the closing stages of world war ii marked a watershed in the history of left communism as was true for every other political tendency. like the trotskyists, left communists expected the war to end with at least the beginnings of a revolutionary wave of struggle similar to that which had marked the end of world war i. therefore, strikes in italy from 1942 onwards were of intense interest to them. many left communists formerly in exile, in jail or simply inactive due to repression returned to active political activity in italy. this had the result that new organisations identifying with left communism came into being and older ones dissolved themselves.