By refusing to handle weapons shipments, Genoa dockworkers are laying the groundwork for working class resistance to the bosses and the imperialists.
If we lose contact with our comrades in the flotilla for even twenty minutes, we will bring all of Europe to a standstill: not a single nail will move through the docks of Genoa; it will be a worldwide strike.
Riccardo Rudino, CALP member, August 30, 2025
On May 7th, Italian ports will grind to a halt. Following the call of the Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali (CALP), based in Genoa, dockworkers will lead the charge against the Meloni government and the militarist agenda of the international bourgeoisie. Rearmament as industrial policy is not unique to Canada, which under Mark Carney has massively increased military spending, creating a deficit of 78 billion1; all the main Western capitalist states, mired in profound economic and political crisis, are pursuing this project simultaneously. Rather than addressing the urgent problems threatening our species, our ruling classes urge workers to slaughter one another.
The dockworkers’ strike seeks improved health and safety measures, with workers directly involved in their implementation; better wages; an end to the precarious employment of temporary workers; a halt to the transport of military equipment in civilian ports; and a total embargo on goods shipped to Israel.
For seven years, CALP has been fighting against unjust wars by refusing to work on ships carrying weapons. It initially used this political lever of the working class to block arms shipments from the Saudi company Bahri Logistics, destined to fuel the violent Saudi and Emirati campaigns against the Houthis.2 More recently, CALP dockworkers have disrupted deliveries of weapons to be used in the genocide of Palestinians. They are also responsible for initiating the general strike last October, in response to the planned interception of the Sumud flotilla bound for Gaza on October 3, 2025. Notably, this strike mobilized more than 2 million Italian workers and students. Italy was paralyzed by strikers blockading ports (Naples, Salerno, Livorno, Genoa), train stations (Porta Nuova, Centrale, Cardona, Termini), universities (Milan, Bologna, Rome’s Sapienza) and highways (A4, RA1, A51).3
CALP was founded in 2011 by a group of workers frustrated with the refusal of CGIL, Italy’s main trade union federation, to support the student movement against Berlusconi. From the beginning, CALP advocated for inter-category and inter-company labour organizing. This stance signaled the emergence of a common struggle among the workers of the dozen or so companies operating in the port of Genoa.
The Genoa collective is an inspiring example of a politicized workers’ organization combining the struggles for workers’ economic and political aspirations – all while promoting audacious progressive values and not losing sight of concrete material interests.
The autonomous organization earned its stripes demanding equal pay, dignity for immigrant workers, and job security for all. Soon, CALP had opened a gym for its members, who were regularly confronted by the often-violent fascist thugs of the CasaPound group.4 It also opened a restaurant on the port, which served as a place for political organizing and socializing.
The autonomous organization earned its stripes demanding equal pay, dignity for immigrant workers, and job security for all. Soon, CALP had opened a gym for its members, who were regularly confronted by the often-violent fascist thugs of the CasaPound group. It also opened a restaurant on the port, which served as a place for political organizing and socializing.
CALP positioned itself at the forefront of the struggles against precarious employment, fascist attacks on migrant workers, Meloni’s authoritarian reforms and the rush to war. The group wasted no time in transforming the workplace into a political lever. They did not limit their mobilization to one city: CALP extended to other Italian ports, helped to establish another port collective in Livorno, allied itself with autonomous activists elsewhere to defend social centers against the police, and joined the port workers of Marseille, Tangier, and Thessaloniki in the workers’ embargo against the Zionist entity.
- Maxim Fortin et Guillaume Tremblay-Boily, “Budget fédéral 2025 : un Canada assujetti au secteur privé et à l’industrie militaire“, Institut de recherche et d’informations socioéconomiques (IRIS), November 4, 2025. ↩︎
- “We Can’t Be at Peace with Ourselves If We’re Complicit in Saudi’s War’: Interview with Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali“, translated by Bethan Bowett, Jacobin, February 15, 2020. ↩︎
- Necva Taştan Sevinç, “Italy Paralyzed by General Strike Observed in Solidarity with Gaza Flotilla,” Anadolu Agency, October 3, 2025; Gavin Blackburn and Giorgia Orlandi, “Italy paralysed by nationwide strike in solidarity with intercepted Gaza aid flotilla,” Euronews, October 3, 2025; Laura Serloni and Rory Cappelli, “Sciopero per Flotilla e Gaza, due milioni in piazza. Piantedosi: ‘Da Cgil appello a rivolta sociale’,” la Repubblica, October 3, 2025. ↩︎
- For example: “Ciampino, Maxi-Rissa a un Concerto. I Testimoni: ‘Aggrediti dai Fascisti’,” la Repubblica, June 7, 2012. ↩︎
