This article will first attempt to present the analytical category of the ‘capitalist plan’ as formulated by ‘operaist’ authors Tronti and Ferrari Bravo, seeking to explore the genealogy of its development starting from a critical reading of the theories of Keynes and of the American institutionalists (Commons, Perlman), which contributed to the theoretical justification of the pioneering policies of the New Deal and the subsequent historical phenomenon of global postwar Keynesianism. Secondly, it will aim to show that the hypothesis of the capitalist plan proved to be only partially valid in the Italian case. Instead, it will argue that, for Italy, particular attention must be paid to the issue of wild struggles originated by antifascism and to underdevelopment of the south Italy within an integrated national and international model.