the late 60’s. It was a Marxist-Leninist group whose aim was to separate Italy from the Western Alliance. It borrowed the name, methods, and moral justifications from the earlier Italian Resistance movement during World War II. It's ideology advocated violence in the service of class warfare and revolution, and with Italy in political turmoil at the time, the Red Brigades enjoyed a certain degree of support from the Left. When the group first formed, it mostly concentrated on the assassinations and kidnappings of Italian Government members and private-sector targets, such as judges, corporate executives, university professors, and policemen. The idea behind that was to instill fear in the normal working class. That fear would not have been seen had the targets been a head of a company or a prime minister. Very few would have been afraid of that same fate. During the years of 1975 to 1981, Italy experienced the worst the group had to offer. These years are affectionately known as the Years of Lead. It is a clear reference to the bullets that killed close to five hundred people during this period.
Activities
While a civil war was slowly burning throughout Italy, the Red Brigade, causing an entire society to live in fear, dealt out nearly eight thousand terrorist attacks. In addition to the aforementioned private sector targets, the Red Brigade conducted kidnappings and murders on high political targets, as well. In 1978, the Red Brigades kidnapped the former prime minister of Italy, Aldo Moro. He was held captive for nearly two months, before his body was finally dumped in the heart of Rome. Unfortunately for the Red Brigade, this had an adverse affect on its supporters, and the party quickly lost the support it had enjoyed earlier that decade. This did not stop them, however, as in 1981, Red Brigades operatives managed to kidnap General James Dozier, an American who held a position with NATO in Italy.
The “Red Scare” was consuming many American’s lives following World War 1. After the war ended, anarchist bombings began, and a general fear of socialists, anarchists, communists, and immigrants swept the nation. There had always been resentment to immigrants in America, and these attacks just intensified these feelings. Americans were concerned that, because the Russian Revolution occurred, that it would happen in America next. The government began sweeping immigrants up and deporting them. Many innocent people were arrested because of their views against democracy. Although Sacco and Vanzetti were on trial for murder, their beliefs of how society should be run was the main focus in the trial.
Mussolini’s population policy was a clear effort to exercise his authoritarian control over the people of Italy, regulating the most personal and private details of their lives. In his bid for complete control, he used new laws, propaganda, and sometimes brutal tactics in order for his wishes to be recognized. It is during the 1920’s to the 1940’s that totalitarian control over the state escalated into full dictatorships, with the wills of the people being manipulated into a set of beliefs that would promote the fascist state and “doctrines.”
The red scare was a time where people were falsely accused of being communist spies, and would be sent to prison. If somebody hated their neighbor, a co-worker, or even a teacher they could just accuse them of being a communist spy. Some cases were even so severe as in the case with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. They were accused for stealing information on the atomic bomb and giving the information to the...
In 1985, the Administration initiated a secret "arms-for-hostages" operation designed to free seven Americans held hostage by terrorists in Lebanon. Reagan had said he would never deal with supporters of terrorists, which he considered Iran's leaders to be. But he and his advisers believed Iran could get the hostages released. Members of the Administration arranged for the CIA to secretly purchase arms from the Department of Defense. Private individuals bought the arms from the CIA and sold them to Iran in return for its promises of help in the hostage release. But the sales led to the release of only three hostages, and three more Americans were taken hostage during the same period. Administration agents secretly diverted (transferred) profits from the arms sales to the contras.
"The Red Scare: McCarthyism." Essortment Articles: Free Online Articles on Health, Science, Education & More... Web. 29 Dec. 2011. .
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Ferrell, Robert H., and Peter Szatmar. "The Villains Of The 'Red Scares' Of 1950." Phi Kappa Phi Forum 90.3 (2010): 10-11. Business Source Complete. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
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Schmidt, Regin. Red Scare: FBI and the Origins of Anticommunismin the United States, 1919-1943. Denmark: Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum P, 2000.
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?Red Guards? was a title given to people belonging to many different social groups: workers, peasants, demobilized soldiers and students. A vast majority of the people in this group were youngsters in their mid-teens, who were summoned at their middle schools by Mao. The Red Guard youth soon turned from obedient to rebellious students. Red Scarf Girl is a novel based on truth, terror and courage during the Cultural Revolution. The following excerpt discusses about the hundreds of wall posters the young Red Guard?s wrote, which discriminated against teachers, and members of their community.