Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2008
In the decade before World War I, revolutionary syndicalists and reformist socialists clashed repeatedly in the Italian labor movement. The reformist socialists, who maintained a hegemony throughout this period, advocated cooperation and compromises with the bourgeoisie and the government, supported by the Socialist Party in Parliament, to secure socio-economic benefits for the workers. The revolutionary syndicalists, who began to present an alternative to this strategy in 1905, favored direct action by workers through the unions to seize advantages from the bourgeoisie and reinforce the class consciousness of the proletariat. They asserted that the strike was the most effective means to win socio-economic reforms and bring about changes in politics. At the same time, they believed that it attracted converts and strengthened the union movement. The revolutionary syndicalists also argued that striking workers acquired initiative and combativeness, sentiments of unity and solidarity, and developed a heroic ethos of duty, dedication and sacrifice. The challenge of a strike, on the other hand, restored energy to the bourgeoisie: it transformed the property owners into aggressive, worthy opponents of the proletariat. As illusions of collaboration disappeared in the heat of battle, the revolutionary syndicaUsts predicted that the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie would become more intense and intransigent.
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page 190 note 1 La Protesta (Parma), October 18, 1913. See also L'Avanguardia (Parma), March 4, 1909; and Archivo Centrale dello Stato, Rome, Ministero dell'Interno, Direzione Generale di Pubblica Sicurezza, Casellario Politico Centrale, “Alceste De Ambris”,
page 191 note 1 L'Idea, April 7, 1907.
page 191 note 2 Ibid., May 18, 1907.
page 191 note 3 Bollettino dell'Associazione Agraria Parmense (AAP), September 10, 1907.
page 191 note 4 Atti del Parlamento Italiano, Camera dei Deputati, Sessione 1904–07, Discussioni, Tornata del 3 giugno, 1907, XII (Rome, 1907), pp. 15162–63.Google Scholar
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page 193 note 2 Bollettino AAP, April 18, 1908.
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page 193 note 6 Ministero di Agricoltura, Industria e Commercio, Supplemento al Bollttino dell'Ufficio del Lavoro, No 20, Statistica delle organizzazioni di lavoratori al 1 gennaio, 1913 (Rome, 1914), p. 104Google Scholar; L'Idea, November 16, 1907.
page 194 note 1 L'Idea, October 26, 1907.
page 194 note 2 Ibid.
page 194 note 3 Masotti, Tullio, La pratica sindacalista: Commento critico all'azione svolta dalla camera del lavoro di Parma (Parma, 1910), pp. 17–18.Google Scholar See also La Scintilla (Ferrara), December 22, 1912.
page 194 note 1 L'Idea, November 30, 1907.
page 194 note 2 Ibid., April 25, 1908.
page 194 note 3 Ibid., February 29, 1908.
page 194 note 4 De Micheli, , Barricate a Parma, p. 38.Google Scholar
page 194 note 5 The landowners maintained that salaried workers without care of livestock had an obligation to work the same thirteen-hour day as salaried workers with livestock, since they received the same pay; the chamber of labor argued that the former should work a ten-hour day like the day laborers. The landowners claimed that they had the right to subtract 60 lire of house rent from the 600 lire annual salary of every salaried worker in a family; the chamber of labor wished the rent to be 60 lire per family, irrespective of the number of salaried workers in it. The landowners insisted that female salaried workers, whose pay and hours were fixed in the contract, had an obligation to work when the proprietor requested their services; the chamber of labor rebutted that the women had the right to refuse. Bagatti, O., “La lotta economica nel parmense”, in: Rivista Popolare di Politica, Lettere e Scienze Sociali, XIV (1908), pp. 234–35.Google Scholar
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page 195 note 1 La Scintilla, April 11, 1908.
page 195 note 2 Bollettino AAP, January 11, 1908.
page 195 note 3 Ibid., January 2, 1908. See also Bollettino Federate Agrario, August 1–15, 1908.
page 195 note 4 Bollettino AAP, February 19, 1908.
page 195 note 5 L'Idea, February 22, 1908.
page 195 note 6 Bollettino AAP, March 7, 1908.
page 196 note 1 Ibid., April 2, 1908.
page 196 note 2 L'Internazionale, March 7 and 28, 1908.
page 196 note 3 Ibid., March 28, 1908.
page 196 note 4 Bollettino AAP, April 18, 1908.
page 197 note 1 L'Internazionale, Supplemento No 1, May 3, 1908.
page 198 note 1 L'Idea, April 25, 1908.
page 198 note 2 L'Idea, June 13, 1908; Basevi, , “Lo sciopero agrario”, p. 145.Google Scholar
page 198 note 3 Corriere della Sera, May 3, 1908.
page 198 note 4 Il Giornale d'Italia, May 7, 1908.
page 198 note 5 La Confederazione del Lavoro, May 9 and 16, 1908.
page 198 note 6 For the pessimistic opinion of the president of the Parmesan Chamber of Commerce, see Bollettino della Camera di Commercio ed Arti di Parma, XL (05, 1908).Google Scholar For the unions' rejection of the suggestion, see L'Internazionale, May 14, 1908.
page 199 note 1 Bollettino AAP, May 5, 1908.
page 199 note 2 Corriere della Sera, May 5, 1908.
page 199 note 3 Ibid.
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page 199 note 5 Corriere della Sera, May 8, 1908. For the pessimistic predictions of another reformist socialist, see Fausto Pagliari to Rinaldo Rigola, May 6 and 13, 1908, Fondo Rigola (1908), Istituto Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, Milan.
page 200 note 1 f.p., “La quindicina: La grande lotta nel parmense”, in: Il Divenire Sociale, IV (1908), p. 167.Google Scholar
page 200 note 2 Paolo Orano, “I risultati di un grande sciopero”, loc. cit.; L'Internazionale, May 30, 1908.
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page 200 note 4 Il Nuovo Giornale (Florence), May 10, 1908.
page 201 note 1 Orano, “I risultati”, loc. cit., p. 140. See also L'Azione Diretta (Florence), May 23, 1908.
page 201 note 2 Olivetti, A. O., “Anima nuova: A proposito dello sciopero di Parma”, in: Pagine Libere, II, pp. 512–13.Google Scholar This article was dated May 17, 1908.
page 201 note 3 Ibid., pp. 505–07.
page 201 note 4 La Propaganda (Naples), April 20, 1902. See also Marucco, Dora, Arturo Labriola e il sindacalismo rivoluzionario in Italia (Turin, 1970), pp. 155–56, 188–90.Google Scholar
page 201 note 5 L'Internazionale, May 23, 1908.
page 201 note 6 Ibid., June 13, 1908.
page 202 note 1 Corriere della Sera, May 24, 1908.
page 202 note 2 Ibid., May 20, 1908; Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Ministero dell'Interno, Direzione Generate di Pubblica Sicurezza, Fondo Gabinetto, Ufficio Cifra e Telegrammi, VIII, No 11815, May 28, 1908 (Milan), pp. 147–48.
page 202 note 3 Corriere della Sera, May 24, 1908.
page 202 note 4 L'Internazionale, Supplemento No 22, May 25, 1908.
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page 202 note 6 L'Internazionale, Supplemento No 26, May 29, 1908.
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page 202 note 8 L'Internazionale, Supplemento No 32, June 4, 1908.
page 203 note 1 Corriere della Sera, June 7, 1908.
page 203 note 2 Ibid., June 9, 1908.
page 203 note 3 Il Nuovo Giornale, June 11, 1908.
page 203 note 4 Bollettino AAP, June 13, 1908.
page 203 note 5 Ibid.
page 203 note 6 Il Nuovo Giornale, June 12, 1908.
page 204 note 1 Ibid., June 20, 1908.
page 204 note 2 Alceste De Ambris, who had been out of town at the time, stated afterward that the leaflet had violated his instructions to avoid a confrontation. L'lnternazionale, April 19, 1913. Ex post facto evidence of this nature, however, is inconclusive.
page 204 note 3 L'Internazionale, Supplemento, No 42, June 20, 1908.
page 204 note 4 Ibid.
page 205 note 1 Ibid.
page 205 note 2 Ibid.
page 205 note 3 Il Nuovo Giornale, June 21, 1908.
page 205 note 4 Although the magistracy instituted proceedings against 160 persons, only 7 were brought to trial. The charges were criminal association to commit offenses against persons and property, with Alceste De Ambris as head of the association (Penal Code, Art. 248); commission of acts to bring about an armed uprising against the powers of the state, with Alceste De Ambris as the leader (Art. 120); and moral complicity in 12 cases of unsuccessful homicide (Art. 364, 365 (2), 62, 63). In a decision on May 10, 1909, the Court of Assize in Lucca found the defendents not guilty on these charges. It condemned Alceste De Ambris to a one-year prison term, with a six-month reduction, on the charge of injuring a policeman with intent (“lesione aggravata”, Art. 372 (1) and 373). It sentenced Giovanni Pizzarotti, managing editor of L'Internazionale, to nine months in prison and a 300 lire fine on charges of justification of a crime, instigation to disobey the law, and instigation of hatred among social classes in a manner to endanger public peace (Art. 247). In this case, it granted an amnesty that freed him at once. Archivo Centrale dello Stato, Ministero di Grazia e Giustizia, Direzione Generale di Affari Penali, 1909, Busta 120, Fascicolo 160, “Corte d'Assise di Lucca: Sentenza Penale: Processo per i fatti di Parma, 10 maggio, 1909”.
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page 206 note 3 Avanti!, June 27, 1908.
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page 206 note 5 La Confederazione del Lavoro, June 27, 1908; Il Nuovo Giornale, June 24,1908.
page 206 note 6 Avanti!, June 26, 1908.
page 207 note 1 La Guerra Sociale, June 27, 1908.
page 207 note 2 Il Grido degli Oppressi (Terni), December 17, 1910.
page 207 note 3 L'Internazionale, June 28, 1908.
page 207 note 4 Ibid., Supplemento No 56, July 12, 1908.
page 207 note 5 Ibid., Supplemento No 63, July 20, 1908.
page 207 note 6 Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Ministero dell'Interno, Direzione Generale di Pubblica Sicurrezza, Fondo Gabinetto, Ufficio Cifra e Telegrammi, X, No 15461, 07 4, 1908 (Parma), p. 316Google Scholar; No 15949, July 10, 1908 (Parma), p. 467.
page 207 note 7 Bollettino AAP, August 8, 1908.
page 208 note 1 L'Idea, August 1, 1908.
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page 210 note 6 Ibid., December 24, 1908.