l'Alfa Vince!
When I was visiting the Alfa Romeo headquarters at Arese in the early eighties, meetings were often disrupted by the noise and general disruption caused by workforce demonstrations which spilled out of the factory premises and into the office complex. At that time, the place was a hotbed of political strife. Often, I found myself lamenting the fact that considerable energy could be found for such activities, while apathy and a lack of dedication underlay so much of the poor quality that characterised the products these same people were helping stagger along the production lines. But this was nothing new – Alfa Romeo had long been ‘state owned’ and able to function aloof from the commercial/economic principles that ensure that most companies manage their employees such that good order is maintained and a profitable operation enabled. Fig.1. Political daubs on the Autodelta yard walls. Courtesy Robert Little In the wake of WWI, Italy could not escape the Europe-wide economic crisis th