ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews fundamental aspects of revolutionary left by arguing that the Western revolutionary left collectively developed moral indignation visa-vis law enforcement and constructed a blame discourse. It reviews the extant literature on framing and policing and presents theoretical references. The chapter outlines the content of the injustice frames, by pointing out the main shared interpretative schemata and narratives that emerge after crosschecking historical sources. With this aim in mind, it emphasizes the common aspects, such as the use of analogous expressions to portray the encounter with police at street-level or the dissemination of a similar, sometimes identical, iconography. The chapter explains the development of powerful transnational frames, provided with emotional intensity and cultural resonance. It examines the descriptions of police interventions during the main demonstrations of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the three countries: Italy, France, and the United States. The chapter offers an overview of the interpretative schemata that were typically offered to militants and sympathizers.
