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Title: Italy After 1918 Author: Marie-Louise Berneri Date: 1943, September, Anarcho-Syndicalist Review #81, Anarcho-Syndicalist Review Language: en Topics: Italy, anarchist movement, World War I, post-world war I, fascism, socialist party, communist party, electoral politics, Benito Mussolini, Errico Malatesta,Armando Borghi Source: Scanned from Anarcho-Syndicalist Review #81, Winter, 2021, page 12 Notes: Originally published in War Commentary: For Anarchism, September 1943. Notes added by Anarcho-Syndicalist Review editor.
The Italian people played an unenthusiastic part during the last war.
They had been strongly impregnated with socialist and anarchist ideas
and they saw in the war, not a struggle for democracy, but another
imperialist conflict. The left-wing parties did not betray their
internationalist ideals as openly as they did in other countries, A
section of the Socialist party opposed the war throughout while the
great majority gave it only lukewarm support. The anarchist movement
refused to take part in the imperialist bloodbath and consistently
opposed the war.
The ruling class, in order to obtain some support from the Italian
people, had to bribe them with promises; they assured the workers that
they would get better conditions after the war and that they would give
the land to the peasants. But when peace came they showed no willingness
to keep their promises. The country found itself extremely weakened. It
had lost one million men in the war, and those who came back found no
work to do. Meanwhile the cost of life had gone up tremendously. The
bourgeoisie, on the other hand, had done well out of the war and was
more sure of itself and arrogant than ever; in particular the agrarians
(the landed bourgeoisie) were resolved to do their utmost to prevent the
peasants from gaining any concessions. In 1919 the whole country was
seething with discontent. The workers and peasants, tired of waiting for
the improvements promised them, began to take matters in their own
hands. The bourgeois and nationalist elements were frustrated by the
Allies’ denial of any share of the war booty to Italy. Just as in
Germany the Versailles treaty was the stepping stone for the Nazis, in
Italy it formed a basis for fascism.
Strikes, looting of shops, occupation of the land began in a sporadic
and unorganized way. The general elections which took place on the
16^(th) of November 1919 gave the Socialists 2,846,593 votes while the
bourgeois parties received three and a half million votes. The new
liberal government showed itself incompetent both to resolve the
internal economic problem and to gain Italy territorial aggrandisement
round the diplomatic tables. It was, however, resolved in one thing and
that was to crush any workers’ revolt. It created a royal guard which
mercilessly crushed all demonstrations and strikes.
But in spite of the government’s repression, the movement of strikes
intensified itself. It was merely due to the economic situation and to
the disproportionate increase in the cost of life. But already in April
1920 the General Strike of Turin showed that the workers wanted more
than economic gains and that they aimed at controlling the industries
which belonged to the people by right, because they had built them with
their toil and because they were working them. The Turin workers set up
factory councils and declared their intention to control the factories
themselves. All over Italy strikes of sympathy took place and the
railway workers refused to move the troops which the government wanted
to send to suppress the revolt. The strike lasted ten days and was
finally crushed by overwhelming forces of repression through its having
been unable to obtain sufficient support from the rest of the Italian
workers. Already we see in the Turin strike the wavering and uncertain
attitude which the Socialist Party and the trade unions (General
Confederation of Labor) were to play all through these years of revolt.
Whenever the working-class showed the desire to overthrow capitalist
oppression, they used all their power to prevent them from doing so.
While the anarchists and syndicalists appealed to the Italian people to
support the “Burin workers by striking and by all other means at their
disposal, the socialists refused to support them by calling a general
strike. The socialist organ Avanti, in its Milan edition, even expressed
regret that the strike should have taken place.
Workers’ strikes and expropriation of the land by the workers,
particularly in the South of the peninsula, continued. Unable to
maintain order the Nitti government fell and was replaced by a new
liberal government with Giolitti, an old sly politician at its head, and
with the socialist Labriola as minister of labor. The people showed
their opposition to the government by increased demonstrations. The most
important took place at Ancona, a port on the Adriatic coast, where
popular riots took place and a regiment destined to Albania refused to
embark. In solidarity with the mutiny a general strike took place in the
surrounding provinces and ended only when the government promised to
abandon the protectorate of Albania.
On the 28^(th) of August the occupation of the factories by the metal
workers all over Italy began. The direct cause was the refusal of the
industrialists to put into practice a collective contract of work which
had been forced on them by the strikes of August-September 1919, and to
raise wages in proportion to the cost of living. Afraid that the police
would come to the help of the bourgeoisie and occupy the factories, the
workers took possession of them themselves. In vain did the government,
through its labor minister Labriola, attempt a reconciliation. The
workers refused all compromise.
The workers showed that the aim of the strikes was not merely to obtain
an increase in wages. In many parts they armed themselves to defend the
factories they had seized, they formed workers’ councils to assure the
proper running of industry, and the Federation of Cooperatives paid the
wages. The moment seemed ripe to deal a final blow to the capitalist
class and establish workers’ control all over Italy. The enthusiasm and
militancy of the masses was at its height. After a year of local strikes
and conflicts the people had in an united effort manifested their
resolution to get rid of the old regime. But both the socialists and
communist leadership were afraid of revolution. The most extraordinary
pretexts were put forward. Italy had no coal, no iron, nor enough wheat
to suffice to itself, a revolution would be bound to fail. Even Lenin
thought that the revolution would be premature and told Angelica
Balabanoff, the old socialist militant, that Italy could not make a
revolution because she lacked coal and raw materials!
The Socialist Party and the reformist trade unions instead of following
the masses and helping them to strike down the capitalist system lost
themselves in futile controversies and only offered the workers empty
resolutions. On the 4^(th) and 5^(th) of September the General
Confederation of Labor and the Socialist Party (who were affiliated in
the same way as they are in this country) met and decided to intensify
the struggle, but then did nothing. A week later they met again and
adopted the solution advocated by the trade union secretary: to get out
of the factories and attack the bourgeoisie in its central organ: the
state.
This fine piece of socialist sophistry had the most terrible
consequences for the Italian working class. It marked the beginning of a
reign of reaction which led straight to fascism.
On the 15^(th) September 1920, delegates from the workers and
industrialists met, under the presidency of the prime minister,
Giolitti, at Turin. He proposed the formation of a commission of six
members representing the Confederation of Industry and six members
representing the General Confederation of Labor, which would establish a
sort of control on the industry. No compromise was reached at first
because of the intransigent attitude of the capitalists. But when the
negotiations were resumed in Rome a compromise was arrived at. This
scheme was a clever move on the part of the astute premier. The
factories were evacuated, the workers lost all their power and the
projected law was forgotten in some pigeonhole. But while the Italian
workers felt betrayed, weakened and hopeless, the bourgeoisie prepared
itself to prevent a similar experience from occurring again. the
occupation of the factories which could have marked the downfall of the
ruling class was on the contrary the signal for the capitalists to rally
their forces. They began to look for a man who would give them a strong
government capable to crush any attempt of revolt on the part of the
workers.
The fascists understood that the moment to act had come. On the 21^(st)
of November 1920 they launched their first attack against working-class
organizations. From Bologna the fascist offensive spread to the Po
valley. In the meantime the government reorganized the police, and the
royal guard was recruited amongst the youth and well trained. The forces
of reaction came closer together; capitalists, royalists, clericals,
army men joined hands.
The Socialist Party did not or would not see the fascist danger. It
merely concerned itself with internal discussions, being attacked and
split by the activities of the Communists who were still in the party at
the time. It was then the most important and strongly organized party in
Italy. It counted almost a quarter of a million members and the General
Confederation of Labor counted 2 millions. It had 156 members in
Parliament and 2,162 communes [i.e., municipalities] were administered
by socialists.
The Communist Party was formed after the Congress of Leghorn on the
15^(th) through 20^(th) January 1921 when the Socialist Party refused to
accept the 21 conditions imposed by Moscow. Its main aim was not to
fight reaction but to attack the socialists who, like Serrati, had
refused to become the servile tools of the Kremlin. The C.P. was formed
of many dishonest elements who had accepted the disreputable role of
breaking up long established parties and slandering old working-class
leaders in order to obtain the favors and money which Moscow bestowed
upon its faithful servants. The Communists had plenty of reasons to
criticize reformist socialist leaders like Serrati but they did not
choose to carry on the controversy on theoretical or tactical grounds.
With their now Well-known methods, they tried to discredit them, by
attempting to blacken their private lives, they used slander and
blackmail, provocateurs and spies. this only weakened and demoralized
the working class so that the growth of Communists in Italy was an
important factor in the rise of fascism. The Russian revolution had
inspired the Italian workers. At the example of their Russian comrades
they had formed workers’ councils, they had declared a general strike to
protest against intervention in Russia. But Lenin and the Communist
International destroyed the inspiration the Russian revolution had given
the Italian workers. Seeing that they could not control the Italian
working-class movements the Communist International set about
disorganizing and smashing them. When Lenin died Errico Malatesta wrote
in the anarchist daily Umanità Nova: “Lenin is dead, long live Liberty!”
He was expressing the judgment of history.
The anarchist movement had always had a strong influence on the Italian
masses. Its federalist character appealed to a country which had been
only recently united and where the central government was weak and
unpopular. Its recognition of the important role which the peasants
should play in a revolution won it the support of the countryside. The
influence which Bakunin exerted was felt long after his death. The
Italian section of the International always refused to accept Marx’s
dictatorship. The socialist movement which was formed by the former
anarchist Andrea Costa was for a long time influenced by the
anti-parliamentarianism of the anarchists and was, under their
influence, much more ready to take part in direct action than its German
or British counterparts.
The anarchists had also a strong influence amongst the Bourses du
Travail which grouped all the trades locally and often remained
independent of the trade Union Confederation (TUC). In 1912
anarchist-syndicalists formed their own union. [1] It was very active in
1914 during the June revolt which was called the Red Week. At Ancona on
the 7^(th) of June in a conflict with the police three workers had been
killed. Ancona, a republican and anarchist town where Malatesta, then in
Italy, exerted a strong influence, immediately declared a General
Strike. From there it spread all over Italy, revolts took place at
Ancona, in Romagna, Florence and Naples, the army fraternized with the
people, town halls were occupied by revolutionaries. The syndicalists
led the revolt but the General Confederation of Labor gave the order to
its members to resume work.
Of the activity of the [Italian] Syndicalist Union, Armando Borghi [2]
who was its secretary from 1919 writes (in a letter):
“During 4 years from 1919 to 1922 our action was one of a vanguard not
only of theory but of action. We often tried and we sometimes succeeded
in putting the leaders of the [General] Confederation of Labor in front
of accomplished facts, of serious revolutionary movements. But we did
not succeed in breaking the tutelage in which the reformist leaders held
the masses.”
And he adds:
“I still think that a revolution in Italy at that time was necessary
like a natural birth and that the abortion which resulted was a
catastrophe. France, Spain, etc. would have altered their course and the
whole of Europe would have seen things very different from Mussolini.”
The Syndicalist Union was at the head of all the strikes and movements
of revolt, as also was the Anarchist Union. They did not carry on in a
sectarian way. When the working-class was struggling for the defence of
its own interests it joined socialists and trade-unionists in the fight,
trying to carry it as far as it was possible.
While the members of the Socialist Party left it, discouraged by its
reformist attitude, the membership of the Syndicalist Union grew rapidly
and reached more than half a million.
At the beginning of 1921 the cleavage between the working-class and the
bourgeoisie had reached its climax. On one side stood the working-class
organizations counting millions of members bound to reformist leaders
and a revolutionary syndicalist-anarchist minority unable to draw behind
itself the masses. On the other side the liberal and Catholic parties
resolved to defend by all means at their disposal the interests of the
capitalist class. Mussolini became their tool; with a handful of
fascists, the protection of the police and the complicity of the
government he was able in a few years to disband the working-class
organizations and conquer power.
The Italian workers could during the occupation of the factories in
August-September 1920 have seized the opportunity to deal a final blow
to the bourgeoisie. They failed to do so and from that moment they
fought a retreating battle against the ruling class and the rapidly
growing fascist danger. The government began to imprison working class
militants while fascist hooligans could act with complete impunity.
Mussolini began an organized struggle against working-class
organizations, their offices were burned, their centers destroyed, their
members murdered.
The measure of the government’s arbitrary power was given when Giolitti,
then prime minister, ordered Armando Borghi, the anarchist secretary of
the Syndicalist Union, and Errico Malatesta, the old anarchist militant,
to be arrested. The workers had been too demoralized by the defeat which
followed the occupation of the factories to put up any serious
opposition. The situation was different in February 1920; then the
government had tried to arrest Malatesta at Tombola, a little town near
Leghorn. Immediately all the major towns of Tuscany declared a general
strike and the railwaymen decided to stop the trains in the whole of
central Italy. Before they could do so Malatesta was released.
Anarchists and syndicalists all over Italy organized demonstrations and
strikes in order to obtain the liberation of their comrades but they
received no solidarity from the socialist organizations. The organ of
the Socialist Party, Avanti!, published in large type the following
appeal: “We beg our working comrades most earnestly to pay no attention
to any appeals for action until such appeals shall have been duly passed
by the Party’s central organs and by the economic organisations
competent to deal with them.” All the party leaders did in order to show
their solidarity towards Malatesta and Borghi was to decide that a one
hour strike in protest should be called!
Thanks to the complicity of the Socialist reformist organizations the
government was able to keep Malatesta and Borghi in prison for nine
months. When they were released the reactionary movement had gained such
tremendous ground that the working class was unable to react.
On the 15^(th) of May 1921 the government decided to dissolve Parliament
and to call new elections. Elections in such a period of unrest spelt
civil war and the government was well aware of it. It used them in order
to precipitate the crushing of the left-wing movements. All over Italy
acts of violence took place; the Fascists took this opportunity to
intensify their attacks. The Socialist Party retained however the same
number of votes as it had received at the previous elections, while
Mussolini, together with 30 Nationalist and Fascist deputies, entered
parliament. The Avanti declared that fascist reaction had been buried
under an avalanche of red votes but in reality the initiative already
belonged to the bourgeoisie.
The Socialist Party and the General Confederation of Labor refused to
take action against the fascists and the Socialist parliamentary group
adopted policy of wait and see. They refused to join the government, but
they equally refused to act against it. While their leaders sat tight in
their comfortable armchairs the workers were faced by unemployment,
rising prices, government repression and fascist provocations.
On the 6^(th) of July 1921, an attempt was made to unify the
working-class forces and to meet the fascists with more than words. A
pact of Proletarian Alliance was signed in Rome by working-class
organizations and a workers’ militia the Arditi rossi was formed. [3]
The Socialists only gave it lukewarm support; they declared in their
paper Avanti! that it was no use trying to use force against the
overwhelming forces of the government.
Unwilling to use force, the Socialist Parry preferred to resort to
intrigue and compromise. On the 3^(rd) of August 1921, in the office of
the President of Parliament the Socialist leaders signed a peace treaty
with the fascists. They promised to cooperate to prevent any acts of
violence and reprisals and to respect each other’s right to propaganda
and organization. Socialist and Fascist leaders shook hands across the
bodies of the peasants and workers assassinated by Mussolini’s henchmen.
This pact was a clever move on the part of Mussolini to gain time and to
increase and organize his forces. For a few months Fascist violence
decreased but this did not last long. While Socialist leaders severely
reminded the rank and file to respect the pact, Mussolini renewed his
attacks. At the Socialist Congress of Rome in January 1922 the peasants’
and workers’ delegates from the regions invaded by the Fascists brought
hundreds of proofs of the fact that the Fascist Party had not respected
the pact. They talked of their burned buildings, of the cooperatives
destroyed, of their murdered comrades, and they asked for action, but
the Socialist leadership remained unmoved and declared its unshakable
faith in parliamentary tactics.
Another attempt was made to coordinate the working-class forces. A
Workers’ Alliance between the General Confederation of Labor, the
Syndicalist Union and Railway Union was formed. Its aim was “to oppose
the alliance of workers’ forces to the coalition of the reaction.” This
alliance might have been able to stop the rise of fascism but it came
too late, when the working class was demoralized, weakened and divided.
The Workers’ Alliance made, however, a last attempt to oppose Fascism.
On the 31^(st) of July 1922, it declared a general strike. The strike
was successful and complete but the streets belonged to the Fascists.
After three days of strike they started to attack; they were defeated in
the revolutionary towns of Parma and Forli but they were victorious in
Milan and the strike finished with a defeat of the proletariat.
The fascist onslaught continued. From the Po valley the attack spread to
Tuscany and to the Puglia. The Socialists went on advocating a return to
legal means, to fair competition between parties. The climax of naiveté
was reached when the socialist deputy Filippo Turati called on the king
to bring him the wish of the proletariat for liberty and to remind him
that his duty was to defend the constitution to which he had taken the
oath. The king’s answer was a few days afterwards to call Mussolini to
power!
Mussolini, once having helped to defeat the workers, set himself to
conquer power. He had to win the support of the big capitalists and
royalty, who, once the revolutionary danger passed, might have wished to
thank him and dismiss him. By a series of intrigues and by declaring
himself prepared to accept and defend the king (whom he had always
attacked) Mussolini managed to get the support of the capitalists, who
gave him 20 millions to prepare the March on Rome, and of the royal
family. Sure of his ground, Mussolini declared from Naples on the
24^(th) of October 1922: “If they do not give us power we shall take it
by marching on Rome.”
The government by that time had resigned but on learning of Mussolini’s
declaration of war it published a decree putting the country in a state
of siege. All civil authority had to be surrendered to the army which
took steps to prevent any armed putsch on the part of the Fascists.
Mussolini had only limited forces at his disposal and if the army had
opposed him he would have been lost. But the king came to his rescue. He
refused to sign the decree putting the country under state of siege.
Instead he called Mussolini to Rome to form a new government. Mussolini
“marched on Rome” comfortably installed in a sleeping car.
By the 30^(th) of October he had formed his government. In Rome his
troops marched before the king and the royal family; all over Italy his
followers celebrated with new violence. Parliament did not put up any
opposition; it had been taken by surprise and once again it decided to
wait for events.
Mussolini immediately took measures in favour of the bourgeoisie. All
legislation favorable to the workers was repealed. Meanwhile Fascist
terrorism increased.
On the 18^(th) of December 1922, 12 workers were massacred in Turin. The
organizer of the engineering workers, Pietro Ferrero, an anarchist, was
killed. [4] Everywhere socialists, anarchists, syndicalists were
murdered under the very eyes of the police who never took any steps
against the Fascists.
From the March on Rome to Matteotti’s murder in June 1924, Mussolini
consolidated his forces. He managed to confuse and fool Parliament with
clever speeches which kept everybody guessing as to what his intentions
were. Meanwhile his bands carried on a merciless struggle against the
last working-class bastions. The election which took place in April 1924
only gave the Fascists another excuse for violence. In Parma, the
Socialist candidate Piccinini was assassinated.
On the 10^(th) of June 1924, Giacomo Matteotti, a socialist deputy, was
kidnapped in full daylight in Rome. This murder could have been just
another anonymous fascist crime if a man had not taken the number of the
car where Matteotti had disappeared and reported to the police.
Matteotti’s body was not found until after three months of searches but
the inquest led the police to the government’s doorstep. Mussolini in
order to clear himself accused all his collaborators; one after the
other: Rossi, Finzi, General de Bono and Dumini. They defended
themselves by accusing him. No doubt could be left as to Mussolini’s
having ordered the murder. Public opinion was aroused. Fascist methods
were well known and Matteotti’s name was just one more in a long list of
fascist crimes but this was a unique case, where the police had by
accident found the murderers and where Mussolini’s hand was clearly
shown. It might have been possible to start a movement at that time
which would have overthrown Mussolini’s government. Workers’
organizations proposed to declare a general strike but the socialist
parliamentary group thought such action unwise. Instead it issued a
declaration condemning the murder.
Again in January 1925 Mussolini’s government seemed on the point of
collapse. Rossi, who was implicated in Matteotti’s murder, Wrote a
memorandum on the methods used by Mussolini to crush his political
opponents. After such revelations two cabinet ministers felt compelled
to resign. Instead of allowing a governmental crisis to take place and a
new cabinet to be formed the king hastened to accept two fascist
ministers whom Mussolini proposed to replace the others. In October
1925, Mussolini published his version of the murder, the kidnapping was
merely a joke, the murder, an accident.
The popular reaction to Matteotti’s murder which put Mussolini’s
position in peril made him realize how quickly he had to act to prevent
public opinion from expressing itself. All through 1925, particularly
after Zaniboni’s attempt on Mussolini’s life, measures were taken to
suppress the right of association and the liberty of the press.
The only expressions revolt took from now on [were in] the form of
individual actions against Mussolini and his acolytes and of underground
propaganda. In both fields the anarchists showed courage and initiative.
Out of seven attempts against Mussolini’s life, four were carried out by
anarchists.
The events which led to Mussolini’s conquest of power clearly show that
reformist and legal methods are of no avail in the fight against
reaction and Fascism. The ruling class is only prepared to adhere to
legality, to respect their own rules of the game, as long as it suits
them. When their situation is in danger they use violence, corruption
and assassination. The Socialist Party in Italy made the mistake of
thinking that the capitalists and the Fascist leaders would be prepared
to accept fair competition between parties, that they would respect
peace treaties, that they would be moved by appeals to decency and
honesty. All through those seven years of conflict they played into the
hands of the ruling class. They continued to rely on election results
when the Fascists had brutally declared that if they were not given
power they would conquer it, revolver in hand. While Socialists
scrupulously respected a government sold to the capitalist class, the
Fascists did not hesitate to assassinate the Socialist candidates whom
they could not silence, as for example during the April 1924 elections
when the Socialist candidate Picinini was killed by the Fascists. They
kept relying on the number of seats they had in parliament as the surest
guarantee against Fascism, when it was obvious that Mussolini relied
more on political intrigues and armed force than on democratic methods.
After the 15^(th) of May 1921 elections the Nationalists and Fascists
had 30 deputies while the Socialists had 138 members and the Communists
15, but this did not correspond to the real balance of forces. The
Fascists had the government, the police and in some cases the army on
their side; they could upset any majority the Socialists had in
Parliament. If the Italian workers had relied more on their class
weapons, strikes and insurrection, rather than on the voting paper, they
would not have been defeated; If, when they occupied the factories, they
had taken control of the industries rather than relying on the
government to give them control, then the rise of Fascism would have
been impossible.
The anarchists advocated all through the strikes an expansion of the
movement and Malatesta’s speech to Milan factory workers after they had
returned to work shows that he fully grasped the tragic consequences
this compromise with the bourgeoisie would have for the Italian workers.
This is how he described the pact between the General Confederation of
Labor and the Employers Association:
“You who are celebrating as a great victory the signature in Rome of
this agreement are deceiving yourselves. In reality the victory belongs
to Giolitti, to the Government, and to the bourgeoisie, who find
themselves saved from the precipice over which they had been hanging...
“To speak of victory while the Rome agreement puts you back once more
under the exploitation of the bourgeoisie, is a lie. If you give up
possession of the factories, do so with the conviction that you have
lost a great battle, and with the firm intention of resuming the
struggle at the first opportunity and pursuing it to the end. You will
then drive the employers from the factories and you will not allow them
to re-enter until they come in as workmen on an equality with
yourselves, content to live by working for themselves and others.
Nothing is lost provided you do not delude yourselves with the fallacy
that you have gained a victory. The famous decree as to the control of
the factories is to dupe you, for it will tend to the creation of a new
class of employees [i.e., officials or bureaucrats], who, though sprung
from your bosom, will not defend your interests but the new situation
created for them and it will tend also to harmonise your interests with
those of the bourgeoisie—the interests of the wolf with those of the
lamb.
“Do not believe those of your leaders who mock you by putting off the
revolution from day to day. The Revolution! You yourselves have to make
it whenever the opportunity presents itself, without waiting for orders
that never come, or, if they do come, only instruct you to give up the
fight. Have confidence in yourselves, have faith in your future, and you
will conquer.”
The Socialists displayed the same lack of revolutionary realism when the
working class came to be attacked by the Fascist hooligans. They relied
upon the police which would never defend them nor prosecute the
attackers. An attempt in the right direction was made when a kind of
workers’ defence corps was formed but it never reached the power and
efficiency of, say, the Irish Citizen Army. [5] No serious efforts were
made to defend workers’ organizations, buildings or Left-wing newspaper
presses. When the Avanti building was burnt in Milan by the Fascists, no
attempt was made to defend it in spite of the fact that such an attack
had to be expected at any moment. It is almost incredible to think that
an organization with two million members should have its property
destroyed without any defense being put up. The Fascists were a very
small minority; their strength lay in the fact that they knew the police
would not molest them. If the workers had resisted in an organized way
they would have been able to crush the Fascist revolt in the bud.
The organization of workers defense would have been equally useful when
strikes took place. The workers were able to stage general strikes which
covered the whole country and lasted several days. But they left the
streets to the Fascists, who, while they could not break the strike,
were able to burn union buildings and attack and murder Socialist and
anarchist militants. Unlike them, the Dublin workers understood that
danger and that is why they formed their own defenses during the 1913
Transport Workers’ strike.
The lack of workers’ defenses was partly due to the lack of unity
amongst the Italian workers. While the bourgeoisie presented a united
front against the working class the workers’ parties lost themselves in
endless squabbles.
The Italian anarchist movement understood the danger of disunity and
always advocated joint action against government repression and Fascism.
At the Congress of the Anarchist Union held at Bologna, July 1 to 4,
1920, a union of rank-and-file members belonging to all parties was
advocated. Freedom, September 1929, gives the following report of the
discussion which took place and of the resolution which was adopted.
“A discussion took place on the problem of the united front of the
Italian proletariat, which is divided on the industrial field into the
reformist [General] Confederation [of Labour], the [Italian] Syndicalist
Union, and the very class-conscious Catholic Trade Unions. Politically,
the workers belong either to the Socialist Party with its different
wings, from the reformists to the Communist Parliamentarians, or to the
extremely revolutionary Republicans and the Anarchists. The Catholic
People’s Party is also very strong. Besides these there exist
innumerable autonomous groups of all tendencies. Dissensions have
hitherto stood in the way of united action. Malatesta has repeatedly
pointed out the great need for united action among all parties. In
several localities there is today already a common united front, whilst
in others the attainment of this object is difficult and even
impossible. The following resolution was passed:—the Congress authorises
and advises the formation of small local Groups of Action, outside the
parties and existing organisations in the different localities,
consisting of all those elements which will declare themselves ready to
go into action at the first decided opportunity, and to fight with all
their means against the existing institutions.’”
When one studies the history of Hitler’s rise to power one is struck by
the fact that the German workers learnt nothing from the experiences of
the Italian proletariat. How long are workers all over the world going
to commit the same mistakes, making the sacrifices of their comrades
useless and bringing terrible sufferings upon themselves? [6]
[1] A reference to the Italian Syndicalist Union (Unione Sindacale
Italiana) which was formed in Modena by unions and trades councils
previously affiliated with the General Confederation of Labor (Berneri
uses the better-known expression Bourses du Travail associated with
pre-war French revolutionary syndicalism rather than the Italian Camere
del Lavoro). As Berneri notes, it swiftly grew during the Biennio Rosso
but calls by it and the Italian Anarchist Union for a united front were
rejected during this period and in the rise of fascism. It continues to
organize workers to this day and remains a member of the International
Workers’ Association. (Anarcho-Syndicalist Review Editor)
[2] Armando Borghi (1882–1968) was an Italian anarchist who joined the
movement at the age of 16. A long-standing union militant, he was
elected secretary of the Italian Syndicalist Union and edited its
newspaper Guerra di Classe. He visited revolutionary Russia in 1920 and
played a key role in syndicalist opposition to Bolshevism both in Italy
and internationally. Returning to Italy, he fought against the rise of
fascism before being forced into exile in 1923. He returned to Italy
after the Second World War and rejoined the anarchist movement.
(Anarcho-Syndicalist Review Editor)
[3] Also known as the Arditi del Popolo, this was a militant
anti-fascist group founded at the end of June 1921 to resist the rise of
fascism and the violence of its Blackshirt paramilitaries (squadristi).
It grouped revolutionary syndicalists, socialists, communists,
anarchists and republicans, as well as some former military officers.
While individual members joined and supported it, the Arditi del Popolo
was not supported by either the Italian Socialist Party or the Communist
Party of Italy. In contrast, both the Italian Anarchist Union and
Italian Syndicalist Union supported the organization.
(Anarcho-Syndicalist Review Editor)
[4] Pietro Ferrero (1892–1922) was an anarchist active in the General
Confederation of Labor. He was elected secretary of the Turin section of
the Federation of Metal Workers Employees in 1919 and played an
important role in the strikes and factory occupations during September
1920. On 18 December 1922, he was killed by fascist gangs as part of
their three-day terror campaign in Turin which saw 22 labor militants
murdered. After being tortured, he was tied to a truck and dragged,
presumably still alive, at full speed through the Corso Vittorio
Emanuele before his unrecognizable corpse was dumped at the foot of the
statue of King Vittorio Emanuele II. (Anarcho-Syndicalist Review Editor)
[5] The Irish Citizen Army was a small group of armed trade union
volunteers from the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union (ITGWU)
formed by James Larkin, James Connolly and Jack White. It arose as a
result of the Dublin lockout of August 1913 to January 1914 when Irish
employers tried to break the syndicalist influenced ITGWU. The Dublin
Metropolitan Police regularly attacked strikers and their meetings (two
were beaten to death and around 500 injured at a rally on 31 August).
This state violence prompted Larkin to call for a workers’ militia to be
formed to protect themselves against the police. The Irish Citizen Army
was formed on 23 November 1913 and for the duration of the lock-out was
armed with hurling sticks and bats to protect workers’ demonstrations
from the police. On 24 April 1916, 220 of its members took part in the
Easter Rising against British rule of Ireland. (Anarcho-Syndicalist
Review Editor)
[6] For more details of the role of libertarians in the Biennio Rosso
(“Two Red Years”) and the resistance to fascism, see section A.5.5
(“Anarchists in the Italian Factory Occupations”) in volume 1 of An
Anarchist FAQ (Edinburgh: AK Press, 2008). (Anarcho-Syndicalist Review
Editor)