Crocenera Anarchica - Digital Collection

The Crocenera anarchica [Anarchist Black Cross] in Milan was founded in March 1969 by militants of the Gruppi Anarchici Federati (GAF) [Federated Anarchist Groups], at the time one of three Italian national federations (which later self-dissolved in January 1978, see self-dissolution document). While the initial idea was to establish an international solidarity network, particularly to help the anti-Francoist struggles in Spain, the very year 1969 saw the beginning in Italy of what is called the “season of bombs”. The CN was thus forced to turn its attention primarily to domestic issues because the Italian anarchists, particularly in Milan, were being arrested for a series of devastating bombing actually carried out – as would later be ascertained – by neo-fascist groups.

The basic idea that prompted GAF to set up a structure like the CN relates to the need to support militant activity at a time of extraordinary social ferment, with a structure conceived as a "service" dedicated to monitoring the repressive strategies deployed by the police apparatus precisely to counter that ferment. Infiltration and provocation tactics were extremely invasive at the time, as later historical investigations have shown. Moreover, the state security apparatuses were still largely run by the same officials appointed during the Fascist era. Not only did this entail a special emphasis on part of the CN on countering these borderline illegal repressive strategies, but also an activity – both public and clandestine – that ran parallel to political militancy, without ever superseding it.

CN disbanded in 1973 as the peak of the so-called “strategy of tension” – that began in the late 1960s – had subsided and a new political phase was about to open in Italy, characterized by the presence of armed formations modeled on the military and top-down structure of the Red Brigades. The same denomination would be taken up years later by other anarchists, but the history of this later initiative is different in form and content from that of the Crocenera presented here.