| Summary: | The article analyzes the positions of the Italian Communist Party towards the large political movement that took action on its left, especially “Autonomia Operaia”, in the late seventies, during the terrorism emergency and the crisis of national solidarity governments. The debate, internal to the PCI and between the left parliamentary forces, is analyzed through the documents, the newspaper articles and the declarations about a specific counter-terrorism trial, known as the “7th April case". This trial caused a large and heated public debate on terrorism, democracy and public order that saw two main political positions in opposition to one another. On one side the so called guarantee position represented by the “Partito Radicale”, some intellectuals, journalist and magistrates and on the other those who endorsed the firmness position, especially the PCI. At the same time, within the same communist party, the firmness front wasn't completely unanimous. On 7th April 1979 the deputy public prosecutor of Padua, Pietro Calogero, issued an arrest warrant that led to prison more than a dozen militants from the extra-parliamentary leftist area, “Potere Operaio” and “Autonomia Operaia”, including among others Oreste Scalzone, Franco Piperno, Nanni Balestrini, Emilio Vesce and Antonio Negri.
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