The Star. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER. 15, 1920. AN UNLUCKY EXPERIMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 20052, 15 September 1920, Page 6

The Star. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER. 15, 1920. AN UNLUCKY EXPERIMENT.

Disillusionment is waiting on the Italian workmen who furnished such a theatrical coup a. fortnight ago. They took forcible possession of various ftwtories, with the declared intention of managing and working them in their own interests. The capitalistic owners were not offered cash or any other compensation—the whole thing was to be a gigantic “ steal,” and to be maintained by force, if necessary. The Italian Government took up an extraordinary attitude, reminiscent more of dignified neutrality than anything else. Probably the Government had the spectacle of a revolution before its eyes, «nd Imped to evade or postpone the evil day, leaving time to bring the inevitable end borne to the factory scizers. The’ workmen are beginning to discover that the possession of factories does not «olve their problem. They have conscripted the service of tho managers and experts, but they cannot secure supplies of raw materials, sell their manufactured goods, or—worst of all—pay wages. Their unlucky experiment is hound to fail disastrously; it could only succeed if it had the power of ’the State and tho whjo.V machinery of national commerce hehind it. Iho Confederation of Labour has apparently recognised that tho workers have been led into a hopeless position, and the leaders arc endeavouring *,o secure the evacuation of the works. • A cable published recently m Australia stated that the disillusionment of the workers who sefzed the factories in Northern Italy had begun. Pay day passed without pay, and perturbation was evident amongst the proletariat. Tlie newspaper " Avnnti ” warned them not to regard the occupation of Iho factories as more than a practical exhibition of the masses in a revolutionary spirit. “Tho power,” it said, “ remains in the hands of the capitalists armed with .tiro tlorce of public administration. The means of tho distribution of food and of tho raising of credit, and the whole commercial apparatus, is also theirs, while the proletariat cannot command brains, get raw materials or sell its products. If workers regard the occupation ns a real attempt to direct the communistic running of industry, the subsequent disappointment will be disastrous, and will cause breaking up in tho communists’ ranks.” The cable comments that none the less, it would bo a serious problem to get the workers home. They were loth to give up the factories, believing the stories that the Government had been overthrown. The accuracy of this conclusion was supported by the message which was published yesterday. The question now is whether the workmen will follow the Confederation leaders, seeing that they no longer believe that it is a question of wages, but of complete expropriation and a new life for the toilers. The temporary success of the militant seizure has only been possible on account of the chaotic political position and the supineness of the Government. It will bo strange, however, if pr • 'ssion of. the factories can he peril: ally maintained, and the signs point to an early collapse of the movement.