Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-10-31
STRIKES IN lTALY.
Interesting Record Of Labor Organizations
Growth and asqressTeness.

Interesting Record Of Labor Organizations
i Growth and sseressiyeness.
| Rows, Oct. 81. Statistics of strikes are
making u2 officially in almost every Ea-
| ropean country England took the lead
! in this matter with Blue Book pub
! iishei in is90. II was not very well pre-
pared, but imperfect AS it was il safheed to
/ show that the strikes of is9a num-
bered by thousands, had seriously
affected the profits of most of the lead
I ing industries OF England in that year.
| An Italian official, Commander Bodio, di-
rector general Of the statistical department,
| has Just issued report ga the strikes in
| Italy from ISIS to 1871, which goes to
show that in Italy the strike as il weapon
| has so far not made much impression on
the organization of Italian industry. While
| the strike is an in l;genons institution in
! England it is an exotic in Italy. II has no
where in that country apparently taken firm
hold of tho popular niiad-
/ In the i years between lSt0 and 1873,
according 10 COMMANDER Ho'i', there were
/ 49J strikes in all Italy, whi,'h Is mt the rate
OF only little more than - per annum.
| They gradually increased in Number up to
| lssG. There was fall NJ of in 1851, aud
| a rapid increase again from 1855 up to
| 1850. The largest number Of strikes ever
known in a wear in Italy were organized in
| ls9a. but even then they only numbered JIG.
| Between 1878 and S9l Commander Bodio
| finds that of 1926 strikes more than half,
:l43,were organized to secure an increase IN
the rate of wages. SO TO secure dininrion
| in the hours of labor. | 10 to resist re6luc-
ton of wages, III to resist an increase in
| the hours of labor, aud pol, a very large
percentage, 10 settle disputes between the
wage earners and employers about dicipline,
management, modes and forms of payment,
and personal questions arising out of
changes proposed or desired in the or
ganization of the different industries
concerned. Strikes brought about to sup
port and encourage strikes already existing
in other industries, which make a very fire.
quent feature in the history of English
strikes, have so far been exceedingly rare
! in italy. As to the result Of strikes, the
| Italian record is not encouraging from the
point of view of the wage earners. Out of
| 1000 strikes, Commander Bodio ascertalns
that only IA hardly II per cent, ended by
a triumph of the wage earners, AS ended
/
379 "honors were easy" neither the wage
earners getting nor the employers keeping
precisely what they wanted. The industries
most affected BY strikes have been textile
factories, mines, metallurgy and machine
shops.
But the most important strikes have been
organized on the railways and on the pub
lie works, which have been going on III the
! u Il. - h,r nd "a
many Italian statesmen begin to think, so
extravagantly, since the extension of par
liamentary government over the whole pen
insula Possibly the strikes on the rail
ways may have had something to do with the
unsatisfactory condition of the ltal-
ian railway finances under the sys-
TEN adopted by that country of
! building railways at the expense OF
the state and leasing them out to be worked
by private companies. The network of the
Italian railroads known as the "Mediterra-
mean" for example, is now paying at the
rate of only half of one per cent. on the
capital represented. and the 'Adratic' al
the rate of less than one per cent. Geo
graphically speaking Lombardy and Pied
mont are the chief theatres of the Italian
strikes. Ont of 1880 strikes only % oc-
CURED in Sicily, and those almost exclu-
sively in the mining districts of that
island, many of which are
carried on by foreign capitalists
In the local industry of brigandage, SC
fiourishing in Sicily, no strikes are yet re-
ported, although if it be true, as it seems
to be, that brigandage is carried on by wage
earners in the rural districts upon a basis
of capital owned in the large towns, there
would seem to be no reason why the
working brigands. who take the risks,
should not strike for larger percentage
in the profits. Perhaps this may come to
pass as one result of the attack which the
government is now making on this Slcilian
industry. Our latest adyices report nearly
200 arrests in Palermo alone. These can
hardly. all of them be capitalists.
The number of wage earners taking part
in the Italian strikes is increasing much
more rapidly than the number of strikes.
| This is a noteworthy feature of the Italian
situation, as set forth in the report of Com
mander Bodio. Upto 1889 the number of
wage earners out on strike never exceeded
10000. In lSsS and 1889 it rose to 80 600
and in 1890 to 10000. In 1891 no fewer
than y 900 wage earners went out
in - strikes, of which alone, out of
the whole number in that year, Com
mander Bodio is able to give full returns.
The most important of these strikes of
| 1891 were of the strike in the machine
shops of Milan, which lasted two weeks,
and in which 1000 wage earners went out
the strike Of the weavers of Schio in
which 1900 went out; the strike of the
cigar makers at Naples. in which 2o00 wage
| earners went out for 10 days: the strike Of
! the female weavers at Como, in which
more than 1000 went out for fortnight,
and the strike of the tanners at Genoa,
| of whom 600 went out. Most of the
| Italian strikes have been of very brief
1 duration, which seems TO indicate
either that the savings of the
! wage earncrs are scanty or (which is the
more likely) that the Italian wage earners.
! like the French peasants, have not much
[ faith in cooperation. In the whole record
of Italian strikes only 1876 have lasted three
months out of 993 the duration of which
has been precisely ascertained, while so
ended in less than four days. One of the
most important aspects of the strike" sys-
tenn finds no place in Commander Bodio's
report Although since 1884 the system of
strikes has taken on a decidedly soeialistic
turn IN the rural districts of italy, Com
mander Bodio tells us nothing about the
agricultural strikes.
Now Mr.. Joseph Arch. the great chief of
of the famous Warwicksfire strikes of 20
years ago. has got himself reelected a
member of the British Parliament, it is
probable that Italian politicians may soon
see their way to utilizing the principle of
strikes in the great rural industries, which
are after all the mainstay of labor and of
national wealth in the Italian peninsula.
EVERYTHING CHEAPER
Result Of an Inquiry as 10 the Prices Of Nee