Cesare Romiti he will be remembered as the tough manager who defeated the workers they wanted to employ in 1980 Fiat, restoring discipline in the factory and therefore the regularity of production. The famous march of the 40 thousand, organized by Fiat middle managers with the support of two front-line managers of the company such as Carlo Callieri and Cesare Annibaldi, marked the definitive closure of the period not only in Turin but throughout Italy.union anarchy started in '68, the victory of battle against the Br, a new phase of relative political stability and economic growth.
LEGALSO: Farewell to Cesare Romiti, for 25 years the great boss of Fiat
But consider Romiti only as the cerberus who brings the union back into line, which duel with Berlinguer reproaching him for his visit to the gates of Mirafiori, when the secretary of the PCI seemed to encourage the workers to occupy the factory and therefore to initiate a more acute phase of class conflict, is doing an injustice to a much more complex personality.
The figure of Romiti is emblematic of an era in the history of the Italian economy, which now appears very distant, but which at the time helped to keep the country among the most industrialized economies capable of creating jobs and spreading prosperity. Of course, Cesare Romiti was an authoritative and determined man. He was self-made in Italy's difficult post-war period, passing through state holdings (he had been managing director of Alitalia and Italstat) and had landed in Fiat as financial director in 1974 to then become managing director and finally president after the withdrawal of the lawyer.
The 70s were a period of strong social and economic crisis. The Fiat gasped. It was necessary to mobilize all the financial resources accumulated over the years years of the “economic miracle” which luckily was massive. And Romiti was called to do this job which he carried out successfully together with his right arm, the then young Francesco Paolo Mattioli.
But finance was not enough to get the company back on its feet. It was necessary to resume the control of factories and have an external context favorable to the propensity to consume and invest. Which was possible starting from the march of 40 in 1980 and then during the following decade with Romiti became sole CEO of Fiat and therefore also a privileged interlocutor of the political world. At that time, a iron bond with the lawyer Lambs which added an international strategic vision essential for having a precise reference framework within which to adopt concrete decisions.
But it is impossible to retrace all the stages of a long history in which Cesare Romiti acted as a protagonist, often decisive. It should be remembered his strait bond with Enrico Cuccia, the dominus of Mediobanca, which was born on the basis of the need to build a front of resistance to the intrusiveness of the politics which at the time controlled, through IRI and ENI, a large portion of Italian industry.
After the collapse of the Berlin wall and the start of privatizations, the battle no longer had a raison d'etre also because the characteristics of Italian politics had been completely upset by Tangentopoli. There were other challenges facing Italian companies, the technological and organizational ones necessary to face international competition, and probably Mediobanca and Romiti himself were unable to face them. Just remember the expressed opposition to the Euro based on the fact that Italian industry was not yet ready to give up the devaluations of the lira and that the economy was struggling to assume a more efficient and competitive structure.
Among the many clich?? State would have bestowed on the company. Actually the investment plan of the 90s implemented by Paolo Cantarella was impressive, but unfortunately it did not have the desired success, while public aid they concerned the investments in the South foreseen by the laws and gave rise to the only robust industrial nuclei capable of resisting the crises still present in the South today.
In this country, anyone with a strong character is considered a bully. In reality, to defend a large company like Fiat from the assaults of "friends" and "enemies" one needed to have the strength to always keep one's guard up, be able to say many "no"s, and choose well the people to whom to say "yes". This meant knowing engage in ten-year duels with characters with an equally strong character such as Charles de Benedetti or from an advantageous family position such as Umberto Agnelli.
Having the power to make decisions that affect thousands of people and affect an entire country is not only a privilege, but a great responsibility. It's not about being harsh or even ruthless. We need to have the courage to make a choice and then follow it consistently. Cesare Romiti had this intelligence and this strength and he knew how to involve and drag people towards the same goals. He knew well that "example is the best form of authority” as it was printed in large letters in a small picture behind the desk from which he exercised his power.
