19 April 1968: Valdagno textile strike

19 April 1968: Valdagno textile strike

From On This Day in Working Class History by Working Class History

April 19, 2026 · 1 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the Valdagno textile strike in Italy on April 19, 1968, highlighting the conflict between striking workers and police.

On this day, 19 April 1968, while 6,000 textile workers were on strike against redundancies in Valdagno, northern Italy, scabs were sneaked into the factory under police protection. The workers were brutally charged by police leading to them fighting with the 1,000-strong police force, occupying the factory and toppling the bronze statue of the factory’s founder, Count Gaetano Marzotto (an iconic moment, as Count Marzotto had until then had been widely depicted as an enlightened benefactor). 47 workers were arrested. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9064/valdagno-textile-strike Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon . If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory . See all of our anniversaries each day, alongside sources and maps on the On This Day section of our Stories app: stories.workingclasshistory.com/date/today Browse all Stories by Date here on the Date index: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/date Check out our Map of historical Stories: https://map.workingclasshistory.com Check out books, posters…

People in this episode

Host: Working Class History

Topics covered

  • textile strike
  • labor history
  • police brutality
  • workers' rights
  • Italy
  • 1960s

Keywords

  • Valdagno
  • textile workers
  • strike
  • police
  • Count Gaetano Marzotto
  • 1968
  • labor rights
  • Italy

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Valdagno, Italy

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