In the autumn of 1893 the struggle of the fasci exploded throughout the island,
especially in the peasant sphere; the Giolitti government resists the requests ofthe reactionary agrarian bloc to outlaw them; the demands of the peasants arealso considered just by sectors of the liberal world. ---- On 5 October inCasteltermini there is a peasant strike, with the arrest of managers and thecharge of the military to women. On 10 October in Syracuse, the crowd devastatesthe town hall against taxes. On 22 October in Cattolica Eraclea the leaders ofthe striking farmers were arrested; on 25 October in Caltabellotta the presidentof the bundle was arrested with 8 members, but an agreement was reached with thebosses immediately afterwards. Arrests also in Acquaviva Platani and Milocca onthe 27th, here with an assault on the barracks and disarmament of thecarabinieri. On the 28th the agreement is reached in Partanna; on the 29th,arrests in Paceco; on November 2nd in Valledolmo you occupied the lands, while onthe 5th in Bisaquino and on the 6th in Contessa Entellina the strike won and thepeasants took possession of the lands. But in Giardinello on December 10 duringthe protest against municipal taxes, soldiers fired on the crowd causing 11deaths; City hall stormed, two dead. Clashes and arrests take place in dozens anddozens of locations following the massacre. On 20 December in Lercara, soldiersfired again on demonstrators: 11 dead, dozens and dozens injured.In this phase of maximum effort, which sees more than 50,000 settlers on strikeand hundreds of demonstrations, land and town hall occupations and a harshreaction from the army, the agrarian bloc of the south, united with theagrarian-industrial one of the north, succeeds, the 15 December, to bring downGiolitti and put the Sicilian Francesco Crispi in his place, a figure who,knowing the situation on the island, could have managed the fiery situation. Invain on December 25 he will invite the mayors to abolish or lower municipaltaxes. On 1 January in Mazara the town hall was devastated but in Pietraperziathe troops killed 8; on the 2nd in Gibellina there were 20 dead and in BelmonteMezzagno there were 2; on the 3rd, 18 died in Marineo; on the same day GeneralMorra di Lavriano, sent to Sicily with full powers, declared a state of siege onthe island, the dissolution of the Fasci and the arrest of their leaders. Againon the 5th in S. Caterina Villarmosa 14 deaths and numerous injuries and arrestswere recorded. (1)This explosion of rebellion and the state of siege displace the insurrectionalplans that were being made, especially in the Catania and Trapani areas, thanksalso to the work in this sense developed by anarchists exiled and clandestinelyreturned to Italy (Malatesta, Merlino, Cipriani). With General Morra, thousandsmore soldiers arrive in Sicily, bringing the number of troops to about 40.00: areal colonial occupation force.However, as Renda will point out, "Before that by General Morra's soldiers, theWorkers' Fasci were suffocated in their profound raison d'être by thedeliberations, even if not formal, of the congresses of Zurich and Reggio Emilia.Even if Crispi had not proclaimed a state of siege, the Sicilian movement wouldhardly have overcome the crisis. Unless the movement itself, which was highlyimprobable, had not played a hegemonic role in the development of Italiansocialism". (2)The Socialist Party had disavowed the fascism in the name of Marxist orthodoxywhich saw only the laborers as the only proletarians worthy of being organized,excluding the peasants, who in Sicily, in reality, had become the protagonists ofhistory, attempting to fight against a enemy in the service of the castes and theprivileged, and beginning to conquer land from the landowners. The socialistblindness manifested in the application of the same analysis to completelydifferent realities, will have harmful consequences on the development of theclass struggle and of the revolutionary and emancipatory movements in Sicily,Italy and internationally. This dogmatism will lead to the cancellation of thehistory of the Sicilian fascism. Renda himself, while correctly framing therelations between the Fasci and the Socialist Party, let slip, as a good Marxist,that the Sicilian peasants had placed themselves under the banner of Marxism andunder the guidance of the industrial proletariat (3). In reality, the other majorelement of rupture between the socialist party and the Fasci was certainly givenby the fact that many had placed themselves outside its influence, especiallywhen the rebellion was rampant on the island and an insurrectionary project wasbeing planned. (4)In about 70 Sicilian cities and towns, over 3,500 executives and associates werearrested on charges of conspiring against the powers of the state and incitingcivil war, massacre and looting. Many of the most active militants, especiallythe anarchists, had been arrested or rendered harmless by repression in theprevious months. The effects of the reactionary swerve will have repercussions inItaly for several more years, defining the end of the century with theirrepressive and totalitarian essence and with the Milanese cannon fire of BavaBeccaris.Since the autumn of 1983, about eighty fascism had been forming on the continent,mainly from anarchist, republican or revolutionary socialist areas, external tothe influence of the PSLI; they should have assisted and imitated the Sicilianmovement and given life to solidarity motions towards a national general strikewhich would have made the Sicilian revolt flare up throughout the country, layingthe foundations for the revolution. In fact, when the state of siege broke out inSicily, numerous protests were carried out in mainland Italy, in Calabria, Pugliaand in particular in Lunigiana (the area around Carrara), where between 12 and 14January the the only insurrectionary attempt in the hope that the example ofSicily would have induced the plebs of Italy to rise up in the name of therevolution. The anarchist and republican spirit of these populations wasexpressed generously even if naively, here too disavowed by the socialists. In amanifesto circulated in the first ten days of January, and printed in London, onecould read: "Our Sicilian brothers have resisted and fought - and they resist andfight with the heroism of the great historical periods. But this struggle, whichwould be unequal if we remained indifferent spectators, would in that case endthrough our fault with the sacrifice of entire populations. On the contrary, ifwe know how to do our duty, it will end with the complete victory of the workers".(5)After six months of harsh repression, protests will reappear in Sicilian squaresin support of prisoners and managers on trial; the socialists will maintain theirdistance from the Fasci, with the exception of a text by Turati condemning thearrests and violence; the disaster of the Eritrean countryside will decree theend of the Crispi government and the advent of the government of the Marquis diRudinì which will be clear on 7 July 1896: he would not have allowed theestablishment, in Italy, and especially in Sicily, of associations with the aimof provoking the class struggle. Thus the defeated and disillusioned peasants andworkers will only have the emigration card to the Americas, where they can placetheir dreams of redemption and the hopes, for the most part vain, of a futurereturn to their land.But, as Renda recalls: "In the specific conditions of Sicily and the South, theWorkers' Fasci also had a southern and Sicilian connotation, so much so that itwas then that the expressions 'Sicilian question', 'Southern question' werecoined". (6).Pippo Gurrieri7 - continueFrancesco Renda, The Sicilian bundles, 1892-94, Einaudi, Turin 1977, p. 350-357.Renda, cit., p. 334.Renda, cit., p. 332Musarra, The currents..., cit.Gino Vatteroni, "Down with duties, long live Sicily". History of the Carrarainsurrection of 1894, edited by the author, Carrara 1993; the document is on p. 103.Renda, cit., p. 331.https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten