"The first Sunday in June, in Italy, is the celebration of the granting of the constitution. A military review and other dynastic celebrations take place. The militant Italians -Socialists, Syndicalists, Anarchists-have chosen this day to hold meetings of protest against the military discipline companies. The government promulgated a decree prohibiting these meetings. This was, as can be seen, a gross violation of freedom of speech and assemblage. "The seriousness of the movement arises also from the plundering of gunsmiths' shops, from the barricades that have been erected in several cities, from the arming of an entire population that believed the government had been overthrown. Churches were burnt, railroad stations, town halls and headquarters of monarchists were sacked, requisitions were sent out for food, which was divided among the poor. In short, evidences pointed towards the eve of the social revolution. "For a week the two provinces of Torti and Ravenna that make up Romagna were separated from the rest of Italy. Railroad bridges were torn up, the red flag of the republic was hoisted in cities and villages, the military and political authorities shut themselves up in their palaces and barracks. An enormous mob of armed peasants traversed cities and country proclaiming the new régime. "For two days no paper appeared in Italy, with the exception of the official Populo Romano. "The proletarians who had obeyed the order of the Socialist Party in the matter of the general strike were calculated at two million. "The figures of the dead and wounded give an idea of the movement: "At Turin, 3 dead. "At Fabriano, 1 dead. Mussolini gives as the real cause of the uprising-the Tripoli War. "Tripoli War has cost us two thousand millions. For a nation like Italy, whose economic constitution is very weak, such a sum represents a deadly bleeding. As a result we have unemployment, discontent, and general uneasiness." Writing to Le Peuple on June 23d, before there was any menace of another and greater war, Mussolini still predicts the approach of revolution : "The truth is, that as a result of the war [in Africa], Italy has entered a critical and revolutionary situation. The hour of great responsibilities for the Socialists draws near." SUBSEQUENT MILITARY DISTURBANCES As soon as the first menace of the present war appeared, about the middle of July, the agitation was everywhere redoubled. The Avanti called upon the workers to declare a general strike and to inaugurate a revolution, if Italy declared war. And it was supported in this position both by the Confederation of Labor and the Socialist Party. When the reserves began to be called out, the situation became critical, as a despatch to the Berlin Vorwaerts clearly indicates. On the night of the 18th of July, the reservists of Forli, Cestna, and Rimini (in the Romagna) mutinied. The report had spread among the reservists of Forli that they were to be sent to Albania. In the night of the 19th they were awakened and ordered to make themselves ready for travel, without any explanation being given them: they were to go not to Albania but to Padua. The reservists refused, however, to get ready for the voyage and cried out that they wanted to say farewell to their families first. When officers appeared to find out the cause of the alarm, they were received with the cry, "Down with the war. Long live the republic!" As the officers tried to force obedience, the reservists began to throw bread and other remnants of food at them, so that the officers were forced to retreat. The reservists even tried to seize the weapons, but were prevented by the fact that the door of the armory was locked. They obeyed orders only when they learned that they were not to go to war. As the train left the station the cry was heard, "Down with the war! Hurrah for the revolution!" THE THREAT OF REVOLUTION IN CASE OF A DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST FRANCE A few days later appeared the revolutionary article of the Avanti already referred to: And Italy? If a European conflagration should occur, what will be her attitude? With Austria against France? We do not know what are the secret "pacts" of this Triple Alliance, which was so suddenly renewed by the monarchs against the will of the people; but we know that we boldly declare that the Italian proletariat will break the pacts of the alliance if it is forced to spill a single drop of blood for a cause which is not its own. Even in the case of a European conflagration Italy, if it does not wish to precipitate its ruin, has but one attitude to take: absolute neutrality. Because of the general strike of June and the revolutionary state of mind of the working classes afterward many competent observers believe that it was this attitude of the Socialists and labor unionists, more than anything else, that prevented Italy from entering the war as a member of the Triple Alliance. |