This play marks a very important stage in Dario Fo’s career. Written in 1969 it is a highly original and unorthodox approach to the history of world Communism. It aroused the fury of Italy's Communist newspaper 'Unita' and was one of the main reasons for Fo's split with the official party in the following year. The play cunningly presents a variety of powerful confrontations which challenge some of the more complacent tenets of left-wing politics while suggesting a more positive way forward in a subtle and more complete awareness of history. The play is set in a 'Casa Del Populo’ one of the worker's clubs set up in the pre-fascist period and re-opened after the war.