Page:William Z. Foster - The Revolutionary Crisis of 1918-1921 (1921).djvu/34



No less than Germany, England, and France, Italy also experienced a profound labor unrest just after the war. A wave of organization spread among the workers, the membership of the General Confederation of Labor reaching the unprecedented total of 2,500,000. Strikes multiplied on every hand, all of them being waged with unusual vigor and success. In September, 1920, the whole movement climaxed in a vast revolutionary outburst, as a result of the occupation of the steel and iron plants throughout all Italy by the militant metal workers.

The epoch-making movement of the metal workers developed simply enough. Harassed by a constantly mounting cost of living, the Federation of Italian Metal Workers (known as the F. I. O. M.), on June 18th, demanded a general increase in wages amounting to approximately 35%. This the organized employers resisted. Smarting under many recent defeats by the workers, including the establishment of the eight-hour day, the setting up of shop committees, the restriction of the employers' right to hire and discharge, etc., etc., they were eager to deal a blow at the unions. And they deemed the prevailing situation propitious for so doing. Industry was slackening up rapidly and thousands of workers were unemployed. Quite evidently a state of serious trade depression was setting in, and a consequent weakening of the strike power of the workers might be expected. So the employers delayed the negotiations, jockeying about to find a favorable opportunity for delivering the thrust which they were so anxious to put in.

In the midst of this maneuvering the F. I. O. M., as a