Luigi Lucchini "was an honest man, a great industrialist". Thus recalled the former CEO of Fiat, Cesare Romiti, during the presentation at the Sapienza University of Rome of a book on this great industrialist, written by Ugo Calzoni, who was his right hand, and also his left, and Franco Locatelli , a journalist of great thickness.
Lucchini for everyone is now the name of a steel plant in Piombino, a town in Tuscany, which is doing badly, is heading towards definitive closure, leaving XNUMX workers on the ground. But it is also the name of a great industrialist who in the second half of the last century was able, starting from nothing, to create a great empire. He was the son of a craftsman who had a very small foundry, after the war he set out on bicycles around his province, Brescia, he began to buy scrap iron, and there was so much after the destruction of the war, and with that he started his steel company.
He had great success, he became a leading industrialist, in the eighties he was also president of Confindustria. Ugo Calzoni, who was his right arm, and Franco Locatelli, a capable journalist, one of those whose mold has been lost, have written a book to tell the story. "Empires without dynasties", this is the title, published by the Massetti Rodella Editori press company. An uncomfortable book, especially for the Brescia that it tells, so much so that the publisher, from Brescia, has struggled a lot to counter the very strong pushes of those in the city who did not want it to be published.
And it's a good thing that the publisher resisted, because the book, as it came out in great evidence during the presentation that took place today at the Sapienza University of Rome, on the initiative of Mimmo's "Work and Organizations" research unit Carrieri, it's a real surprise. Because it tells a slice of our history that must not be forgotten, because it speaks of one of those great men who made Italy great, and who are no longer here, because it relaunches industrialism in an era in which industry is spoken of in derogatory terms, the few times it is mentioned.
And above all it is an important book because it tells us about Luigi Lucchini. Cesare Romiti, for many years CEO of Fiat, who wanted to enrich the presentation of the book with his presence, remembers him with affection and great esteem. “I was very attached to him, he told him, he was a true friend. I have affection and gratitude for him. I will never forget his behavior in 1979-80, when there was the great union battle at Fiat which culminated with the march of the 40: Confindustria did not want to give us any support, many thought that we were carrying out an unreasonable action which would have caused damage to everyone. He was one of the few who defended us, and he did so because, unlike the Confindustria of the time, he understood that we were fighting that battle not just for us. He was a true industrialist, in soul and spirit. He was never partisan, not even in union struggles. He had qualities that no longer exist today, they have been lost. Today the country is different, there is no longer that innovative spirit, that desire to do something that characterized us”.
Just the comparison between those years and today strikes Romiti very strongly. “In those distant years we had a great desire to do things, he recalled, because we knew it was worth it. It wasn't just Lucchini, they were many and, helped by the context, they did great things for our country. Today young people are different, they are never enthusiastic, they only think about money: we thought about it too, because we didn't have any, sometimes we were even a little hungry, but money wasn't our goal, we thought about something else, about to do, to build something lasting. Perhaps young people should be re-educated, but nobody does it, not even the university helps them. Yet singularly even today's young people are different. I see them when they come to me, they ask me, they are curious about what I was doing then, they want to know, we really should do something more for them".
And everyone, starting with Romiti, but not only him, praised Lucchini highly. "A great man, honest, said Romiti, he would never have done a dirty thing". Ernesto Auci, who was alongside Lucchini when he was president of Confindustria as director of external relations, retraced those years, recalling how attempts were made to build a different Confindustria, making a cultural leap compared to the past. Giorgio Benvenuto recalled the years of confrontation, but acknowledged that there was never an incorrect action on Lucchini's part, like he never even tried to divide the union. Giorgio Sapelli recalled Lucchini's great entrepreneurial skills, reproaching him only for the subordination he experienced when, after his experience in Confindustria, he took charge of finance in Mediobanca. "Bazoli, he commented succinctly, put it under and it was a shame".
I remember those years well, as a reporter for Il Sole 24 ore I followed industrial relations, then Confindustria and I can't forget Lucchini's strength, but even more so his tranquility, even in moments of greatest tension. Considering that Lucchini was president from 1984 to 1988, it is easy to understand the battles he had to sustain, the long duel with the unions over the escalator, the divisions that arose in the trade union world, but above all in politics. Difficult years, marked by terrorism. And he passed quietly through all these eventualities, calm, never losing his temper.
He had built a great team in Confindustria, the likes of which there has never been again, and he continued with it. His presidency came after that of Merloni: the latter had made a real break with the Confindustria policy of the past, making the confederation regain the prestige that had emerged rather rumpled since the XNUMXs. The relationship with the union was the center of action for Confindustria and Lucchini, who had lived through a very turbulent period when he was president of the Brescia Industrialists' Association, had the reputation of being tough. There were therefore fears of a worsening of union relations. And instead it was just the opposite, Lucchini knew how to lead the confederation with great skill, relations became more relaxed, even in the storms, without ever losing his temper, he was a point of reference for everyone.
Unfortunately, the last years of this empire without a dynasty were not peaceful, the economic difficulties became increasingly strong and the group fell apart without its leadership. Blame the generational shift? Not only that, as emerged from the reconstruction of those years and as the book tells. But the memory of that man has not been scratched. He always remains a great industrialist, who knew how to be a great builder. He is one of those men we need so much today.
