The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-03-31
FASCISTS RENEW
PERSECUTION OF
ITALIAN WORKERS
Hundreds to Face Trial
By Field Court Martial


lod OF deportations and arrests,
period of huge trials against repre-
sentatives of the working class, who
cared to stand up in defiance Of the
Fascist terror, is now setting in Num-
erous trials are in preparation, most
OF which will be brought before the
Field Court Martial. Considering that
the Court Martial is composed of Of
Ulcers of the Fascist militia, one may
conclude that the slightest offence,
such as the distribution of leaflets,
or an insult of Mussolini, etc, will be
severely punished
Apart from the numerous small
trials, there are also several monster
Communist trials in preparation.
Thus, 30 Communists were arrested
about months ago in Cantania Isl
cily) on the charge Of being agents
Of the Communist Party and the In
ternational Red Aid and of preparing
an armed rising against the Fascist
dictatorship. Although no documents
were found on the arrested comrades
to prove that they had any such in
tentions, the Fascist government con-
siders their Communist Party mem
bership as sufficient evidence against
them.
Police Arrest Workers.
Another trial will involve about so
workers, members of various political
parties, who met in the vicinity of
Tarrant to discuss some immediate
problems concerning their everyday
struggles. The police discovered the
meeting and arrested all present on
charges of high treason. The prison.
ers have been kept in prison for
months without knowing what charg-
es were made against them. The Tar
rant workers are showing their solid
arity by collecting money which they
place at the disposal Of the IRA.
About GO comrades were arrested
some fourteen months ago in Bari;
they are still kept in prison without
any charges having been brought
against them. The investigating ma
gistrate made plea for the liberia
tion of some of these comrades but
the public prosecutor objected; now
that Emergency Powers are being in
troduced, the fact that they are mem
bers Of the Communist Party will be
sufficient ground for passing heavy
sentences upon them.
Leaflets as Evidence.
Another trial is being prepared in
Florence. Also in this case 60 Com
munists, who have already been inn
risoned for about a year will be tried
for plotting against the existing Of
der Some Communist leaflets and a
circular letter Of the Central Com
mittee of the Party found in the pos
session of one Of the arrested COM
rades, will be used as evidence. This
trial was scheduled to take place
shortly, but has been postponed, evil
IDENTIFY. also with the view Of bringing
it before the court martial. Similar
mass trials, almost exclusively against
Communists, are being prepared in
Verona, Padua, Trieste, Bologna and
Rome. In Bologna there arc n COM
rades under charges, and another %
were arrested few days agi.
One trial which may well be consid-
cred as trial against the Commun-
ist Party, merits special considera-
ton. Many comrades arrested before
and after the attempt on Mussolinis
life, among whom are such promin-
ent leaders of the Communist Party
as Gramski, Terascini, Riboldi, Scocci-
marc and others, are accused Of hav-
ing plotted against the State. The
scheduled individual trials of some of
these comrades We're all suspended
and all Of them will have to face the
court martial in a body.
4 Beloved Leader.
The attitude of the population to
these trials may be judged from the
ovations the especially beloved Com
rade Gramsci received on his way to
Milan, from Ustica island, where he
had been in exile. In Neapoli, work.
ers brought him food and cigarettes
TO the prison, and on leaving the next
morning, women workers brought him
coffee and bread to the station. All
along his journey, the stations were
guarded by police so as to prevent
solidarity demonstrations.
The Italian workers have not been
frightened by the Fascist terror, and
the pending trials will only make them
still firTner and more determined
fighters in the struggle.
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