Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1922-11-09
q I'd
international

working classes on the firct day sporadic, dis
organized and lacking in leadership
Without losing time the Fascist launched al
offensive with three specific objectives. The first
was to keep the railroads and other instruments
of public service in operation by taking up with
elements of their own the work abandoned by
strikers; the second was to crush the proletariat
press the socialist municipal administrations
Wherever they existed, the cooperative unions
and other working-class organizations from
which the strike might derive moral or material
energy; the third to terrify the strikers into
submission by the application of armed force and
execution Of drastic reprisals against any attempt
to revolt.
The centers of strike activity were Genoa, Mi
Ian, Parma, Livorno Ancona and Ravenna.
FOrty-eight hours after the strike was called
Turati realized he was licked To save as much
as he could from the ruins, Turat rushed to
Facta and offered to call the strike off if Facta
would promise that the government would take
the strikers back.
Facta gave the socialists the required assur
ance On the following day-August 3--the Labor
federation called upon the strikers to return to
their posts, announcing that the proletariat had
achieved its object.
But If the socialists were through the Fascist
were not. They had a definite program to com.
plete, and they proceeded to complete it. In MI
Ian they drove the socialist administration out
rino. On the following day they attacked the
Avanti the leading socialist newspaper in Italy,
put the editors to flight and set fire to the plant.
In Genoa they suppressed the publication Of the
LavorO and marched in force upon the Palace Of
San GiOrgio, where the socialist conSortum of
the port was located. The Fascist demanded
the surrender of the consortium, and when sur
render was refused they seized 1t by force.
In Ravenna they seized and suppressed the
Two izatfO uyhip hol
served as model of socialist cooperative deve
opment for students from all parts of the world
In Ancona they destroyed the printing plant of
the socialist organ La Difesa and set fire to the
headquarters of all the principal labor organiza.
lions, including the Federation Of Railway Work
ers the Society of Soviets and the Chamber of
Labor. They marched into Parma 5000 strong
and took possession of the city. They destroyed
the printing plant Of the Piccolo and disrupted the
cooperative unions
Considering the violent nature of the reprisals
that occurred against the working classes, there
was surprisingly little blood shed during the
course of the strike.
On August 3, when it was al, over, the govern
ment came TO life and confded to military control
the cities of Genoa, Milan, Aacona, Parma and
Livorn0
In the special terms by which the Fascist and
the socialists subsequently defined victory" the
claims of both were justified by the facts
Whether the victory Of either faction meant vic
tory for the Italian people and for the nation as
a whole was question which seemed to concern
neither Of the opposing forces When, indeed
Facta, in his second inaugural declared that
Italy could be ruined by such victory" Lupl
the Fascist leader In the chamber responded
with challenge which clearly indicated that II
civil war was not yet an actual fact In Italy
II could any day become one