The essay traces Bruno Trentin's political biography and intellectual research from a transnational perspective. Through the work notebooks (1953-1995), the diaries on the CGILGeneral Secretary (1988-1994), the activity in the European Parliament (1999-2004) and the following two years, the elaboration of The Freedom Comes First(2005) is rooted in a long term criticism against the subalternity of the communist and social-democratic culture to the Fordist model. It is also based on the necessity of a libertarian socialism, based on the centrality of the person and on the unavoidable link between work and knowledge. What stands outis the originality of Trentin's political thought, the intellectual circuit in which his research is developed and his vision of a federal Europe in the international system following the Cold War and the aftermath of September 11th, 2001.