The daily worker., 1924-09-08
TRIAL OF 1872
ITALIANS NOW
DRAWS TO END
ti-FGScist Workers in
Final Plea
tspeeIaI % The oaIIy workerl

| trial of the one hundred and
thirty-two workers, arrested
here two and a half years ago
during the riots which broke
out upon the arrival of details
of national militia, sent by Mus
solini to break up the strike of
the railroad workers of Tus-
cany, is drawing to a close with
a final plea by the states attor-
ney that all the workers be im-
prisoned for life.
Hold All Responsible.
For nineteen days the state
has tried to prove that the
death of eleven Fascist strike
! breakers at the hands of the
citizens Of Empoli was not the
result of mob action, but Of
criminal intent on the part of
each and every worker in
volved. It has held that every
one of the one hundred and
thirty-two defendants is indi-
vidually responsible for the
killing, and that life imprison-
ment is the most lenient sem
tence which can be imposed.
Lawyers for the defense will now
be granted few days to plead. They
will review the events which led to
the riots--the starving condition of
the Tuscany railroad workers, the des-
perate attempt to win back decent
living conditions by means of strike.
They will tell of the wave of fury that
passed over the workers of Empoli
when it was whispered that troops Of
Fascist soldiers were to pass thru the
city on their way to Florence, center
of the Tuscany strike. They will tell
how the citizens of the town, under
the leadership of group of COM
munist men and women, threw up
barricades on the streets and opened
fire on the black-shirts so that their.
brothers in Tuscany might be saved
from starvation.
Fascists Are Murderers.
They will show too, that of the
Fascist leaders who have been re-
sponsible for the death Of nine thou
sand workers since the beginning of
the Mussolini dictatorship three years
ago, not one is in jail. They wdl- -nasr-
tion, particularly, the case Of Maria
de Vecci, now governor of Somalia,
an Italian province in Africa, who
still boasts of his exploits on the
night in December, 1922, when he in.
cited band of Fascist to rout the
militant workers of Turin from their
houses and to shoot them in the
streets.
The prisoners have kept up a de-
fiant spirit, in spite of the fact that
they have been held in Jail under the
most terrible conditions ever since
their arrest. During the trial they
have been kept in one big cage, men
and women alike, and have been
forced to listen to the taunts and
jeers Of Fascist officials and sympa-
thizers. At intervals they cry out to
their tormentors: "Murders. AS
} sassins! What have you done with
: Matteotti?"
I'VE Are Communists"
In reply to questions as to their
] political sympathies. the leaders am
swer only: we are Communists!"
- Meanwhile, the grip of the Musso.
lini dictatorship is tightening all over
) Italy. The prefect Of Milan has sent
letter to the editor of "Unita," Com
munist daily published in that city,
threatening suppression il the paper
does not change its attitude toward
the Fascist
The circulation of "Unita" among
the workers has already been stopped
nine times. Copies of the paper have
been taken from the mails and burned
in the streets by government officials.
Miners Hoot Benny.
An anti-Fascist demonstration took
place yesterday at valdarno center of
the militant miners OF Italy, when
Mussolinis attempt to address the
workers was hooted down with cries
, Of Long live the Communists"
Mussolini received warm welcome
from the mine operators OF Valdarno.
to whom he said:
D Let those who oppose us remem.
, Der this-that we have our black.
shirts always at hand. If the opposi-
tion dares to raise. its head, we will
crush it as we would crush handful
of dead leaves"
"Ayanti,' organ OF the Maximalists.
who have become more radical since
the death OF Matteotti, has also been
! threatened with suppression.