Bombing the Fiat : Allied raids, Workers’ Strikes, and the Italian Resistance

This article examines the impact of Anglo-American air raids on the FIAT workers between the end of 1942 and the liberation of Turin in April 1945. One of the most bombed cities in Italy, Turin was also the country's most important industrial centre. Following the first 'area bombing' raids on the city and its industries, the Turinese working class initiated strike movements that extended beyond the surrounding region - first in March 1943 and again in March 1944. Workers' protest was not in isolation, but connected with discontent within civil society at the incapacity of the Fascist regime to protect the population from bombing. This research, based on a variety of archival sources found in national archives in Italy and the UK, as well as in local archives in Turin and Milan, suggests correlations between the Allied bombing of Turin, the FIAT workers' strikes, the collapse of the Italian home front, and the start of the Resistance.