La tenda in piazza

Directed by

Gian Maria Volonté

The film recounts the struggle of the factory workers of five Italian factories, Cagli, Coca Cola, Filodont, Luciani and Metalfer. A montage of interviews in which the workers denounce the hardships and difficulties of living without wages and put forward their proposals for getting out of the crisis and for change. The workers of the occupied factories decide to put up a tent in Piazza di Spagna to propagandise their struggle, but permission is denied by the Commissariat of Public Security. There are clashes with the police, who charge and use batons every time the workers try to set up the tent. Despite being injured and bruised, the workers do not give up until they get what they ask for: 'A tent in the square of Rome to remind the citizens - especially the wealthier classes - that there are workers in Rome without pay during the Christmas holidays'. In the end, the workers get what they ask for and the tent is finally raised amid applause and general satisfaction.