San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1924-03-23
LABOR UNIONS
IN ITALY LED
BY An EX-RED
~
Ressoni, Active IN Law
renee, Mass, Troubles
Aid to Mussolini.
VIEWS ARE CHANGED
Says Workers Owe First
Duty to Their Country,
Then to Selves.
VIEWS ARE CHANGED
b. HIRAM KELLY MoDERwNL

BY HIRAM KELLY MODERWElI
Copyright by The San antonio Light
and the Chicago Daily Newa
Copyright, 1924.
Rome, Italy, March 22.-when tn
italian fascist were shooting and cas-
tor-oihng their way 10 power, the.
smashed labor Unions right and left
But they were much too modern Il
plan q fascist world with no labor
unions in il There must be labor
unions, they understood, as instrH
nents Of discipline. So they organized
their swn.
? But 10 70 back q bit. In the j. "
". textile strike in Lawrence, Mass.
/ In 1o12-one of the most irresistible
f, examples Of red, syndicalist, mass &C
( ton, in American Industrial history
there was active an Italian boy named
Edmondo Roseoni. He was q newspa.
per editor and agitator OF great en-
{ ergy and talent. Edmondo Rossoni /.
I today head of the fascist labor unions
of Italy. he Is a confidant Of Mus
solim and one of the chief executives
ef the Mussolini regime.
The fascist labor union systtm
claims 100000 adherents. Admitting
that the figure refers TO spheres of
influence" rather than to actual dues
paying membership" admitting that
Il includes many Of the professional
and clerk classes and excludes many
workers n the key industries it is none
the lefs true that the fascist union
system Is larger and stronger than its
rivals Of the Ared" and white" per-
euasion. It il the first attempt, on a
nationwide scale % to organize the
working population Of q country as
to make il an organic part Of the ma
tional production, to identify its inter
ssts with those Of the fatherland.
Even Employers Not Excluded.
Rossoni, who has become oomenda-
tore or cavalier, in no magisterial fig
ure. rs he sits in his office in the Via
Torino in Rome. BE is still a jolly,
brusque, boyish personality, with q
tendency to make jokes in the midst of
his most earnest perorations.
Our labor unions" he said, ARE
not 'proletariaR,' as the socialists use
the word. They include the clerks and
the technical men. In the industrial
guild with them are representatives
of the employers. When there is an
industrial dispute they all confer, and
in 80 per cent Of the cases the matter
is settled without resort to q strike
or lockout"
1t may be intSmated here that their
readiness TO agree is due perhaps not
70 much to any magic in the system
itself as to the fact that Mussolini
stands over them with figurative gun
and says: Agree, darn you"
why" i asked Rossoni, lid you
change from An 1. ". ". and inter
nationalist philosophy 70 4 national
istr y
EVERY WORKER he replied, els a
dtizen OF his country first and a
worker afterward. The German work
ing class In 1914 destroyed the myth
Of the inferno tionalism of labor. The
third International is merely an in
strument OF the Russian national gov
eminent, Just a. the second interna-
aonaP is an instrument Of the British.
Nov note this: A miracle hap
pened in Italy during the war. Before
the war q worker in Turin was closer
In mentality and sympathy to a work
- IN Paris than he was to q worker
IN Sicily. Inhabitants Of different
parts Of Italy felt themselves straug-
efs and enemies. During the war those
men met in the trenches and came TO
know one another as Italians.
Italy . United Nation.
After the war, Italy became q
united nation for the first time in fiji
teen centuries. Fascism 'valorized'-
made . living reality of-this funda-
mental fact. Fascism is not imperial
Ism, as many persons abroad believe
Fascism lie simply the realization OF
the recent historic evolution of Italy.
We have no need of a labor inter.
national. It is true that an under.
standing with the labor movement ir
other countries il often useful. Fol
instance, we do not want labor IL
other countries to undercut our wage:
and throw us out of employment. Sim
iiafly we do not wish our workers tc
,undercut those Of other nations. But
we can confer and agree with then
case by case"
Signor Rossoni Is sure that italian
worklngmen are at heart Indifferent
TO politics. he did not conceal his be
lief that the man who digs an irriga
ton ditch is more important to the
nation thap the man who talks in
parliament. He hopes soon to see in
Italy legislature Of crafts and guilds
with the industries, trades and profes.
sions, employers and employe-those
who do the work of the nation-mak.
ing the nations laws. Mussolini ha.
limited at something of the sort.
But Rossoni's eyes flashed most
when he talked of foreign policy from
labor's point of view.
Remember" he said. I"the italian
people are a fertile people. We have
now 100000 of our working popu
lation who could well emigrate. Every
ten years we increase by millions
Where shall these additional worker.
go! We have no such colonies as have
Great Britain and France. italian
expansion is not question Of imper
ialism. 1t is question of the yer!
life of the working class"
Home for Telephone Company.
Edinburg, Tex, March 22.-The
matter of home for thefocal tele-