The Red Brigades (Italian: Brigate Rosse) were a Marxist-Leninist militant organization active in Italy from 1970 through the 1980s. Emerging from student and worker movements, the group sought to overthrow the Italian state and establish a revolutionary “dictatorship of the proletariat.” It became infamous for kidnappings, assassinations, and sabotage during Italy’s turbulent “Years of Lead.”
The Red Brigades arose amid labor unrest and student radicalism of the late 1960s. Influenced by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong, its founders argued for armed struggle against capitalism, NATO, and what they saw as a repressive state. They envisioned a three-phase revolution: “armed propaganda,” attacks on state institutions, and a nationwide insurrection.
Initially targeting property with arson and vandalism, the group escalated to violent assaults on police, judges, industrialists, and politicians. Its best-known operation was the 1978 kidnapping and execution of Aldo Moro, an event that shocked Italy. Other actions included the 1981 abduction of James L. Dozier and widespread “kneecapping” shootings meant to maim rather than kill.
By the early 1980s, extensive arrests and defections crippled the organization. It splintered into factions such as the Red Brigades–Fighting Communist Party, which remained active into the late 1980s. Occasional attacks in the 1990s and early 2000s were attributed to successors using the same name. The Red Brigades’ campaign left roughly 50 dead and became a defining episode of political violence in postwar Europe.